SO HE WAS name-droppingthe whole “fae” thing, huh?
Maybe this was a test.
I was supposed to be a poor, dumb human who couldn’t recognize a bad deal—or a bad guy—even if she stared it in the face, right? Okay. I could play this game.
I blinked a few times, pretending shock, and shook my head. “Fae aren’t real,” I said in a breathy voice, pressing a hand to my chest.
He studied me for a beat and then turned to Lore with a sigh. “She knows.”
“Knows what?” I tried, but he ignored me.
“Did you tell her?”
Lore tilted her head as she frowned in my direction. “I might’ve mentioned it when we saw the boggart. I can’t remember.”
“A boggartisa fae, Lore.” Soren rubbed the creases in his forehead with a sigh. Such a human gesture.
But when he shifted in his chair, so did the shadows on the wall.
My eyes caught the outline of a silhouette.
I gasped. “You have wings!”
He dropped his hand to look at me, and something in my expression pulled a smile out of him. “See, nowthatis genuine surprise.”
Staring at the wingspan, I only half heard him. He was the only other winged fae I’d seen besides the fae with those iridescent wings that looked like fragile bubbles in the sunlight. If the shadows across the wall were any indication, his were much larger. And honestly, kind of elegant.
“Do they stay hidden like that, or can you make them fully visible?”
Soren’s eyes shuttered. “What exactly are you referring to?”
I scoffed. “I’m not stupid.” Waving at the wall behind him, I added, “They’re literally right there. I can see their shadow.”
He cleared his throat, looking down at his hands.
Lore pointedly turned away to fiddle with the teapot. “This is getting cold,” she said to no one in particular, picking up the tray. “I’m going to go make a new pot.”
She disappeared down one of the connecting tunnels.
“Theywereright there,” Soren said, finally answering my earlier question after a long pause, returning to his formal demeanor but not quite succeeding. “The shadows hold only the memory now, I promise you.”
“Where’d they go?” I asked, surprising myself again with my brazenness. There was something about falling down a hole into a totally different world that removed my usual reserve. Wandering over to the fireplace, I savored the warmth after spending the previous hour outside in the snow.
Frowning briefly, he then wiped his face of expression as he shifted items around on his desk, almost like he was avoiding looking at me. “I don’t believe that’s any of your business, is it?”
“I have an idea.” I turned to give him a fake smile. “Let’s make a deal, like you wanted—I’ll drop it if you give me a peek inside that book of yours.” Not only might it say where Dad, Rissa, and Olive had gone, but it might hold information on Mom too.
“Nice try,” he scoffed, but his shoulders relaxed slightly at the change in topic. Swiveling to face me, he leaned back in his chair. “Why do you want to know who came through here?”
