dark tank of water, a snorkel in her mouth and her head calm. The door opened, and Emma stood there, her eyes gleaming the way they did when she got to do experiments. Grace was beginning to dislike that look. She climbed out and accepted the towel, wrapping it around her simple swimsuit.
“Well?” she asked.
Emma read the screen on her tablet. “You’re clean. No tracking dust in you or on you.”
Grace’s shoulders settled. “Finally.” They’d been at headquarters all day, and Adare was itching to get out of there. “I wish I could figure out how it got in me.” It wasn’t as if she’d been unconscious around Yvonne.
Emma tapped her lips. “We’ve gone over your time with them, and nothing comes to mind. I feel like everything you ate was okay. I mean, even if you did ingest the dust, it wouldn’t have ended up in your lungs. You had to have inhaled.”
Grace thought back. “Wait a minute. There were sparklers on a dessert we had, and when Yvonne blew hers out, I coughed. I definitely inhaled something from them.” She tied the towel to the right of her chest and squeezed water out of her hair.
“Ah ha. There you go. Sparklers, huh? That’s a good delivery mechanism. I’ll have to remember that.” Emma made a quick notation on her tablet, humming to herself and then muttering a bunch of numbers that didn’t make any sense. “Of course, you’d have to get the person to sit still while you blew out. It’d make more sense to have the subject suck it in somehow.”
Speaking of memories. “I’m remembering more of my childhood, but still nothing about the two months before I went into a coma. Will I ever remember that time?” Grace asked.
Emma lifted a shoulder. “There’s no way to know, but if other memories are coming back and those aren’t, maybe not. At least you know most of what happened during that time.”
Grace nodded. She’d rather have her memories of her childhood with Faith, anyway.
A male, tall and broad, entered the room. He had shaggy black hair, sharp features, and nearly translucent green eyes. There was something very compelling and familiar about him, but Grace couldn’t quite place him.
“Sam.” Emma straightened. “I thought you were resting.”
Resting? A guy with a body like that didn’t rest much. Oh, Grace was mated, not dead.
Sam ran a hand through his thick hair. “I can’t stop the dreams. It’s too much, Emma.” He nodded at Grace. “I’m sorry to interrupt.” Then he tilted his head, and his eyes flashed aqua and then back to green. “You’re a Key.”
Grace took a step back, while Emma slowly turned her head. “Grace? This is Sam. He’s Zane and Logan’s middle brother. Sam, this is Grace, Adare’s mate and Faith’s sister. What is a Key?”
Adare entered the room at that moment. “A Key? What? For like a door?” He slipped an arm over Grace’s shoulders and hauled her into his side. Since they’d landed, there hadn’t been any time just for the two of them. He’d said what she’d thought he’d said in the helicopter, right? Or had she been dreaming?
“Right. For a door.” Emma looked at Sam, her expression contemplative.
Adare turned to Sam. “You know, you should come with us today. We’re just going to explore mountains and maybe do some skiing. It’d probably be good for you to spend some time with your brother.”
“He is,” Emma interjected. “He’s staying with Zane.”
“Your other brother,” Adare said, his smile not quite right. “I’m sure Logan misses you.”
Sam hadn’t looked away from Grace. “Yeah, okay. I wouldn’t mind skiing with Logan for a while.”
Emma frowned. “I’m psychic, you know. Sometimes.”
Grace leaned around Adare to look at the queen. “What are your abilities telling you right now?”
“Nothing.” The frown deepened.
“Welcome to the club,” Grace murmured, wondering what in the world was going on.
Adare leaned down and kissed her, his lips firm and delicious. Then he released her. “Oh. I have good news.”
“About Rose?” Grace’s breath caught.
“Yeah.” Adare brushed her wet hair away from her cheeks. “She was kidnapped from an orphanage, and Dage has said she can stay here. He’ll find her a family. Hope and Paxton are playing with her now, and she seems to have latched on to Pax. He’s cute with her.”
Emma nodded. “We’ve already checked her out, and she hasn’t been harmed in any way. She’s also young enough that hopefully none of this will stay with her. That Karma took good care of her,