Finn shifted forward in his chair and took my hand in his. His touch was warm, soft, and comforting, but also more. My breath caught in my throat as I dragged my eyes from where our hands were entwined, and I looked up into his face. Those bright, sparkling eyes of his flashed with something I rarely ever saw, not from him. Finn was a jokester. Lighthearted and free, but he wasn’t careless. And then intensity I saw in him now made my skin buzz with a strange kind ofelectricity.
“I’m sorry I brought her up,” he simply said, voice soft andlow.
“It’s okay.” I gave him a timid smile. “It’s just so strange to me, you know? Sometimes, I feel as if I’m mourning her, even though I’ve never even met her. Even though she died all those yearsago.”
“It’s not that strange, Norah. She was your mother. Of course you are going to mourn her when you learn of her fate.” He sighed and sat back in his chair, and it took all my self-control not to grasp at his fingers to hold him close tome.
But that would be silly. Even though I’d felt a connection with Finn from day one, he was the instructor I knew the least. We’d flirted, yes. And we’d even kissed during that strange, intense moment we’d shared in the stables. But it had been so fleeting that I almost felt as if we hadn’t kissed at all, a fact I was desperate toremedy.
I wanted to know him as well as I knew Rourke and Liam and Kael. I wanted to feel his arms wrapped around me. I wanted to see into his eyes and understand everything he felt. But I didn’t know how to get from here to there, not when Alwyn would barely let ustouch.
So, instead of jumping to my feet and wrapping my arms around his neck, I said, “You’ve never told me yourstory.”
“Mystory?”
“What did you do before you came here to teach at the Academy?” My breath stilled in my lungs as his eyes flickered with a hint of darkness. All my instructors had backgrounds that followed them around like hulking shadows. Kael, my Winter prince, had been cast out from his family, only allowed to return home with a bride. Liam had once served for Queen Marin and had been captured when she’d been killed. He’d been kept in a cell foryears.
Rourke had been a member of the Autumn Rebels. He’d left them behind when he realized that they would never truly fight against the crown. He’d wanted to do something to make a difference, but they refused to fight. Even now, they still lurked along the border of the Autumn woods, watching and waiting but never lifting asword.
“I’m afraid my story is not that exciting to tell. I come from a small little village in the northern-most part of the Spring lands. My mother manages a little farm where she grows some crops for the crown, though I suppose not anymore. All our Royals are dead.” He frowned. “I suppose she’ll be supplying them to someone else now. The Hunters, perhaps. I should visit soon. It’s been far toolong.”
Even though three weeks had passed since Queen Viola had launched an attack on the courts, not a single soul had stepped up to rule the realm or to even take charge of each individual court. Things were a bit in chaos. The only thing keeping order was the Hunters, but it was a temporary solution that wouldn’t last long. A part of me knew deep down inside what the realm was waiting for, but it didn’t feelright.
I wasn’tready.
“Is she alone?” I asked quietly, not wanting to push, even though I was desperately curious to know where Finn had comefrom.
The distant look in his eyes drifted away as he flashed a grin. “Oh no. I have four brothers. They’ll be keeping her company and driving her mad at the same time. They help out on the farm. Plowing the land and harvesting thecrops.”
Interesting. Finn’s life wasn’t exactly the dark and tortured history I’dexpected.
I smiled. “And what about yourfather?”
Finn’s eyes darkened. “I don’t talk about him. As far as I’m concerned, he doesn’texist.”
“Right.” My heart thumped. So there it was. The wound he hid deep down inside. “I understand how you feel. My step-father is pretty much the biggest asshole I’ve ever met. Here, in Otherworld, it’s so easy for me to pretend he doesn’t exist and that he’s not still there, probably making my mom’s life a livinghell.”
Mom. Tears pricked my eyes. I still thought of her as my mother. Of course I did. She’d raised me; she’d loved me. Was she worried about me now? Did she have any idea where I’d gone? It had seemed that shedid.
Was she glad I was far, far away from the claws of my step-dad? But moreimportantly…
“Do you think my mom knew, Finn?” I asked him, a question I’d been pondering for months. “I mean, sheisthe one who gave me that necklace, and she acted like it was the only thing in the world that could save mylife.”
Finn leaned back in his chair and laced his hands behind his head. “Marin was fond of humans, a trait not shared by many fae. Truly, she had a fondness for most living things. She loved the changelings, even though most considered themless thanjust because they’d been forced to spend their growing years in the human realm. Queen Marin even loved the Redcaps, as dangerous and volatile as they can be. And you know what’s strange? I don’t remember a single Redcap attack from her reign. All of that came after. The storms and the attacks. Everythingchanged.”
I leaned forward in my chair. “So, what are yousaying?”
“I’m saying that it wouldn’t surprise me if Marin went into the human realm and met your mother herself to tell her exactly what was going to happen when you came of age. In fact, I would bet on it. She would want to be absolutely certain her daughter was going to a good home, and she’d want insurance just in case things went wrong. That necklace was meant to mask you so that no one would ever find out who you are. Marin gave your human mother that necklace. I’m certain ofit.”
I blew out a hot breath, my mind and heart both racing. “And that was before my awful step-father was in the equation, so she wouldn’t have known how horrible my life wouldbecome.”
She wouldn’t have known just how close I’d come to gettinghit.
“Of course, this is just my theory” he said with a slight smile. “You would have to speak to your human mother to learn the fulltruth.”
“I know. And one day I will.” I took a deep breath in through my nose. “I’m just not ready to facehimyet. But when all of this is over, Iwill.”
But would it ever be over? Once I was done training, it would be time for me to graduate from the Academy and head out into the realm of the fae to live with my four mates. The courts would need help recovering from the Autumn fae attacks, and one day, I might sit on a throne myself. All of this could take months or years or evenmore.
