Chapter 21
A light drizzle of rain pitter-pattered on the roof as I blinked the sleep away from my eyes. I could’ve stayed in bed with Ace all day, but after we slept, it was time to get up and figure out our next steps.
Heat spread across my face.
Well, our next steps had actually involved staying in bed, but after Ace was done working my body and making me utter all sorts of unholy sounds, it was now time to make a plan.
After getting up and finding dry clothes, I’d managed to pry out the wet map and letter we discovered at O’Reilly’s house. The ink hadn’t run and the paper remained intact. The papers now hung from clips in front of the roaring fireplace along with our drenched clothing.
Ace slid the hot drink along the table’s surface in front of me. “What now?”
I thanked him for the coffee and wrapped my hands around the warm mug. “I don’t know. I think we need more information.”
“About what?”
“Everything.”
“Don’t you think we should report this to the queen first?”
I pressed my lips together and watched the steam lift off the surface of the drink. “How? We either trust Blake to deliver a message or go personally, which means trusting the palace guards and the royals.”
“You don’t trust Queen Titania?”
“You do?” I asked.
“Everything she’s done so far suggest she’s trying to protect you.”
“While I agree with how it looks, I can’t forget how the hunters who attacked us in Perga didn’t wear the same clothing as the rogues. There might’ve been rogue hunters using the confusion to their advantage, but I think most of those men belonged to the king.”
I slipped my hands free of the mug and walked over to the drying clothes and papers.
Beside the letter and map from O’Reilly’s, I’d hung another piece of parchment.
I carefully removed the paper scrap and returned to my seat.
I hadn’t had time to compare the writing to the samples at my cabin.
I hadn’t had time to process my thoughts, but neither of those things deterred my absolute certainty that I’d seen this style of writing before.
I unfolded the paper and pressed it flat on the tabletop. This paper was dry. The water hadn’t touched it, or smeared it, or damaged it in any way. Instead, it remained exactly as it had the day I took it. I’d only hung it beside the other papers because I didn’t know what else to do with it.
Ace leaned forward. “Artemis and Apollo?” He glanced up at me. “Why do you have a slip of paper with your…” He hesitated. “Is this the paper the headmaster showed you at the orphanage?”
I nodded. Ace had heard everything said in that office.
I’d confronted Marcus, the headmaster of the orphanage.
He had little sympathy for the pain and suffering he caused me and my brother.
He also had very little information about where we’d come from or who’d dropped us off on the front steps.
We had wounds all over, including our ears.
Now I knew the ear wounds were probably from cutting off the phaanon tips, but at the time, it presented another mystery.
Just like the small piece of paper with our names on it that had been left with us.
Apparently, Marcus had tried to do everything possible to rid himself of the scrap piece of parchment—burning it, cutting it, losing it, but it would always return to his desk.
That magic also appeared to keep the paper dry.
And Marcus believed the same magic that protected the paper also kept him imprisoned within the orphanage.
Ace had offered to kill Marcus if I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
I’d left the orphanage with a sense of freedom, relief, and the piece of indestructible paper.
“I didn’t realize you took it,” Ace said.
“Have a close look at it.” I nodded at the paper.
Ace frowned but scanned the note again. “What am I supposed to see?”
“Does the writing look familiar?”
He squinted at the paper again. I knew the moment he made the connection. His neck and shoulders tensed, and his eyes widened.
“I only know one person who does their As like that.” I tapped the paper. “I was going to compare it to one of my other letters at home, but I’m pretty sure those all burned.”
Ace grimaced. But instead of saying anything, he pushed away from the table and walked toward the living room to where a small wooden chest sat on one of the bookcase’s shelves.
He lifted the lid, pulled out a folded piece of paper and glanced over his shoulder.
With a deep sigh, he walked back. He unfolded the paper and laid it beside my note.
Always keep her safe.
I swallowed, my stomach twisting from the matching As but also from the content of Ace’s letter. She was trying to protect me.
“It’s a match,” he said.
I nodded, not quite capable of words yet. I reached out and traced the one of the As with my finger. “If Queen Titania cared so much, why did she send us to that awful place?” I asked.
And what did it mean?
Did the queen know who my parents were? Was the queen my mother? The king my father? That wasn’t possible, though. They were both pureblood galeons. People would’ve noticed a pregnant queen.
Ace frowned and stared at the old parchment paper as if the answer would spring up from the lines of ink. “I don’t know, Mouse.”
I sighed and plucked the paper from the table. Folding it gently, I slipped it back into my pocket.
“I’m still not comfortable going to the queen just yet,” I said.
“Then what do you suggest?”
“We need to find another source of information.”
“Like whom?”
Daughter of Mab.
“Hecate called me a Daughter of Mab, but that’s not the first time I’ve heard that expression.” I snapped my fingers. “A naiad called me that as well.”
“What? When?”
“Feels like years ago, but it was when I was tromping through the forest investigating the sightings of rogue hunters. I felt her magic on the trail and ended up speaking with her.”
Ace paled and looked away.
I narrowed my eyes. “You had a weird reaction the last time I mentioned a naiad. They don’t usually come this far west. What aren’t you telling me?”
“I…wh…” He pulled at his collar. “While I was away, I had a relationship with a naiad.”
“A relationship?”
He nodded.
“And she followed you here?”
“I’m not sure. I’ve been avoiding the river since you mentioned meeting one.”
He’d literally taken me across the river and to a hidden cave behind a waterfall, but okay, sure. He was avoiding the river. “I take it things didn’t end amicably?”
“It was never supposed to be serious. I told her that from the start, but when I ended things, she didn’t take it well. According to her, we didn’t end at all. She refused to believe I could walk away.”
“I’m impressed. I’ve never heard of any man walking away from a naiad.”
He finally met my gaze, his eyes deep pools of sadness. “It was easy to walk away when my heart already belonged to someone else.”
My mouth dropped open. “You need to work on your communication skills.”
“That’s what I’m doing right now,” he said. “It’s always been you, Em.”
I shut my mouth, got up from my chair and walked into his arms. He leaned down and kissed me. His lips explored mine before he pulled me closer. He held me. He gripped my body and kept me close as if he feared I would slip away.
But I wasn’t going anywhere. My heart was already claimed.
“I have some bad news,” I whispered into his chest.
“Don’t say it.”
“We need to find your ex.”
Ace groaned and pulled away.
“She might know more about me and this situation. I can go alone if you—”
“No,” he said. “We’re not splitting up ever again.”
I nodded and reached out to pat his arm. “Then get your stuff.”