Her eyes widen and her gaze drops to my stomach. “Really?”
I tilt my head. “Like I’d make something like that up.”
“But how?”
I lift my eyebrows. The how part is obvious. I must have forgotten to take my pill or something. Or maybe I just got unlucky.
“Who. I mean who,” she says.
I bite my lip. “You have to swear to tell no one.”
“I won’t.”
“Daire.”
“Rider Daire? The one who gave up his necklace, Daire?”
“Yes.” Then I give her the very condensed version of what happened the night of the wake. “I don’t know if I’m his one—he thinks I am—but if I tell him now, he’s going to feel obligated.” And I don’t want to be shunned twice by a rider. Some of the riders might think I’ve done it deliberately, and for it to happen the night of the wake just compounds the bad timing.
I should never have taken him upstairs. It’s never just a dance.
“But don’t you want to go to faery? This is your second chance, Mom.” She clasps my hands, excitement gleaming her eyes.
I shake my head. “I can’t leave you.”
“Mom…”
“I just need your help for a bit while I figure out what to do.”
“You need to talk to him. He thinks you’re his one.”
“He gave up his necklace and hasn’t spoken to me since. If he gave a damn, he’d have cooled off and come back to see me, maybe asked me out for coffee.”
“You kicked him out of your bed and told him to be gone in the morning.”
“So?”
“So, no rider will cross you after you banned Dad.”
I stare at Danni. “You’re taking his side?”
“He waited twenty years—”
“He didn’t have to.”
“Neither did you.” She lifts an eyebrow. “Do you like him?”
I don’t know if I like the idea of him, or the reality. “I don’t know him well enough.”
But I want that chance, and he took it away. He took away the chance of going to faery by giving up his necklace.
The bell rings. “I need to serve the customer. Remember, it’s a secret.”
I don’t want Daire showing up because he has to. I will not be an obligation.
8
Daire
