“Promise to keep your clothes on and don’t kill anyone, and I’ll say it to you under different circumstances.”She felt his lips on her forehead.
"I'll try, but I can't make any promises."
“Give Thia a kiss for me,”he replied.
“Will do. Love you, B.”
“And I you.”
Jen focused her attention back on the group. She began adding food to her plate and looked at Wadim as she remembered something he'd said before Jacque’s ordeal started. “Wadim, prior to Peri popping in and blowing our circuits, you started to tell us about finding out …something. We got a tad sidetracked. Can you share with us what you know?”
He nodded, swallowing a mouthful of water, and then wiped his mouth with a napkin. The historian grabbed a pad of paper sitting next to his plate. “Before all of that excitement, Ihadbeen able to get some research done. The sprites allowed me to dig into their archives. Considering many of the supernaturals are a bit touchy about letting others into their business, there’s much we don’t know about the past. It’s very interesting to see—”
“Babe.” Zara placed her hand on his forearm and smiled at him. “While I love to see you get excited over your nerdy, history stuff, I think they just want you to get to the point.”
Jen was really glad it was his mate that had stepped in because her own words wouldn’t have been quite so diplomatic.
Wadim cleared his throat. “Right. So, what I found was that a long, long, like ridiculously long time ago, there was an incident recorded by the sprite historians when cold fire had been used by a high fae.”
Nissa sucked in a breath, and all eyes shifted to her.
“Okay, the whole atmosphere of the room just changed,” Heather said. She popped a grape in her mouth and then added. “Who’s the one attempting not to freak out but is obviously not doing a good job judging by that amazing gasp, not to mention the power that’s vibrating out of them like a generator?”
Jen couldn’t help but marvel, not for the first time, at what an amazing attitude Heather had in regard to her blindness. She could have been bitter over her sightless life, but instead she took joy in the senses she did have. Not to mention she was funny as hell.
“Nissa looks like she’s seen a ghost,” Anna offered. “And she’s glowing just a bit, like Peri sometimes does.”
“You do realize that I've never seen Peri glow, right?” Heather asked.
“You asked where the power was coming from, and I’m giving you an answer. Don’t get picky just because you’re unable to experience all the weird things in this—”
“I will cut you.” Heather tossed a roll, unerringly, at Anna.
“Wow, they’re just like you three.” Cindy glanced at Jen and Sally.
“Good grief,” Myanin muttered. “Nissa, what’s your damage?”
Jen nearly laughed at the djinn’s use of human slang. Apparently she'd been in their realm a little too long. But Nissa’s glowing skin, which was getting brighter, quickly stifled the laughter.
The high fae swallowed and then looked around the table until her gaze landed on Jen. “The time of which your historian speaks… It was thousands of years ago. Perizada was a child. I was a child.”
“Whoa,” Stella murmured. “It’s hard to think of Peri, or you, for that matter, as a child. I’ve always thought she just came out as an adult fae with a ridiculous amount of power.”
“You look like you’re about to throw up,” Jen told Nissa. “And I've seen that look before. It's the same one Peri got when the memory of the witches returned. You've forgotten something. Actually, it isn't that you've forgotten, it's that you've—”
“Hidden it away."
"Hidden it away?" asked Heather.
"They do that sometimes," said Jen. "Crap that is better left forgotten."
"So, this is really, really bad?" asked Stella.
"Whatever happened must be too painful to even consider. And if I know the fae, they not only considered it, but they allowed it to happen?” Lilly offered. The pain in the warlock queen’s eyes made Jen ache. Her appetite was suddenly gone. Jen set down the forkful of vegetables she’d been about to put in her mouth.
“Exactly.” Nissa nodded. She looked at Wadim. “Did the archives tell you which fae performed the cold fire? Or why?”
Wadim shook his head. “The record only stated there had been two survivors within the cold fire: two female fae children."
