I sighed. Were we really going to play this game?
She leaned over and lowered her voice. “I think we might need to talk. But not here.” Her eyes weren’t glowing; my fae sight showed me nothing magical about her, but she seemed to be implying she knew more than she let on. She continued. “Tonight after the kids are in bed, do you think you can sneak out? Meet me on the beach?”
“Yeah,” I whispered. And then asked, “We aren’t in danger here, are we, Zara?”
She tapped her foot nervously. “Well, look at it this way. We aren’t in any more danger here than we were in New York or LA. The thing about these people, Willow, is that there’s danger everywhere.”
I barely saw Severn for the rest of the day. However, since we weren’t there in any official capacity, the children and I were free to do whatever we wanted, and the resort offered some excellent activities.
We took Puck for a long walk on the beach and checked off a slew of beachy things from the checklist: build a sandcastle, try bodysurfing, look for seashells, float over waves. There was a swimming pool and a game room with billiards and Ping-Pong tables. Other children and spouses gathered at these areas, too, and it was nice to see Henry and May play with other kids—even if some of themdidhave yellow eyes like their parents.
We weren’t invited to the high-level dinner scheduled for that evening, so we sat with another family in the resort restaurant that overlooked the ocean. They looked human in every way, and no one mentioned magic spells or fae courts, but it also wasn’t the kind of thing I felt I could ask about openly. Even if the confidentiality spell permitted it.
Severn still hadn’t returned by the time I put the kids to bed. I didn’t feel great about sneaking out and leaving them alone in the cottage, but I reasoned that it was a small island, and I’d never be too far away. Besides, I needed to know exactly what I was dealing with in order to take care of them properly and keep them safe—and Zara had implied she had some answers. Of course, if Severn found out I’d left them alone for even a moment, I’d probably be fired on the spot.
The sun was setting as I slipped out through the sliding glass doors and walked over the dunes to the beach. Zara was already waiting, wading in the surf. She caught sight of me and ran up, stopping to fish a floaty out of the seagrass first.
“Are you going…swimming?” I asked, confused.
“We both are.” She was a little breathless. “Come on.”
She ran into the waves, which I resented because she was wearing a bathing suit under her shorts and hadn’t told me to do the same. But I waded into the surf up to my hips, when I finally had enough of her odd behavior and said, “Stop! Okay, tell me. What are we doing out here?”
“Get on the float.” It was barely big enough for the both of us. She climbed on, and I struggled to get up, too, until we were both straddling it, facing each other.
“Zara,whatis this about—”
“The spell,” she said at last. “It’s about the spell. You know, your ‘NDA’? You can’t talk freely as long as you’re bound by it, but not all the Gifted Ones’ spells hold over water. You’ll be able to tell me anything here.”
Now it all made sense. “So you aren’t bound by the same spell?”
She shook her head. “That’s only for humans working for the fae. I don’t work for them.”
As we bobbed in the waves, I glanced back at the beach cottage. The moon was coming out overhead. “So it’s true?” I whispered. “You know about the fae realm?”
“I’ve always known Severn Wilde was a fae prince. I didn’t thinkyouknew. I figured he’d just stay glamoured around you. Without the fae sight, you’d have no reason to think there was anything odd about your job.”
“He gave me the fae sight. Do you have it, too?”
“Not exactly.” She brushed back her dark hair. “My family comes from a line of witches. Not all of us are practicing—neither of my parents are. But my grandmother taught me about the hidden realm when I turned sixteen. My parents sent me to, like, witch summer camp. That’s really a thing and not nearly as fun as it sounds. They want me to work for the family business; prediction, curse working—that kind of thing can come in handy with…software development.”
“You’re seriously sticking to the ‘software’ thing?”
“Let me put it this way: it’s less risky for me to admit I’m a witch than to tell you what my familyreallydoes for work, okay?”
I shook my head. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you were a witch!”
“Well, you didn’t tell me your boss was fae!”
We stared at each other, then both burst out laughing. I said, “Well, I’m not sure he’ll be my boss for long. He’s a monster, Zara. If it wasn’t for Henry and May, I would have quit.”
Zara raised her eyebrows. “Really,Mrs. Wilde?”
“Come on, you know that was pretend.”
“That kiss didn’t look pretend. I saw the pictures. In fact, one of the news stations hired a body language expert whoverifiedthe emotions behind that kiss weren’t faked.”
My cheeks warmed, though I doubted she could see them turning pink in the twilight. “Actually, it wasn’t the only time we kissed.”
