Uncle Andris was in his office. Ling was next to him, both huddled close at his desk, going over documents together. I paused to watch the intimate moment between them.
Ling looked to be explaining something to him, pointing to the paper. His gaze drifted to her. Reaching up, he softly brushed her hair off her face, tucking it behind her ear, completely absorbed with her. A small smile flickered her lips at his touch, but her finger stabbed down at the paper, pulling his attention back to the document.
It was subtle, but knowing Andris the way I did, I could see the complete adoration in his eyes, the deep love he felt for her. Profound and irrevocable. Something I realized even as a kid, I never saw between him and Rita.
Ling noticed me first, her dark eyes peering at me impassively.
“Brexley.” Andris sat straighter in his chair, the sweet moment between him and his love dissolving as he turned back to the stoic man I knew. “Come in.” He motioned for me to enter.
I cleared my throat. “Sorry to interrupt.”
“No, no, please... I was going to check on you soon.”
I stepped into the office, Ash staying slightly behind me.
“What can I do for you?” Andris gestured to the chair, but I stayed standing, my nerves not able to settle.
“This might be peculiar.”
“You are peculiar.” Ling’s emotionless to-the-point tone made Ash snort behind me.
Again, I couldn’t disagree.
“What is it,Drágám?” My dear.Andris encouraged me.
“Did Father have a house away from HDF?”
Andris blinked like that was the last question he expected from me. “Your father and I had numerous safe houses over the country. And through the East.”
“Right.” I dipped my head, hope deflating from my lungs. The place could be anywhere, a straw in a haystack.
“What brought this up?” Andris sat back in his chair.
“I had a dream... and then the fae book showed me the same place.” When I arrived here, I caught Andris up on everything, including the fae book. He was one of the few I trusted to tell everything to. “It was a small cottage. Father’s jacket was there.” I swallowed. The memory of his smell, the memory of the coat, prickled at my eyes. “A journal was on the dining table.”
“Journal?” Andris’s spine went straight, the chair squeaking as he sat up hastily.
“Yes.” My heart started to pound at his reaction. “I saw a picture of?—”
“Your mother.” He stood up.
“How did you know?” My mouth dried.
“Your father was always careful, but before his death, his paranoia had grown extreme. He never carried the journal on him in the event hewas ever captured... he kept her picture there.” Andris’s dark eyebrows crowded together. “I can think of one place it would be—a place only I knew about, in case something happened.”
“Where?” I breathed.
“A cottage where your father and mother secretly lived together before her death. Where I had met her once. I didn’t realize he kept it. He never told me...” A sadness gripped Andris, his thoughts taking him away.
“Location?” Ash stepped up with me, jerking Andris back to attention.
“Gödöllo. Not far from the old human Royal Palace.”
My mouth parted.
It was only thirty minutes from here.
Chapter
