Sofia stiffened under Griffin’s arm.
“Please tell us, Sofia,” Antoinette implored. “If you know anything that will help get Penelope back…”
“I do,” she whispered. “It’s just so hard. I-I’ve been bullied into not speaking of this for literally my entire life. I don’t even know how…”
“Gods above, Trennon,” Delilah blurted, slapping the man’s chest.
He rubbed the offended spot. “What?”
“Who’s your mother?” Delilah demanded, looking at Sofia. “What’s her name?”
Sofia’s gaze bounced around the room, landing on each person in turn and jumping to the next until she caught Griffin’s gaze. And held it. He didn’t break the contact. He needed her to know that he supported her, that he believed in her. That he would do anything to help her open up about her past.
“Cerci,” she finally whispered, so low a human would not have been able to hear her.
“Did you say Cerci?” Delilah said in a booming voice.
“Cerci?” Trennon repeated, his eyes going wide. “I knew a Cerci once.”
Griffin watched as Sofia swallowed thickly, her gaze now on Trennon, who stared back as if he were trying to work out a puzzle in his head.
“I knew a Cerci,” Trennon repeated. “Dated her, oh, twenty-five, twenty-six years ago, I’d say. Good woman. Gorgeous hair.”
His eyes widened. Sofia lifted her arm and touched her dark locks. Griffin was pretty sure it was a subconscious action.
Trennon’s eyes widened further. “Cerci? You…Cerci?”
Sofia blinked rapidly and offered up a small smile. “No, I’m not Cerci. But I am her daughter.”
“You look so much like her,” Trennon said.
“You look like him too,” Delilah added.
Trennon gave her a blank look. “Who?”
“You, you idiot.” She smacked him upside the head. “She’s your daughter, T.”
“She’s…”
“Your daughter,” Delilah repeated slowly.
“Really?” Trennon asked, staring at Sofia.
She hesitated and then nodded. His gaze roved over her face.
“I-I see it. Your nose. You have my nose.” He turned to Delilah, a goofy smile on his face. “She has my nose.”
“Not something I’d be proud of, but to each his own,” Delilah muttered.
Trennon moved closer to Sofia, and Griffin did not release his grip around her shoulders.
“May I?” Trennon asked, lifting his hand to Sofia’s face. She hesitated but nodded, and he touched her hair. “Just like Cerci’s.” And then he frowned. “How come I never knew about you? Cerci would not have kept something like this from me.”
“Actually, she didn’t want you to know either,” Sofia said.
“Really? Why not?”
She shrugged and gave the room an all-encompassing wave. “She wasn’t interested in all this. She wanted to live a quiet, simple life, and she suspected she could not have that if her daughter was aware that she was a reeve’s heir.”
“Huh,” Trennon said.
“In fact, I might not have ever known about you if…” Griffin felt her tremble again.
“I’m gonna go out on a limb and say your son had something to do with this,” Delilah noted.
“Darius?”
“Yep,” Delilah said.
“I don’t understand.”
This was it. It was time for Sofia to tell them what she knew. But instead of admitting the truth, she turned to Griffin and said, “Now he has Penelope and is still threatening to kill my mother.”
Griffin scrubbed his hand over his face. He understood how frightened Sofia must be, but the only way they were going to be able to save Penelope—and her mother—was if she told them what she knew.
“He left a note,” she said.
“Who?” Delilah said. “Darius?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Sofia pointed at the kitchen counter.
“What?” Antoinette burst out. “He was in my house? That’s impossible.”
Sofia glanced around. When she spotted Ketu, she said, “That’s what I was reading when you came downstairs.”
“It’s in the trash,” he said, and Antoinette leaped up and hurried to the pantry. A few moments later, she returned to the living room holding a tattered, food-splattered piece of paper and read the words scribbled onto it.
“I need access to the reeve’s laptop. You will get it for me. Figure out the password, write it down on a piece of paper, tape it to the computer, and place it under the cushions in that box in the gazebo. Tonight, after everyone has retired. You know what will happen if you do not.
“This is about his coupe,” she concluded.
“Sounds like it,” Ketu agreed.
“At least he isn’t still manufacturing drugs,” Delilah pointed out.
“This isn’t any better,” Antoinette protested.
Oliver, who had remained quietly in the background, spoke up. “There is a great deal going on here, clearly; however, one thing takes precedence, in my opinion, and that is the safe return of the Daughter of Light.”
“Also known as my daughter,” Sofia snapped. “So yes, now that this is all out in the open—”
“Oh, there are still a ton of questions,” Delilah piped up.
“Anyway,” Sofia said, “Darius used to have a place in Hammond, north of Lake Pontchartrain.” She swallowed. “He took my mom and I there once.”
“All right,” Delilah said, clapping her hands. “Are we flying?”
“How come when it’s convenient, you suddenly realize you are half dragon?” Antoinette asked.
Delilah shrugged.
“And no, we are not flying,” Antoinette added. “It’s the middle of the day. Also, anyone who does not plan to help if things get rough should stay here.” She gave Delilah and Trennon both solid glares.
“I love a good fight,” Delilah said.
“He’s my son,” Trennon said. “I don’t particularly want to fight with him, but maybe I can be of help somehow. And, frankly, if he dies in this skirmish, I don’t want to sit at home and find out after the fact.”
Antoinette sighed. “That’s fair. Okay, I need someone to stay here and watch Henri. Where’s Maria?”
Everyone looked around,
