Page 95 of Into The Green

"Small price to pay for a safe child, don't you think?" Dany asked and Ang nodded her agreement. "So, Celestine," she said, turning fully to me. "Look at you. I knew you were going to be pretty. You had the sweetest little baby face. How was your host family?"

"Oh, um," I stumbled, feeling strange. Jasper moved in behind me, putting a hand on my hip, offering me a little calm. "They were good to me. They... did their best. We just... we never clicked I guess..."

"That's normal for changelings," Ang supplied.

"So long as they were good to you. That's all that matters. How did you end up back here? Where is your amulet?"

"The one that made her terrified of bears?" Jasper asked with a grin.

"That would be the one," Dany said with a smile that was so much like my own that I felt the instant connection with her that moment that I did with Jet. Family. Blood.

"Pixies," I supplied, still a little sore about them taking it, especially knowing it was from my mother, to protect me.

"Those little thieves," she said with a head shake. "So this is your fella," she observed, head cocked, taking him in. "He's good looking. You look just like your parents. Empath, right?"

"Yes, ma'am," Jasper agreed and I all but fell off my seat at the word. Ma'am?

"Ma'am?" I choked.

"Ma'am?" Dany said at the same time, face scrunched up. "I know I haven't been conscious of it, but I couldn't have aged that much. Oh, to be a miss again."

"Ma'am because you're the future Seelie queen," Jasper supplied. "And because you're the mother to the woman I love and she's a pain in the ass enough to heed your opinion even after only knowing you for a few minutes. I'm trying to make a good impression."

Dany laughed, nodding at him. "I think an empath is good for her. She's got guards."

"You don't need to tell me," Jasper agreed.

"I'm sitting right here," I objected, feeling a little surly.

"Do you love him?" Dany asked bluntly, making me start, her dark eyes seeming to bore into my soul.

"Yes," I answered, feeling the words down to my marrow.

"Good," she said, clapping once. "Maybe my own love story ended in dungeons with my brains turning to... what is the word... Jell-O?" she asked and I nodded, smiling because I remembered Cass telling me that she had a bit of a crush on all things human and using that word just confirmed it. "But I'm a sucker for a good romance."

"Remind me to tell you about Jade and Doyle sometime then," I said and she smiled.

"We have so, so much to catch up on," she said, reaching for my hand and squeezing it. "But you'll excuse me and your grandmother here for a few minutes while we go over some Court business."

"Of course," I said, looking to Ang to see an eagerness overtake her. Not only to have her daughter back, I suspected, but to have someone to share the burden of leadership with. That would be my burden one day too. But with my mother back, that was a good long while away.

"Sometimes even I don't realize how weighed down you are until you let that shit drop," Jasper said as we walked into the courtyard. I walked over to the wall and leaned on it, Jasper moving in behind me, arms around my waist, holding me tight.

"I have a mom," I smiled.

"A good one too."

"And I have a grandmother."

"Mhmm."

"And a father who is a dickhead, but at least I know him now."

"I guess."

"And a brother."

"I wish I could say that your desire to know him is normal, but I think it's fucked."