knew the world would bend to her will.
“I brushed my teeth, Mama.” A little girl walked in the room, dragging a stuffed animal behind her. She had dark red curls and was basically my mini-me. Well, my mom’s.
My mother swung the girl up in her arms. “Of course you did, sweetie. You don’t want your teeth to fall out like your brother does. Rhys, you’ve got fifteen minutes before Trent will be here to drive you to school. Make sure you have that homework and your pencils and your notebooks. It’s not a good thing that Lee is more organized than you are. Well, good morning, Marcus. Danny should be here any minute.”
“I’m here right now.” My father strode in and immediately went to my mom and sister. He placed a big hand on my sister’s head. “Good morning, baby girl.” He kissed the top of her head and then kissed my mom. “I’ll see you later, Z. Marcus and I have some plans we need to go over concerning Kelsey’s training.”
My father. He was big and broad and looked…safe to me. I couldn’t remember many of the things I learned that day, but I remembered him. I remembered how he’d come for my mother when Haweigh was going to take her back to Tír na nÓg to stand trial for what she’d done. My father had torn through a whole building to get to her and I’d felt his love.
I’d always wondered what it would feel like to be that loved. I’d remembered the ache in his heart as he’d named me. He’d looked at my mother and then to me and called me Summer.
“Okay, I brushed my teeth,” Lee said as he walked back in.
“I will smell your breath,” my mother vowed.
Lee opened his mouth and made fire breathing dragon sounds that had his brother and sister in fits of giggles.
“You know you should just do it the first time, son.” Dev Quinn walked in from the opposite side and smiled down at the boy who looked so much like him. “She always finds out.” He turned to my mother. “You want coffee on the balcony?”
I could feel the love between them. I wasn’t sure how it had happened because the way I remembered it my dad hadn’t liked the faery at all, but they were a family. I glanced at Marcus, who stood with them, the one from his memory. It was odd how he could control this, but his mental powers seemed strong. The Marcus in his memory looked wistful, like he knew what it meant to be surrounded by love but to not be a true part of it.
I knew that feeling far too well.
The scene in front of me shimmered and was gone and I was again alone with Marcus in the big room.
“Did my…Rhys get in trouble for not doing his homework?” I kind of wanted to stay in that scene though it felt like nothing truly important had happened. He’d simply been showing me what a day in the life of my parents looked like. It looked normal and amazing. I would bet there weren’t whole armies after the young Donovan-Quinns. They weren’t feared around the outer planes.
“Your brother did not because moments after, I helped him complete the assignment. And Lee hadn’t done it either, so it was a lucky thing for them I happen to know a lot about history. Your other father is quite insistent that I bring you back to him,” Marcus said. “Your arm is healed and we have much to talk about.”
I looked once more around that magnificent room on another plane of existence, in a life I might have had. “All right.”
When I opened my eyes, I was looking into the emerald gaze of Dev Quinn.
“I found your satchel, sweetheart.” He knelt down close to me and inspected my arm, which seemed perfectly whole now. “Marcus healed the wound? There won’t be any infection? Not that there should be. You should have been able to heal that wound yourself, Summer. I don’t understand what’s happened. You’re not supposed to be human.”
He would have a lot of questions. He was the only one of the three who’d been there when I’d come into being. I still wasn’t sure I could trust him. I wanted to tell them my story, but I had to be sure.
I looked to Dean. He was the only one who could really tell me what I needed to know. “Can I trust