She found Johnny’s portrait first. He was on his own branch. In the light, the pictures of his parents looked almost ashen. Their colors were much more muted than his. Odd. That probably meant something, she just wasn’t sure what. Many of the portraits had that same grayed out quality to them. Strange that she didn’t notice it before. Granted, she had no idea what she was looking at the first time she came down here.
Garret and Keller’s portraits weren’t hard to find, either. Like Johnny, they were alone on their branches. Even though it didn’t make sense with the traditional flow of family trees, firstborn sons appeared to be isolated. As nonsensical as it was, at least it would make them easy to spot.
Sure enough, Loch was on a branch of his own. His section of his family tree looked barren compared to the others. What could that mean?
Now that Holly had found the pattern, she’d be able to figure out who else was eligible to be the father of her power baby.
“Power baby,” she muttered. “Magic baby. Star baby.” All of those nicknames—if they could even be called that—sounded ridiculous, but what else was she supposed to call it? She was still struggling to accept the concept of having a baby in the first place. It wasn’t that she hated the idea. She was pretty sure she wanted kids someday. She had just always imagined she’d meet a regular dude at a coffee shop or on the beach, have a normal dating life, a normal wedding, and then finally a normal pregnancy. Last week that had sounded exciting to her.
“Focus,” she chided herself. Sleep, or lack thereof, made her vision bleary. In the dim light, the portraits seemed to shift, like they were watching her. Honestly, if the images started moving or even speaking, she wouldn’t be fazed. She’d seen three men turn into bears today. The world could throw just about anything at her now.
Her gaze landed on a branch bearing only one portrait, definitely male. She moved closer. If she was right, this was another firstborn and potential baby daddy.
He was handsome, which shouldn’t have been a surprise to her at this point. It was hard to tell from just a portrait, but he looked like he had a strong, square jaw, a straight nose, and light eyes, though the exact color was impossible to determine. Beneath the portrait was a name.
Trevor.
Holly tried to think back. Had she met a Trevor? No, she didn’t think she had. He might’ve been in the diner the day she had arrived, but she didn’t recall seeing anyone who looked like him. Knowing she couldn’t do anything more than deep dive into a phone book to find him, she turned off the light and left the study.
Getting back to her room was easier than sneaking down. Enclosed in the darkness of her grandmother’s old room, she slowly walked back to her bed. Exhaustion weighed heavily in every limb. Even if the room were fully illuminated, she would’ve never been able to evade the hand that clamped over her mouth.
She screamed, but the sound was muffled by the thick leather glove of whoever had her. A strong arm latched around her middle, pinning her arms to her sides. She writhed, but it was no use. The intruder pulled her into the closet.
“Will you please stop?”
Holly knew that voice. It was Loch.
“I’m trying to help you. If you scream, you’ll only put us both in danger.”
Yeah, right. Holly kept fighting.
“Please, calm down. I’m going to explain everything. I just need you to listen to me! I’m not going to hurt you.”
People didn’t sneak into other people’s closets to have a chat. Obviously, he had something devious planned.
“Fine.” Loch sighed. “But it didn’t have to be this way.”
Shit, shit, shit! Loch was a firstborn. He must know who she is. He was going to drag her away and force her to carry his child. Why else would he be doing this? He wanted to secure his position as king.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small vial of light blue powder. He blew into the vial, creating a cotton candy-colored puff of dust. A weird tingling sensation crept through Holly’s arms. She went slack. She couldn’t move. She could breathe and blink, but not much else. Her legs turned to jelly beneath her. She leaned against Loch, hating the contact between them. Instead of finding a solid wall of muscle, like she had expected, she started to fall. He was going down, too.
They slid down the closet wall, landing in a heap on the floor.
“What did you do to me?” She could barely make the movement necessary to form words.
“It’s a paralysis powder.” He appeared to be suffering from the same affliction. “It was for one of your guardians, in case things got ugly, but if I have to use it to prove a point, so be it.”
Did he paralyze himself just to talk to her? What the hell?
“How long does it last?” she asked.
“I only used a teeny bit,” he replied. “We’ll probably be stuck here for ten minutes. You have no choice but to listen to me. If, when this shit wears off, you still want to scream your head off and kick me in the balls, I won’t stop you.” Bold offer.
Holly decided to hear him
