My lids blinked, my mouth not able to answer, the truth of his words settling into my bones. I tried to jerk back, but Ash held onto my face.
“The link you two have... there’s no breaking it.”
“There has to be. It’s not fair to him... he doesn’t want it.” He was making the point clear right now. The thought of him and Rosie crunched my teeth together, acid rotting in my stomach.
“There is a lot Warwick says he doesn’t want... doesn’t make it true.”
“I don’t want it.” I tried to fight back, but nothing was behind it.
“Believe me.” He placed his forehead against mine, a smile curving his lips. “If there wasn’t a Warwick or a bond between you two, I’d be all over this. Nothing would stop me.” He chuckled, his lips pressing into my skin between my brows. “And if you ever get sick of his cranky ass, I’m your guy, okay?”
I snorted, my head bouncing. Ash had a way to completely put me at ease.
“Anything else the book showed you?” He sat back on his heels, seamlessly turning us back to the issue. “I’m still confused why the book even showed you your father. I’m not getting the connection.”
“Something was written in his journal I saw on the table.” I bit into my bottom lip. “It said ‘I understand now.’”
Ash stilled. “Understand? What?”
“Didn’t say, but then I got another vision of my dad hiding something next to the fireplace.”
Ash’s eyes widened.
“You have no clue where this place is?”
“No.” My brain clicked with an idea as I jumped to my feet, already heading for the door. “But I know someone who might.”
Uncle Andris was in his office. Ling was next to him, both huddled close at his desk, going over documents together. I paused to watch the intimate moment between them.
Ling looked to be explaining something to him, pointing to the paper. His gaze drifted to her. Reaching up, he softly brushed her hair off her face, tucking it behind her ear, completely absorbed with her. A small smile flickered her lips at his touch, but her finger stabbed down at the paper, pulling his attention back to the document.
It was subtle, but knowing Andris the way I did, I could see the complete adoration in his eyes, the deep love he felt for her. Profound and irrevocable. Something I realized even as a kid, I never saw between him and Rita.
Ling noticed me first, her dark eyes peering at me impassively.
“Brexley.” Andris sat straighter in his chair, the sweet moment between him and his love dissolving as he turned back to the stoic man I knew. “Come in.” He motioned for me to enter.
I cleared my throat. “Sorry to interrupt.”
“No, no, please... I was going to check on you soon.”
I stepped into the office, Ash staying slightly behind me.
“What can I do for you?” Andris gestured to the chair, but I stayed standing, my nerves not able to settle.
“This might be peculiar.”
“You are peculiar.” Ling’s emotionless to-the-point tone made Ash snort behind me.
Again, I couldn’t disagree.
“What is it, Drágám?” My dear. Andris encouraged me.
“Did Father have a house away from HDF?”
Andris blinked like that was the last question he expected from me. “Your father and I had numerous safe houses over the country. And through the East.”
“Right.” I dipped my head, hope deflating from my lungs. The place could be anywhere, a straw in a haystack.
“What brought this up?” Andris sat back in his chair.
“I had a dream... and then the fae book showed me the same place.” When I arrived here, I caught Andris up on everything, including the fae book. He was one of the few I trusted to tell everything to. “It was a small cottage. Father’s jacket was there.” I swallowed. The memory of his smell, the memory of the coat, prickled at my eyes. “A journal was on the dining table.”
“Journal?” Andris’s spine went straight, the chair squeaking as he sat up hastily.
“Yes.” My heart started to pound at his reaction. “I saw a picture of—”
“Your mother.” He stood up.
“How did you know?” My mouth dried.
“Your father was always careful, but before his death, his paranoia had grown extreme. He never carried the journal on him in the event he was ever captured... he kept her picture there.” Andris’s dark eyebrows crowded together. “I can think of one place it would be—a place only I knew about, in case something happened.”
“Where?” I breathed.
“A cottage where your father and mother secretly lived together before her death. Where I had met her once. I didn’t realize he kept it. He never told me...” A sadness gripped Andris, his thoughts taking him away.
“Location?” Ash stepped up with me, jerking Andris back to attention.
“Gödöllő. Not far from the old human Royal Palace.”
My mouth parted.
It was only thirty minutes from here.
Chapter 18
Far past working streetlights from before the fae war, the onetime bustling hamlet was now quiet. There were people here trying to make a living, a few inns for the weary traveler, a few farms, but life was even harder out here. Protecting what livelihood you could scrape out was a challenge under the constant fear of bandits and thieves. It was why most moved closer to the city, letting nature encroach on the territory they once inhabited.
Working from a map where Andris scribbled out the coordinates, Ash ventured the motorcycle to a forested area not too far from Gödöllő Palace, the rumbling of Maddox’s bike behind us.
Andris wanted me to have more protection, but the more we had, the more we gained attention. My uncle wasn’t happy Warwick was not one of them. Even if he didn’t care for him, he knew Warwick was the best security and weapon to have. Most would run at the sight of him.
Following my instructions, we turned off on an unmarked dirt road. The forest quickly filled in around us, absorbing the motorcycles’ dim headlights. The eerie stillness of the night, the feeling of the things hiding in the dark, had me on edge. After a few more turns down even smaller lanes, which could no longer be counted as roads, we came to a dead end.
“Did we take a wrong turn?” Ash stopped the bike, peering around.
“We lost?” Maddox came beside us.
“No.” Tugging at the bag on my back I borrowed from Ash, I climbed off the bike. I yanked the gun from my belt, strolling to the edge of the lane. “It’s got to be here.” Glock in one hand, a light in the other, I found an almost undistinguishable footpath heading into the woods.
Following my gut, I stepped slowly down the trail, my boots crunching over the foliage. It wasn’t long before I spotted a structure, almost hidden by overgrowth. I inhaled sharply seeing the tiny cottage, emotion fluttering my lungs.
This was where my parents lived together. Loved. Shared their hopes and dreams... little did they know their love would be tragic and short.
The cottage was like a time bubble of the life my mother and father had before me. It sat here waiting for the owners to return.