“Don’t put ideas in his head,” I growled. “The sooner he stops denying the truth, the better off we’ll all be.”
Blake’s eyes bore into mine, and the corner of his mouth curled up into his trademark smirk. He spun on his heel and sauntered after Rowan. It didn’t escape my notice that he hadn’t agreed to what I’d asked of him.
I flopped back down into the hard plastic chair beside Arthur’s bed, burying my face in my hands. “This is a nightmare.”
“Have you considered they might have a point,” Flynn said, his voice soft.
“Of course I have, but it’s impossible.” The things Corbin said to me in the dream flashed through my head. I opened my mouth to tell Flynn about them, but something bit my tongue. I didn’t want to give him false hope, either. Rowan was carrying around enough hope for all of us.
“I know you need a logical explanation for everything,” Flynn said. “But maybe this is new scientific ground. Maybe it’s never happened before, and that’s why it can’t be explained. You’ve already released Aline from her prison. You could be a pioneer in resurrecting the dead.”
“Aline didn’t leave behind a body, because her body went to the other dimension with her. Corbin left behind a body, and it’s gone. Even if he is stuck in the underworld and we could somehow bring him back, he doesn’t have a body to go backto.”
Flynn’s face wobbled. Shit. He was close to losing it. I wrapped my arms around him. Something crackled in the pocket of his hoodie. “What’s that?” I asked, feeling a thick envelope inside.
“Oh, that thing.” Flynn pulled out a crumpled envelope and handed it to me. “This was in the mailbox at Briarwood. I was gonna give it to you back at Ryan’s place. It’s from some laboratory in London.”
My DNA results.I glanced down at the envelope without much interest. What did it matter any more?
“Open it. I want to see.” Flynn hopped from foot to foot. “Of course, I’m a wee bit dim, so you’ll have to explain all the squiggly graphs.”
A smile played over my lips. There was something about Flynn’s very presence that made every scary situation bearable. And there was something about him that was different right now. Over the last few days he’d been a real support. Instead of his usual ill-conceived humour, I remembered how he’d tried to hold Arthur back and talk him down when he’d attacked Blake. Now we were in Arthur’s hospital room and Flynn was making speeches about not feeling guilty to try and hold us all together. It might not be working, but he was trying harder than anyone.
I didn’t care about the DNA results, but maybe Flynn needed the distraction.
I flipped the envelope over and slid my finger along the seal. My mind flashed back to the last time I opened a letter – standing in the library at Briarwood, sliding Corbin’s sword-shaped letter opener under the wax seal of my mother’s letter – a letter he’d saved and guarded for me since he took over the castle from his parents.
Ten sheets of A4 paper fell out into my hands. I scanned the first page. I expected to read a form letter about decoding my history and unlocking the secrets of the past, but instead I had a personal letter from the laboratory’s director, inviting me in person for further study. “inconclusive results… never seen anything like it before… almost appears as if you have two fathers, which is of course completely impossible… please contact the lab immediately…”
My hands trembled. The letter slipped from my fingers and fluttered to the ground.
“Maeve?” Flynn waved his hand in front of my eyes.
My head spun. In my lap, graphs fanned out, dotted with anomalies marked in vivid red ink, as red as Arthur’s blood.
It was irrefutable scientific proof – I had two fathers.
I was part fae. I carried inside of me some of Daigh’s magic.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
EIGHTEEN: ROWAN
“Rowan… Rowan!”
Blake’s voice followed me down the echoing ward. I stopped next to a vending machine, supporting my body against its snack-filled belly, and waited for him to catch up.
“She won’t believe me,” I whispered, staring at the post-it notes in my hand. I felt so sure I held the key to saving Corbin, but Maeve didn’t want to see it. If everything he’d said in her dream was true, then with every minute we were moving closer to the Slaugh and Daigh’s attempt to usurp the throne of the underworld. Although how he’d do that locked up in Raynard Hall without his powers, I couldn’t guess.
“Ididtell you,” Blake grinned. “We’re on our own for this, darling Rowan.”
“Did you want something?” I needed to be alone right now, get my thudding heart back under control.
“Only to show you this.” Blake grabbed a post-it note out of my hand and held it up. It was the alchemical diagram, with symbols and arrows pointing in every direction.
“I’veseenit,” I said, exasperated. “I don’t know what it means?—”
Blake flipped the note over.
