“I—” My voice cracked. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. Would you even want a spot? What if I have to move? Or travel all the time?”
Moira reached over and took my hands in her cool ones. “I will go wherever you go. Home is wherever we’re together.”
Tears filled my eyes. “Of course, Moira. Whatever place you want, you can have.”
I waved my hand at Mom and Dad. “Pay her a lot.”
Mom laughed.
“Alright then,” I said and dragged in a breath. “I’m willing if you are. But I want you to know I take no pleasure in this, and I want to be 100% sure this is what you want.”
Everyone nodded. The feeling of a loosened knot being tightened formed in my chest. What was happening right now felt like I’d been slowly moving toward this my entire life, and I couldn’t explain why. I had no idea who my father was until a few months ago. I shouldn’t be able to carry the Chimera curse, and yet, here I was, the product of two powerful fae and my blood swimming with Chimera DNA.
And now I was queen of all the fae.
Or queen in training. Weird enough either way.
Talk about things not being on your bingo card. This was all one big doozy.
Caelan was going to be furious when he found out.
Strangely enough, that was the least of my problems.
Chapter
Thirty-Three
Afew hours later, we were all buzzed on espresso martinis thanks to the new vodka mom had slipped into the bottle in my pantry, and I had three brand new employees, or court members, or whatever they were, who were taking great pride in bossing me around.
I finally covered my ears and declared, “If you don’t stop, I’m going to make you all wear black and white uniforms and start calling you Beetlejuice.”
“Lame,” Simone slurred. She lifted her glass and gave it the hairy eyeball. “What the hell is in those things?”
“You’re the one who made them,” Mom said mildly, hiding her smile behind her glass.
“True.” Simone blinked. “Huh. I’m great at being a bartender!”
Moira patted Simone’s knee. “You are. The spiked vodka helps too.”
Another knock on the door made us all freeze. There were only a few people who could get to the porch. Moira and I locked eyes. A second later, we were both scrambling for the door.
Tess stood on the porch with a blanket and a wide-eyed expression.
I didn’t reach for her right away. “Tess?”
Moira wrung her hands beside me. “Are you…you?” she asked.
Tess nodded. “Lugh said he will see you very, very soon.” Her lower lip wobbled.
Moira and I reached for her at the same time, enveloping her in a tight hug before ushering her into the house and pressing a martini into her cold hands.
She gravitated toward my mother first, who wrapped a blanket around her and tucked her under her arm. Mom stroked Tess’s hair and murmured nonsensical words.
Silence fell for a couple of minutes until Tess blinked a few times. “Why do the shifters smell different?”
Moira frowned. “You can smell them? Like I can?”
Tess sipped her martini and shrugged. “They smell a little like Evie. Before that, they smelled a little like Caelan. But I can’t smell him at all anymore.” Her eyes widened. “Did something happen?”
