He tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
He lowered his head and pressed a featherlight kiss to my forehead. “I’ll see you soon.”
I could still feel his lips against my skin as he created a portal and stepped through it into his courtyard. I waited for it to close before I turned to my father, who was watching me with a thoughtful expression.
“He cares for you,” Dad said.
“I know.”
“And you love him.”
“Yes.” My father knew me too well for me to try to deny it. “He doesn’t know.”
“If he doesn’t see it, then he’s a fool, and the Unseelie prince is anything but a fool.” He studied me a moment longer. “The most important question is: Are you happy?”
I wasn’t sure how to answer him. If I was too honest, it would make him worry more about me. If I lied, he’d see right through it. “I miss you guys and home, but I’m making friends and finding my place there. Faerie is amazing.”
The worry lines in his forehead smoothed out, and he pointed to the wide veranda. “Let’s sit and talk a while.”
I followed him through the open glass doors to the spacious sitting area that overlooked the golden sandy beach. Before us, steps led down into a glass-walled infinity pool that ran the length of the veranda, and beyond that, waves rolled gently against the shore. The house was nestled among tall palm trees in a crescent cove with a dock at the other end.
The warm breeze tossed my hair into my face, and I brushed it aside as I sat. “Wow. This place is beautiful.”
“And isolated,” Dad replied. “The mainland is an hour away, and we don’t see many boats passing on this side of the island.”
My gaze swept the beach again. “Where are the faeries Lukas left with you?”
“There’s a second house on the other side of the island. They stay there to give us privacy, and they drop by a few times a day.” He hitched a thumb over his shoulder. “Behind this house is a trail through the woods. It’s less than a quarter of a mile.”
“Do you like it here?” I asked. My parents were accustomed to the noise and bustle of New York, and they were used to being active and on the go all the time. This had to be a huge adjustment for them.
“What’s not to like?” His voice was light, but he couldn’t mask the strain on his face.
I averted my gaze, hating that my family had to go into hiding because of me. They should be recovering at home, surrounded by the things and people they knew instead of being trapped here. A paradise was only a paradise when you were free to leave. Anything else was a prison.
“Don’t, Jesse,” he said softly. “If you want to blame someone for this, blame the Seelie queen and the people who abducted us, or Davian Woods for what he did to you. You didn’t cause any of the trouble that led us here, and your mom and I won’t allow you to feel guilty for something you didn’t do. We couldn’t be prouder of you.”
My nose stung as I lifted my eyes to meet his. “Can you tell me what happened?”
He inhaled deeply and let it out. “It was my fault. I’ve been so good at keeping her away from the internet and the entertainment shows. I made sure there were no magazines or anything else around that might have mention of Prince Rhys. We had a food delivery this morning, and sometimes they will stick newspapers or magazines in the bags. I didn’t think to check before she started to put the food away, and she found a copy of Modern Fae. He was on the cover.”
My fingers gripped the wooden arms of my chair. “And she remembered?”
“Not at first. She joked about how much the prince looked like me at that age and asked if there was something I needed to tell her. We had a laugh, and I thought we were good.” He scrubbed at his jaw. “An hour later, she started crying and asking where you were. Then she asked why Caleb wasn’t here. The more I tried to calm her, the more agitated she got until she became hysterical and screaming that the queen took her babies.”
I covered my mouth with my hands as the tears I’d held back spilled over. “Oh, God.”
“I managed to get her sedated before the faeries came bursting in. They heard her screams all the way on their side of the island and thought we were being attacked. They know about our goren addictions, so I told them it was a relapse and asked them to send for you.”
This was exactly what I’d been afraid would happen when Mom’s memories came back. Dad and I had agreed we couldn’t tell anyone the truth about Caleb, but what if we couldn’t get her through this on our own.
“She’s strong, Jesse,” he said when I voiced my fear. “When she sees you and knows you’re safe, she’ll be calmer. It’s going to be hard for her to relive the past, but it’s the only way. It was going to happen eventually, and it’s better that it happens here where we can keep it secret.”
“Can I see her?”
“Of course. Finch and Aisla have been with her since I put her to bed, but it’ll help if you’re there when she wakes up.”
We entered the house, and he showed me to the master bedroom. He opened the door, and my eyes immediately went to the figure lying in the middle of the bed. My mother looked small and pale, and a fresh wave of grief and anger went through me for all she’d suffered.
A whistle split the air, and a tiny blue shape streaked across the white bedspread. I ran and caught Finch when he leaped at me. For a little guy, he had quite the grip when he wrapped his thin arms around my neck. I rubbed his back and looked for Aisla. I spotted her peeking around one of the bedside lamps. The nixie smiled and gave me a timid wave before she slipped out of sight.
“Glad to see you, too,” I whispered to Finch, who leaned back to look up at me. “I can’t wait to tell you all about Faerie, but first I need to see Mom.”
He let go of my neck to sign, Mom screamed a lot. It was scary.
“I bet it was. We’re going to help her get better, aren’t we?”
He nodded and curled into the crook of my neck. I held him there as I went to the bed and lay down facing my mother. I reached for her hand and held it while she slept off the drugs in her system.
“Jesse?” Mom croaked.
My eyes shot open, and I looked into her red, bleary eyes. “Hey, Mom.”
A tear leaked from the corner of her eye and disappeared into her hair. “Are you really here?”
I squeezed her hand. “Yes.”
She blinked a few times, trying to shake off the effect of the sedation. Then she rolled to her side and pulled me into a weak hug. “I dreamed about you and Caleb. Only he wasn’t a baby. He was a young man, and he…”
Her head jerked back, and she stared at me with eyes full of grief and horror. “Caleb’s not dead. My baby boy is alive.”
“Yes.” It was hard to speak around the rock in my throat. Helplessness washed over me when my mother began to shake and wail like a wounded animal.
Then my father was there. He slid onto the bed from the other side and gathered her into his arms. Loud sobs racked her body, and he murmured to her in a soothing voice until she finally calmed and her cries became hiccups. I’d been through a lot this year, but nothing had been as hard as watching my strong mother come apart like this.