“My blood is the strongest,” he said matter-of-factly.
This was too much. I got up to pace the room. “You couldn’t tell me any of this before? You let me think…”
He stood and came over to me. I didn’t know whether to punch him or throw myself at him. He made the decision by wrapping his arms around me and holding me against his warm chest. To my mortification, tears burned my eyes. I blinked, refusing to let them fall.
“I’m sorry, mi’calaech,” he murmured against my hair. “It had to be this way. If we’d told you the truth, it might have triggered you into seeking me out. I couldn’t take that chance.”
“It’s safe now? I’m not going to turn into some mindless, obsessed stalker?”
His chest rumbled with laughter. “You might, but it won’t be a side effect of the conversion.”
“In your dreams.” I pushed at him, and I didn’t miss his playful grin when he released me. It had been so long since I’d seen him smile, and my stomach quivered in response. I was suddenly very aware that we were alone but also that I had no idea where things stood between us now. Did he see me as a friend or something more?
I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer to that question yet, so I moved back into safer territory. “What happened to the new faeries who became attached? Did they recover?”
“Yes. It was difficult for them at first, but they are both happy in their new lives now. It is believed that their age played a factor in their recovery. The younger you are when converted, the easier it is to adapt to being Fae.”
I let out a breath. The last month didn’t seem so bad when I thought of what could have happened. An involuntary shiver went through me, and I rubbed my arms for warmth.
“Are you cold?” Lukas’s gaze dipped to take in my short dress, and I shivered again but for a whole other reason.
“A little. I left my coat at the club.”
He went to retrieve his jacket from the bar stool and draped it over my shoulders. “I’ll have someone get your coat for you.”
“Thanks.” The jacket smelled of him, and I resisted the urge to inhale deeply. That wouldn’t look stalkerish at all.
He smiled ruefully. “I’m sorry your night out was ruined. If it’s any consolation, you’ll look beautiful in all the paparazzi photos.”
I groaned. “Thanks for reminding me. For a minute there, I’d totally forgotten that disaster. How did they find out?”
“I don’t know.” His expression hardened. “The Agency assured me they had it under control, but I should have known this would happen and protected you from it. A story like this is too big to keep under wraps for long.”
“It’s not your fault. You can’t control every situation, and I knew it would come out eventually.” I let out a sigh of resignation. This was my life now, and I had no choice but to deal with it. “How long do you think it will take them to get bored and move on to another story?”
He shook his head, and his expression told me I wasn’t going to like the answer to that question.
“I won’t lie. It’s going to be bad for a while. A conversion is big news on its own. Add to that your age and it happening so soon after the Jackson Chase story…”
My stomach churned, and I held up a hand. “You don’t need to say any more.”
He crossed his arms. “It won’t be safe for you until this calms down. You should stay here where the reporters can’t get to you.”
“I’m not leaving my parents to deal with this alone. If the reporters can’t get to me, they’ll go after my family.”
Lukas frowned. “Your father is more than capable of taking care of them. And if the media knows you aren’t there, it will draw them away.”
“Dad is barely recovered from a goren addiction,” I reminded him. “Now he’s taking care of my mom, who just got out of the hospital. They are nowhere near ready to deal with this.”
I couldn’t tell him the rest – that my father was also coping with his recovered memories and the truth about Caleb. Or that we were afraid of what would happen when Mom got her memories back, too. The timing for this could not have been worse.
As if to punctuate my words, my phone rang, and I saw it was Dad calling. I should have called him as soon as I got here. Those paps would already have uploaded their photos and videos, and the story was probably everywhere by now.
“Jesse! Oh, thank God,” Dad said when I answered. “Bruce called and said he saw you on TV. Where are you? Are you okay?”
My gut twisted at the strain in his voice. “I’m okay, Dad. I’m at Lukas’s, and I’ll be home in a few minutes.”
“Maybe you should stay there,” he said in a calmer tone. “Our street is already filling up with news vans.”
I glanced at Lukas, who raised his eyebrows as if to say, “I told you so.” I scowled at him and said, “Lukas will create a portal to our floor.”
“That’s good. We’ll see you in a few minutes then.”
I hung up and picked up my purse. “Will you take me home?”
For a few seconds, I thought he would say no, but he raised his hands to form the portal. As the image of the same courtyard appeared, I couldn’t help but wonder when I would be able to do this. I hadn’t yet embraced the idea of being Fae, but the thought of being able to travel anywhere in seconds was very appealing.
Lukas took my hand, and we stepped through the portal. I managed to see a little more of the courtyard that appeared to be made entirely of stone. Not stone blocks but carved from stone, including the thick pillars and railing. This was nothing like the gray foggy place I’d been in when I went through Conlan’s portal, and I wondered if each faerie had a special location they went to when they traveled this way.
The next thing I saw was my apartment door. It amazed me how precisely he targeted this location, and I wanted to ask how it worked. Did he have to be familiar with a place in order to create a portal to it? Or was it another faerie ability that allowed them to sense where they wanted to go?
The door swung open before I could reach for it, and Mom rushed out to pull me into what would have been a crushing hug if she were back to her full health. It was a stark reminder that she had months of recovery left, and it wouldn’t take much to upset her. I swore silently at whomever had leaked my story and caused her so much distress.
“Thank you for getting her out of there.” Dad held out a hand to Lukas.
Lukas accepted his hand. “I’m sorry it came to this.”
Mom released me and faced Lukas. “You have nothing to apologize for.”
We entered the apartment, and I was relieved to see the TV was off. We had been shielding Mom from all entertainment news, which she’d never been that interested in anyway. Seeing me being ambushed by the paparazzi would have stressed her, and Lord only knew what would have happened if she’d seen me with Prince Rhys.
I tossed my purse on the table and kicked off my heels. Letting out an audible sigh of relief, I turned to find Lukas watching me.
The corners of his mouth turned up. “You are handling this well.”
“Did you expect me to be overcome by all the excitement?” I lifted a shoulder. “I’ve never been the swooning type.”