“At least it’s not for long.”
He smiled. “True. Imagine how baffled Blake would be if it were even longer.”
“His head would explode.”
“Your sister was quieter,” Keith said, his voice growing thoughtful again. “I’m not sure what she thought about me.”
“I’m not always sure what she thinks about me either.”
She used to know what Seraphina thought of her. She used to know what Seraphina thought ofeverything.
Seraphina had raised her a lot more than their parents had. She was the one who had told Iris in no uncertain terms that she was smart and beautiful and worthy, no matter what anyone else thought.
But that was before Seraphina’s first match had rejected her and before Blake’s spot on the Council had slipped between his fingers.
Slowly, Seraphina had moved away from her, leaving a chilly gap where Iris used to have a sister. She had her own life to live, and Iris didn’t always fit into it. Worse, Iris sometimes actively disrupted it, even when she wasn’t trying to. There was a reason Iris owed her the pretense of a spotless, Council-approved marriage. She had a lot to make up for.
“She cares about me,” Iris said quickly. She wanted to make that part clear. “I know that. I know she’s put her foot down with Blake and insisted on keeping me in their lives, even when I was a lot of trouble. I’m just not sure if she would rather have the real me or the fake me.”
And haven’t you put yourself in a position where you’ll never get to find out?her unicorn said, nosing at her.
Before Iris could figure out how to respond to that, Keith’s phone buzzed.
“Anyone who doesn’t want the real you is an idiot,” he said firmly, taking his phone out of his pocket. He smiled at his text. “We should see them in just a minute. I’ll just have to go on the other side to guide them through. You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
“No, I do. I can’t be afraid of this forever, and I’m going to have to do it at the end of the week anyway. Doing it on foot should be easier.”
When he offered her his hand for the crossing, she took it without reservation. She couldn’t believe how good it was to have somebody to hold onto.
She concentrated on the pressure of his hand on hers as they stepped through the barrier. The light play of magic over her skin—almost like a wave of static electricity—didmake a pulse of dread go through her, but it didn’t immediately send her back to memories of the accident. It would probably be worse when they left in Keith’s car, but she’d cross that bridge when she came to it.
And even then, she’d still have him with her, which would help enormously.
She squeezed his hand. “That wasn’t too bad. And—oh, is that them?”
Two sleek cars appeared on the horizon.
Keith grinned. “That’s them.”
He waved, and the cars slowed and pulled off to the side of the road, stopping a few yards from where Keith and Iris stood.
Iris’s heart was hammering in her chest. She couldn’t possibly be more nervous about meeting his team than she’d been about having sex for the first time, could she?
Yeah, apparently she could. The sex had just involved Keith, and she already trusted him with her whole heart. This involved strangers, so it was alotmore nerve-wracking. What if they didn’t like her?
Four people got out of the cars: two men and two women.
Keith had described his team to her in a little more detail since last night, so Iris could tentatively make a guess about who was who.
The slightly older white guy who—even at a distance—radiated a calm, self-possessed dignity: that had to be Cooper Dawes, Keith’s boss.
Evie Anderson—spider shifter!—was the curvy Black woman with deep red-purple hair that Iris instantly envied. She also had drop-dead gorgeous fashion sense, and she’d chosen bold jewel tones and metallic shades that meant she wasn’t apologizing at all for standing out.
The young blonde woman in the second car, who looked simultaneously vulnerable and tough as nails, was probably Isabelle “Iz” Benoit, the team’s dragon shifter and (relative) rookie.
(Iris noticed that despite all the stereotypes unicorns bandied about when it came to dragons, Iz didn’t look noticeably decadent and debauched. From the way people talked about dragons, anyone would think Iz would get carried everywhere on a velvet litter and lounge around surrounded by sycophants feeding her grapes. So, unsurprisingly, she could mark that down as another bit of Silver Council guidance that she didn’t agree with.)
Finally, there was the handsome Korean-American guy with the warm, easygoing smile: Simon Park the tiger shifter.
