“I don’t, actually. No one tells me anything.”
Once we were all assembled outside with Kelly’s enormous pack strapped to Arthur’s back, Corbin pulled out his phone and typed in an address. “This way!” He strode off down the nearest street.
Jane jabbed her finger at the tearooms opposite the bus stop. “Kelly and I are just going to wait over there,” she said. Kelly didn’t say a word. She picked up her purse and trudged across the street.
Maeve’s face crumpled. I reached for her, but she shrugged me off. “It’s okay,” she mumbled.
No, it’s not. You don’t have to be the strong one all the time. You can let us look after you.
We followed Corbin around the corner and down another street of brick terrace houses. He kept looking up from his phone, checking mailbox numbers. Suddenly, he stopped dead in the street.
I ran up the back of him. “Sorry, mate.”
I expected him to yell at me, which was usually his favourite thing to do. Instead, he grabbed my wrist and yanked me out in front of him. “Blake, look at this.”
I scanned the exterior of the house, expecting to notice something magical, some fae presence Corbin wanted my opinion on. But there was nothing about the house that gave off any magical vibe. It wasn’t even particularly old or interesting – a recently built brick house with drab grey curtains and three blue gnome statues in the front garden.
I shrugged. “I’ve no head for architecture, but I don’t thinkGrand Designswould give this place a second look.”
Corbin tucked his phone into his pocket and inclined his head toward the house. “That’s Darren and Colleen Beckett’s house. Well, the land was purchased by a developer after the fire and they built this place instead, but it’s the same address. Blake, this is where your parents used to live.”
My heart stopped.
Of all the things I’d expected Corbin to say, that was not one of them. I stared up at the house, seeing it again with new eyes. A modest house where a family could grow and dream. A house with no room for magic and no portal to the fae realm in the backyard. A house where two traumatized witches could make a fresh start.
Even though I knew it wasn’t the same place, I imagined a tiny little crib sitting under the upstairs window. I imagined my mother downstairs in the kitchen, heating up a bottle of milk. I pictured my dad – arealDad who played footy with me and didn’t torture me for fun – whistling as he walked up the path on his way home from work.
A lump rose in my throat. This was the first thing apart from my feelings for Maeve that had connected me to the human realm. For the first time, I belonged, even if it was to a house that didn’t technically exist.
Maeve tucked her hand in mine, squeezing my fingers. She rested her head on my shoulder and I worried my chest might burst.
I reached out with my other hand, holding it in front of Corbin in the gesture of camaraderie he’d forced me into days earlier. For the first time, I actually wanted to perform this ritual with him. “Thank you.”
Corbin cocked his head to the side, grinning like a Seelie caught in a trick as he cupped a hand over his ear. “What was that? I didn’t quite hear you.”
“You need to get your ears checked, Mussolini. I said thanks for this. It—” I swallowed. “It means a lot.”
Corbin stared at my hand hanging in front of him. He stepped up beside it, lifted both his arms, and wrapped them around my body.
The only person in my life who’d ever hugged me was Maeve. The fae weren’t exactly big on hugs. Corbin smelled like aftershave and ink. My throat closed up. I wasn’t sure I was into it, but I patted him on the shoulder until he drew away.
“Welcome to the family, Blake,” he said.
“It’s good to be here,” I grinned. “Now, can we stop with the sentimentality? All these emotions are too much for my wee heart to take.”
“Don’t get used to it.” Corbin waved us on. “Come on, let’s get back to the castle. We have fae to slay.”
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
CORBIN
We found our way to the station and onto our train. Kelly and Jane went to another carriage, no longer making a secret of the fact they were pissed at Maeve. It had to be upsetting her, but when I asked her about it she shook her head.
“Not now.” Maeve slid in beside me, squeezing my knee. “That was an amazing thing you did for Blake.”
I shrugged. “Everyone else has had some kind of closure on this trip. I thought he deserved that.”
Across the aisle, Rowan glanced up at me and smiled, and my chest tightened the way it usually did for Maeve.
