Lee approached with a young woman. She looked to be in her mid-twenties and had dark skin, her hair a curly crown that topped a lovely face with wide warm brown eyes.
Was I about to get another shock? Had Rhys saved Lee from the busty bartender because he had a girlfriend here in the village? I’d lost the chance to see love bloom between Fenrir and Evan.
“Momma, Papa, I want you to meet Shahidi. We call her Shy, though it’s a misnomer. She’s not really shy,” Lee said with a grin.
“I am right now,” the young woman corrected. She was dressed in jeans and an emerald green sweater, boots on her feet. “I’m going to be honest. I didn’t think I was ever going to meet you. Do you prefer Your Highness or Your Grace? I’ve been told you go by both. Rhys teaches a class in royal etiquette. I am not his favorite student.”
Lee snorted. “Yeah, he can’t stand you.”
“He complains often enough,” Shy replied.
“It’s not you he’s complaining about.” Lee turned back our way. “We met Shy when she showed up outside the mountain seven years ago. She camped out until we let her in.”
“I don’t like camping, but your grandfather wouldn’t let me do anything else. Stubborn old man,” Shy complained, but there was affection in her tone.
My dad? Relief poured through me. “Where is he? I would love to see him.”
I missed my dad, and it had only been a few days since we’d talked. He’d been one of the last people I’d seen before we went missing.
“Maybe we should go sit down.” Lee looked around. “This could be a bit of a shock.”
Shy’s eyes changed, going all black, and her whole body seemed to shift, shoulders softening, the expression on her face becoming something oddly familiar to me. “Hello, me darlin’ girl. It’s been so long, and I’ve missed you. Devinshea, you still need a haircut. You look like a girl.”
Her accent had become a deep Irish.
“Harry?” Dev asked.
I barely heard the question because the day had been way too much for me, and my peripheral vision started to fade.
Dev caught me even as I heard Lee sigh.
“Told you we should have eased her into it, Grandad.”
I let the darkness take me and prayed this was all just a dream.
Chapter Five
I came to on an unfamiliar bed, candles lighting the room. Someone had moved me here, covering me in a soft quilt. For a moment I tried to convince myself that it had all been a dream and I was back in Summer’s palace.
But the smallness of the room, the scent of something cooking, all told me I was exactly where I thought I was.
“Hey, Mom. There’s water next to you,” a soft voice said. “Should I go get Papa? Dad is still out talking to the vampires we have here, but Papa is in the kitchen with the boys.”
I sat up and Evan was in a chair by the bed, a fire glowing softly in the hearth. She looked like her sister. Not exactly, of course. She was shorter than Summer, her body more petite and lithe. She wore the same tactical clothing her brothers wore and I could tell she was fit and muscular.
From years of training when she should have been playing.
“I’m sorry Lee hit you with Shy that way,” Evan began. “Lee doesn’t get that you have to be eased into things. He kind of steamrolls his way through life. I should explain.”
“My father is dead and he found a way to stick around.” I forced myself to sit up. “Did Myrddin kill him?”
Evan nodded shortly. “Yes, though we didn’t know exactly what had happened for years. He was there that day. He was there when Myrddin came for us.”
“Tell me about it.”
“You should rest. I’m sure Rhys will give you a full debrief.”
“I want to hear it from you. I think Rhys has become a leader, and he’ll leave emotion out of it. I want to know what it was like. How did my father die? How did you end up with Sasha? He was in Italy at the time. How long was it between when we disappeared and you were forced to flee?”
“It was the morning after you went missing. From what I understand Myrddin waited until the warrior vampires were sleeping before he made his big move. It was early enough that I hadn’t woken up yet. Albert came in and woke me up and handed me a bag. He told me I had to put some clothes in it and I could take one stuffed animal. It’s the only time I can ever remember seeing Albert flustered. Granddad was there, and he came in and helped me. He promised me it would all be okay, and he let me take two stuffed animals. He also slipped a picture in my bag. I didn’t find it until later. It was a picture of our family. He had to fold it up, but I still have it.”