Chapter Eleven #3
She closed her hand around the leather and looked at him. “Right. I am going to get this over with tonight. I hate being broke.”
She got up, sprinted up the steps, and to her floor. She put on her wing dress and brought her wings out. She took off, and the house let her out the skylight. She surged up and headed for the casino. Her luck was one of the only things she could control.
* * * *
Rowan listened to the hum and smiled. “It looks like it’s happening now.”
Edric got up. “Which casino would she go to?”
“Heverwell. It was owned by the family of one of her early foster homes. She hated them.”
He nodded. “Please excuse me. Send me the lease application, and I will have it back to you by tomorrow.”
Rowan blinked. “Right. Did you find a room you want?”
“The house is making me one on the third floor.”
Rowan paused, and Ren laughed. Rowan said, “It is building you a room on the third floor.”
He grinned. “Excellent. I will move in on the weekend.”
Rowan nodded. “Email contract has been sent with a second one for meals. This Saturday is the family and friends’ barbeque. Everyone is welcome.”
He nodded and headed for the exit.
Rowan smiled and looked at Ren. “Well, I think Hope is going to be less alone than she thought.”
“Would you prefer I handed you a wallet full of money?”
“No. I am set. My family has an inheritance through the female line. It’s rolled from Grandma’s family for generations.”
“And Hope is your second cousin?” Ren looked at her with raised brows. “What side of your mother’s line do you think she came from?”
“Oh. Oh, no. Grandma, did you have sisters?”
“Yes. One. She married beneath her. She had a daughter as well, but we lost track of them. It was harder in those days. Someone could just move one county over, and they were lost.”
“I need to get a DNA test done.”
Ren sighed. “Thank you for being sensible. I can do the test to confirm lineage.”
“How? She’s gone.”
“I believe the house brought her nest in. You should be able to find hair in it.”
Rowan stood, but the table glowed, and a neat coil of long black hair with the root ends still attached appeared. Ren smiled. “I will take one from her, and one from you.”
Rowan yanked two strands out. “The house is cooperating.”
“It is. What does that tell you?” Ren held the strands in separate hands. He closed his eyes, and an image shot out showing Eleanor and her younger sister at the wedding to Vasoric.
The image of that younger sister and her own husband at a more sedate event, and their daughter at a different event with another dark elf.
That was where the pixie had come in. They had a little girl and were with her until she was ten, and then both of them were gone.
The next image showed the little girl as a woman who was pregnant and on her own.
Then, she surrendered the baby in hospital. That was it.
Eleanor stood up. “That was Emmy’s great-granddaughter?”
Rowan nodded. “She still is. I should have asked her to take a test years ago.”
Aspen blinked. “We have a cousin?”
“We have a cousin. Well, we always have, but that was confirmation. So the spell tracked it back to a common ancestor?”
“Well, your common ancestor was Eleanor’s mother.” Ren smiled. “She’s in that portrait over there.”
They all turned and saw the woman in the elegant gown, her black hair piled high, gems at her neck and ears, more gemstones on her wrists.
Eleanor smiled. “Laura Aberstock. The portrait painter had trouble with her skin, so he made her pale with a light blue cast.”
Rowan looked from her mother to her aunt and thought of Hope. “That is quite the stamp.”
Ren smiled. “I am amazed you didn’t see it, but as she has pixie blood, it might have blurred your senses. Because they fly, they have an obscuring spell in their blood.”
Rowan blinked and wiped tears away. “She came here because it was safe. Because it felt like home.”
Aspen said, “But she didn’t demand or insist. She sang with me late at night when I was agitated. She didn’t do anything, but she confirmed that I wasn’t alone.”
Vasoric’s eyes widened. “She was the one I saw with Eleanor after the accident.”
Aspen said, “Someone cut the car open and got Eleanor out. Called emergency services and asked if she could get Eleanor to the hospital. She called you, Dad, and then the ambulance arrived, and she took off. I remember the hum.”
Ren nodded. “And you were traumatized, and the obscuring kicks in the moment she takes flight.”
Vasoric rubbed his forehead. “She left as soon as I arrived. I thought it was Rowan.”
Rowan’s eyes widened. “Because she was smaller then.”
He nodded. “She was.”
Rowan took a deep breath and lifted her head to the house. “So you knew.”
There was a bell from somewhere inside the house.
Rowan grimaced. “I love it, but I think that is one sarcastic house.”
Bright tinkling filled the room, and everyone laughed and returned to pie.
It was one in the morning when Hope tiptoed in through the kitchen door, and Rowan flicked the light on. “What sort of time is this?”
Hope had a bag and a purse that she hadn’t left with. “Um, approaching morning? Don’t you have work today?”
“I do. So what is in the purse?”
“A few cheques and some cash. I feel like a people again.” Hope smiled brightly.
“How much did you win?”
She grinned and opened her purse, pulling out several cashiers’ cheques. “Um, I think it’s around four hundred and fifty thousand dollars. It’s good that Edric came after me. I forgot my identification.”
Rowan smiled and then said, “I need to apologize. You said you were a second cousin, and I never thought about it.”
“You were busy and in several directions. We were friends. That was enough.”
“So you are going to cash some cheques tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I am going to set up an account and get a card.”
Rowan opened her arms. “Can I have a hug?”
Hope smiled and hugged her. “Friend and a cousin and so small. You are very economical.”
Rowan laughed, and they sat down to add up the funds she had won. It turned out that since she was determined, Edric was going to run escort. They had gone to two different casinos after the security detail had encouraged her to leave.
Hope sighed. “I feel better. Real. I had been doubting it for a while.”
“Can you cut open a car with your wings?”
“Yeah. Sure. I have done it a few—oh.”
“Mmhm. We just put it together.”
“Blood called, so I answered. I am sorry I didn’t tell you. I knew she wasn’t going to survive, but she needed the most time she could have.”
“Another hug incoming.”
They hugged and sat up until morning, talking about all the moments that Rowan was just beginning to recall. “It’s like you live under that curse.”
She blushed. “They got it from a pixie. They took that spell and made it a curse.”
“Where did they get it?”
Hope sighed. “From the Andersons. They sold my blood to make the curse.”
“How old were you?”
“I was six. They nearly killed me and got me sent to a new home. It saved me. Their home was burned, and they were found dead thirty-six hours after I was removed. The Smiths’ house was next to a police department, so I was safe there.
When I was healthy, I was moved again, and by the time I was twelve, I had been through six more homes.
Then, she helped me, got me whatever she could with her pen and the paperwork.
I was with her until I aged out. It was a good place to be as a girl in foster care. ”
Rowan smiled. “I am very glad you had her during that time.”
“So am I.” She smiled. “I have to go to bed. Tomorrow, I am going to the bank, and then I am going shopping. Only having two dresses and no underwear is getting annoying. Edric kept stroking the opening of my dress. It was okay, but I am hella ticklish where the wings come out.”
Rowan chuckled. “We have a lot to talk about.”
“We have time, and I need sleep, and so do you. Your doctor just came to get you.” Hope smiled, took her loot, and walked through the doorway. “G’night, Rowan, Ren.”
Her wings emerged, and she flew through the house toward her room.
Ren smiled. “There’s another room on the third floor.”
Rowan got up. “This house is too smart for its own good. Come on. I can’t skip more time because I was worried about my cousin gambling. She won by the way. She won a lot.”
He put his arm around her. “I didn’t doubt it for a moment. I am glad this will help stabilize her.”
Rowan leaned on him. “Me, too. I thought my new life started when Aspen woke up, but I think it is starting now. She was the missing piece.”
“It is good that you are looking.”
They were outside his room and heading toward hers. “I am not looking anymore. She’s here. She told me today that there are bloodline calls. I understand that. I also understand that she was with me during far more disasters than I actually remember.”
Ren smiled. “Anything else?”
“The curse that they used on the ladies? It came from six-year-old Hope. A foster family sold her blood, and then they died for it.”
“The mages might want to analyze her blood a little. That is a hellish curse.”
“It takes your power, gives it to someone else, and makes people forget you. Yes, it is a hellish curse, but she survived it, and no one had to rescue her; we just had to look for her.”
A voice from above them filtered down. “Thank you for looking.”
Rowan teared up, and Ren kissed her to stop her from being overwhelmed. It was very effective.