strong thigh, and lust burst in me.
I immediately scolded myself. I should focus on getting the information on my parents’ case instead of letting stupid hormones decide the next train of my thoughts.
Baron got my other hand, his thumb caressing my inner wrist, sending pleasant shivers all over my body, then he brought my hand to his lips and brushed a hot kiss on my palm. My core instantly tightened at the sensation.
Rowan scowled at Baron and brought my hand to his lips, too.
A sexy ice Fae on one side and a hot sun Fae on the other turned my brain to mush. I desperately tried to concentrate and hear their theories about my parents’ disappearance. But I couldn’t fight my weakness for them today. Not after three bounty hunters had almost gotten me.
“Where can they be if they aren’t in the human world?” I asked.
“They might be on the other side of the Veil,” Baron said.
“The Veil?” I asked.
“The barrier that separates the mortal realm from the immortal realm,” Rowan said.
“I’ve never heard of it.” I blinked. “Why would my parents go to the immortal realm?”
Yet part of me had started to pick up all the odd pieces and clues over the years—how Dad had trained me to use my hyper senses that no regular humans seemed to possess, the mysterious shop they’d taken me to for spells, the arcane glyphs that had beamed on my body, and the shadow fire that had blasted out of me and driven away a Nightling.
“Your parents might not be what they appeared to you,” Rowan said. “We suspect they’re mages.”
“You don’t have evidence for that!” I shouted. “I have known them my entire life. My parents wouldn’t lie to me.”
But they hadn’t told me the truth, either.
“Maybe they were trying to protect you,” Baron said with sympathy.
“Take me to this Veil after we pick up my siblings,” I demanded.
“One must have enough magic to cross the Veil,” Rowan said. “You aren’t human, Evie. You’re being glamoured. The spells that hide your essence are so powerful even I can’t unwind them. I think they also sealed your power. You’ll have to wait until you reach your twenty-second birthday and go through the Turning to peel off every glamour, spell, or curse placed on you. The Turning will also unlock your potential. I’ll then take you to the Veil when you’re safe to pass through it.”
Baron squeezed my hand gently. “I’ll be with you every step of the way.”
They all knew about my age. Rydstrom had also asked me how old I was—in fact, he’d insisted on knowing my age. It was as if they were all waiting for me to reach my next birthday and see what would become of me.
What was this Turning that they talked about?
I’d passed the point of denial. Like it or not, I’d stumbled into the magical world, and every supernatural I’d met was a predator. Now I wanted to learn everything about their world and learn it fast, so in the end, I’d survive. And my family’s survival depended on me.
And it might just open the right door to recover my parents. That alone was worth the risk.
“Tell me about a Nightling,” I said.
Both Fae’s expressions twisted with loathing and hatred.
“Nightlings are the Night King’s creatures,” Rowan said icily.
Baron clenched his jaw. “My court is still investigating Rydstrom’s involvement with the Nightling that appeared at your home.”
I widened my eyes. “Rydstrom, the nightclub boss?”
Rydstrom had wanted me dead? But the way he looked at me spelled the opposite. And he’d gone to a great length to protect the girl whom the hunters had condemned as a darkfae.
“He’s also the Unseelie King of the Nightmare Court,” Rowan said. “He’s extremely dangerous.”
That was the pot calling the kettle black. I didn’t want to keep talking about Rydstrom, at least not with Rowan and Baron, so I changed the subject. “What is a dark one?”
“Darkfae,” Baron said with distaste. “They’re illegally bred between demons and light Fae. The archdemons—the former fallen angels—conspired with rogue high Fae to procreate an army of hybrids that possess both light and dark magic. It’s forbidden, and the majority of darkfae don’t come out right. They’re more monster than anything else. The darkfae are the poison race that pollutes Elfame. They are a threat to the orders and magics of all four courts.”
“Any Fae has the license to kill a darkfae,” Rowan said, ice flame burning in his hard, gray-blue eyes.
Chapter 20
Soon all my siblings