Odette glanced between her sister and Elijah as Echo settled into the back seat beside her. “Is he your boyfriend?”
“No,” they answered in unison, and Echo cut him a dark look for his too-fast response.
Elijah seemed to sense it and chuckled.
When Echo turned to her little sister, Odette didn’t find anything amusing. She looked indignant and scared out of her mind.
After a long, slow exhale, Echo launched into her story about Niamh Farren and the truth about William “the Bloody” Payne. When she was done, silent tears fell down Odette’s cheeks.
“You—you’re saying my real parents are alive?”
Echo nodded grimly. “They are.”
“And your mom … she’s alive too?”
She nodded again, a twisting, agonizing pain knifing through her heart at the thought. “He stole us from them.”
“And he did all this because your mom left him for your dad? And he killed your dad?”
“Yes.”
Odette wiped at her nose, looking so much like a little girl. “But why my mom and dad?”
“Because your mom looks like my mom.”
Her eyes washed over Echo. “That’s it? He ruined us all because my birth mother looks like a woman he was creepy obsessed with?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“And that’s why we look like real sisters?”
“Yeah.”
“This is true? You know this for a fact?”
“I did my own research, little darling. It’s all true.”
“And the fae aren’t bad?” Her gaze flicked warily to Elijah.
Echo could have sworn she felt a glimmer of fury, and it wasn’t coming from her. It was coming from the fae in the driver’s seat.
“No. That was a lie too.”
That fury simmered way down and melted into gratitude.
Complicated. That … sensing his emotions. Echo was afraid to look too much further into the connection between them.
“I hate him,” Odette hissed. “I hate William.”
“I know.” Echo pulled her into her arms and let her cry it out. “I’m going to keep you safe. And when it’s all over, I can take you back to your parents.”
Odette’s head flew up, a different kind of fear there. “But what about you? I’m not leaving you. I want to be sisters forever.”
Heart aching so badly, it felt like it might be cracking, Echo smoothed her thumbs over her sister’s cheeks, wiping away the wet from her tears. “I won’t damn you to this existence, little darling. I know you have it in your head that this life is romantic and amazing, but it’s not. I miss … I miss the sun on my face every minute of every day. I miss walking in the daytime with you. I miss the fragility of a human existence. You see … not knowing when your life will end is what makes youliveevery day. I’m justexisting, Odette. Existing in this hellish place of eternal darkness and blood and violence. And I would give up the power and the speed forever if I could just feel the daylight on my face one more time.”
Fresh tears spilled down Odette’s cheeks as she reached up to wipe away the tears Echo didn’t even realize were slipping down her own.
“Okay,” her little sister finally whispered. “But I don’t want to leave you. You’re the only family I have.”
