Dad chuckled. “Someone should give her the condensed version.”
Garrett did just that, and as I listened to the man, I noticed something about him I never had before. He seemed less tense, more relaxed than normal.
Had working for Caelan been so tough? How had I missed so many things? I wanted to deny it, but the things he’d said to me.
I still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong, but I couldn’t discount the things from before. Maybe this was for the best. Maybe it took something as awful as this to shake me from my complacency.
But seeing Garrett smiling at Tess, when I’d rarely seen a genuine smile cross his face, knocked something loose inside me. Even after our rocky start, he’d come to me when he could have gone anywhere. And Simone had too. Granted, the fae werepowerful, and I knew there was some self-preservation in their decision, but they’d come to me first.
And that had to mean something.
When Garrett finally stopped talking, Tess was sitting straight up gawking at him. Her pale gaze found mine. “Moira joined too?”
I nodded.
“What about me?”
I reached over and ruffled her hair. “We can talk when you’ve rested. You’ve spent quite a while under a powerful glamour, and I want to make sure you know you’re back in the real world and all of this really happened.”
At the disappointment in her eyes, I shook my head. “I’m not saying no, Tess. Not at all. I’m saying, let’s take a beat. Lugh is supposed to be gone, but I won’t believe it until I see it myself. I’ll go out tomorrow and find his usual haunts to make sure.”
“I’ll help,” Dad said.
“Me too,” Mom added.
“Once we know he’s gone, then we’ll talk. I’m worried he might try to get to you again.”
Tess nodded. “Okay, but he’s not after me, Evie. He wants you.”
The booming of the wards stopped me from interrogating Tess about that.
“Caelan’s here,” I said quietly.
“He felt the oath break,” Simone murmured. She sighed and started to rise, but Mom put her hand on the shifter’s arm.
“No. You’re Evie’s now. She will take care of this.”
Simone’s eyes tightened at the edges. “Be careful. Caelan in a rage is…”
She shook her head. “Just be careful.”
“Same for you,” Mom said to Garrett when he started to rise.
But Garrett shook his head and stood anyway. “My role is different from Simone’s. I will always stand beside her when danger comes to call.”
Dad’s eyes glimmered with approval. He inclined his head. “I’ll follow you out.”
Dad and Garrett came outside with me and waited on the porch while I walked down the steps and to the edge of the wards.
A golden glow bounced off the wards, highlighting Caelan in a soft glow. Any other time, it might have been beautiful, but Caelan was in a full-blown rage. He paced back and forth, his gaze burning into me as I walked closer.
“You think you can take them from me?” he snarled. Claws slid from his fingers, the razor sharpness heightened by the soft glow of the light.
I didn’t have the heart to tell him I already had. “If something is wrong, you need to figure out a way to tell me. Your behavior has been off for a while now, but especially now.”
“There’s nothing wrong with me!” he roared, the sound sending birds flying from the trees.
Oh my gods. Fee and Poe. My heartbeat picked up. I needed to get them away from the Keep.
