“That’s amazing!”
She lifted a shoulder. “I would rather have gotten them because of my awesome acting skills, but this will give me twice as much screen time.”
“And it will give everyone more time to see how awesome you are,” I added.
“Exactly.”
I threw up my arms. “My best friend is a movie star!”
The two of us squealed and jumped up and down like we were thirteen and I’d gotten a valentine from Josh Warren, the cutest boy in our class.
We fell back onto the couch, laughing, and I reached over to take her hand. “I missed you.”
Her smile waned. “I wish I could have been here with you. The timing for this movie could not have been worse.”
“I wasn’t exactly a fun person to be around for the first two weeks. It’s good to be hunting again because it keeps me busy.”
“You must have been desperate to hunt if you went on a job with Trey.” She snickered. “I wish I’d seen his face when you blackmailed him with the clown story.”
I laughed with her. “He’s been pretty cool about it, actually, and he kept my secret.”
Violet tucked her legs under her and fixed me with a searching look. “Soooo?”
“So, what?”
“You’ve been texting about hunting, Harvard, and the fact you can no longer drink coffee – which is tragic, by the way.” She gave a sorrowful shake of her head. “But one thing you haven’t said a word about is a certain Unseelie prince.”
I ignored the tiny pinpricks of pain in my chest. “Because there’s nothing to tell you. I haven’t spoken to him since he brought me home. I’m starting to wonder if he regrets making me Fae.”
“You don’t believe that, and neither do I. I saw him at the hospital, and I think he would have attempted the conversion even if your dad hadn’t said yes.”
“Then why haven’t I heard from him?” I asked glumly.
She pursed her lips. “Have you tried calling him?”
“Once.” I puffed out a breath. “I left him a message, but he never called back.”
Her brow furrowed. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“I’ve given up trying to make sense of it,” I lied. I wouldn’t admit that his absence consumed my thoughts every night when I lay in bed. I could have asked Faris or Conlan about it, but my pride wouldn’t let me. If Lukas wanted to ghost me, I wasn’t going to chase after him.
“You know what? We should go out one night before I have to go back to Utah.” Violet’s eyes gleamed with mischief. “We can meet up with Lorelle at Va’sha or go somewhere else.”
“I don’t know.” I bit my lip. Except for work, I hadn’t gone out much lately. I didn’t know if I was ready to be around a lot of people.
My phone rang, and I was grateful for the reprieve until I saw Ben Stewart’s name on the screen. My stomach tightened. The only time the Agency’s head of the Special Crimes division called me was when he had bad news.
“I don’t suppose this is a social call,” I said.
He chuckled. “No, although I do believe a happy birthday is in order.”
Of course, the Agency knew everything there was to know about me – except for a few closely guarded secrets. “Thank you.”
There was a brief silence on the line, and then he said, “I’m calling to give you a heads-up. There’s been a leak from someone at the hospital.”
“A leak?” My pulse leapt.
“We got a call today from a reporter asking about a Fae conversion that supposedly happened there. They didn’t have any names, and they wouldn’t give us the name of their source. We’re looking into it, but I don’t think there’s anything to worry about. All they have is a rumor, but even a hint of a conversion is too much for them to pass up.” He paused to take a breath. “The network is going to run the story. I didn’t want you to be blindsided by it.”
“Thanks for letting me know,” I said as a cold knot formed in my gut. The truth was going to come out eventually, but I’d hoped I would have more time before the media got wind of it. It didn’t matter that it was only a rumor. That was enough for the paparazzi and the reporters to start digging until one of them found something.
“Why do you look like someone kicked your puppy?” Violet asked when I ended the call.
I picked up the remote and turned on the television. I flipped through the channels until I found a local news station with a picture of the hospital in one corner of the screen. The words DEVELOPING STORY were displayed across the bottom.
My fingers gripped the remote as I listened to the two anchors discussing the information provided by an unnamed hospital insider. The details were so vague that if it had been about anything other than a conversion, it wouldn’t have gotten air time. It had only been a few months since Jackson Chase’s death, and another conversion so soon would send the media into a feeding frenzy. Already they were speculating about the identity of the new faerie and why the conversion was being kept hush-hush.
“Jesse,” Violet said sharply.
I tore my eyes from the television. “What?”
She tugged at the remote in my hand. “Unless you want to buy your parents a new one of these, hand it over.”
I opened my hand to reveal two cracks in the remote’s plastic casing. “Crap.”
She took it from me and studied the damage before she turned off the television. “Remind me not to hold your hand the next time you’re upset or angry.”
“This new strength takes a while to get used to.” I flexed my fingers. “I accidentally crushed a carton of eggs the other day. What a mess.”
She snickered. “Bet it comes in handy when you’re hunting, though. Wait until you have Fae strength and magic.”
I made a face. “Faris said it’s different for every new faerie. Some wake up one day, and they have their magic. Others get it in spurts, and it can be unpredictable at first. I appear to be in the latter group.”
Violet’s laugh warmed me. She set the remote on the coffee table and faced me. “You’re good at everything you put your mind to. Before you know it, you’ll be throwing around glamours like a pro.”
“I would never glamour someone!”
“Wrong choice of words.” She smiled sheepishly. “But you know what I mean.”
I sighed heavily. “Sorry. I’m a little sensitive about it.”
She let out a mock gasp. “Really? I never would have guessed.” She fingered the ends of her hair, which was back to its natural shiny black. “You know, pretty much every actor and model in the world would love to have your problems if it meant never aging.”
I gave her a pointed look. “Every actor?”
“Well… except for Paul Rudd. The guy never ages.”
I tapped a finger against my chin. “True.”
“I think he is a faeman,” she said.
“A what?”
She grinned. “Part faerie and part human. I know they say it’s impossible for a faerie and a human to make a baby, but you have to wonder about him.”
I snorted, and a laugh slipped out. She joined in, and I suddenly felt lighter.