All right. This is going well. I plant myself between Charlie and Chelsea and gesture to my sister. “This is Chelsea.”
She extends her hand and grins. “There are a lot of us, so I’m going to make this easier on you. You can call me Charming Chelsea, and you can call her”—she cocks her head to Blair—“Bossy Blair.”
Feylin’s eyes dance with amusement. “Ah, alliteration.”
“Yes.” I roll the back of my tongue in annoyance. It kind of sounds like a purr, or like I’m trying to hack up a furball, but it works. “Since there are seven of us, it makes it easier for folks to keep us straight. Ah, here comes Fiery Finn.”
My redheaded sister glances over, sees me pointing to her and drags Emory with her. “It’stheFeylin! I need to meet you.”
I gesture grandly to him. “MeettheFeylin.”
Finn extends her hand, and he takes it (for that matter, it’s the same way he took Chelsea’s hand) with the backside facing the ceiling.
She pulls it to her as he gentle releases his grasp. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Feylin smiles genuinely. “Fiery Finn.”
“It’s easy to remember because of the hair.” She points to it. “And this is Empathic Emory.”
Emory swings her blonde hair off her shoulder. “Don’t worry. I don’t touch you and know what you’re feeling.”
He lifts a brow. “You know how people feel?”
She cocks her head as if trying to decide if he’s genuine. “That’s why they call me Empathic Emory. Chelsea works with charms, Finn is just fiery. Oh, here comes Dallas and Georgie.”
Dallas’s eyes become big as plates. “Oh, I haven’t met Feylin.”
There’s a crowd of women surrounding him now, but he’s taking it all in stride. He’s probably used to women hanging all over him.
It occurs to me as they talk that Feylin’s never mentioned his family. His parents are both dead, so is he all alone? There weren’t any pictures in his bedroom, and there aren’t any in the castle, for that matter.
Yeah, it strikes me that Feylin doesn’t have any family.
“Meet Daring Dallas,” I say, “and Glowing Georgia. Georgia’s a healer, and Dallas is simply daring. Give her a motorcycle and she’ll go all Evil Knievel on you in no time.”
He laughs and then introduces himself. I take the opportunity to glance over my shoulder to see if Charlie’s still skulking about, but he’s gone. A wave of relief washes over me. Charlie shmoozing with Feylin at a funeral would’ve been almost as humiliating as Edward hitting on Blair the day after we broke up.
Thinking of Edward makes my throat shrink, but the feeling’s quickly replaced when Feylin turns to me. “I’m ready to be tested. I think I’ve got it all down.”
I quirk a brow. “Are you sure? There are seven of us.”
He rubs his hands together. “I’ve got this. Blair’s easy to remember because we met yesterday. You’re Charming Chelsea, then there’s Daring Dallas and Empathic Emory.” He points to each of them in turn, and my sisters nod when he guesses their names correctly. “Fiery Finn and lastly Glowing Georgia.”
“You did it,” I say, clapping. A little happiness in this somber living room takes the edge off our loss.
Feylin gives a slight bow. “But how old are you? You look nearly the same age.”
“Georgia’s twenty-three at the youngest. I’m twenty-nine.” At the confused look on his face I explain, “Witches have a shorter gestation period, and my mom wanted a big family.”
“Right away,” Blair adds, her voice tense.
This whole time she’s been eyeing Feylin with worry. For me, I’m sure. Of course she’s worried that I’m rushing into things, which I am.
“Fae have long gestation periods,” he explains. “Nearly a year and a half.”
“Why?” I ask.
“No clue. Maybe it’s because of our magic.”
