“This is a nice place.” I looked around the high ceilings. The white on white decor continued through the rest of the house.
“I was just as surprised when I saw all this. I would have guessed Camilla had different taste.” Me too, the crisp elegance was startling. Not that Camilla wasn’t elegant or classy, but she had a sassy spirit and I expected there to be hell of a lot more color with some southern style furnishings. “I have a house in the deep country.”
“You don’t like it?”
“My parents left it to me when they died, but it’s completely isolated and the thought of being alone.” She shivered, and my eyebrow furrowed. “I’ve had time to get used to my orphan status.”
Feeling like an idiot, I shuffled from foot to foot. “At least you have us,” I said with a slight smile.
She blinked tears from her lashes. Rosalind chuckled and wiped her eyes. “Now you’re making me emotional. Let’s go sit.”
She guided me past the kitchen and a hallway. Turning a sharp left, a decent-size living room with white couches pushed up against the wall. Everything looked so small compared to the Fae castle. But if I had seen this before, I would have thought it was huge in comparison to the little trailer I’d grown up in.
Rosalind sat on the loveseat, her legs crossed as she stared at me. There was a look in her eyes. I tried to analyze it as I shrugged off my bag and flopped on the couch ungracefully. It looked almost fascinated. I tensed, wondering if I had something on my face. She must have read my body language.
“It’s just. You look so… ethereal. Almost unreal. I mean, I met you when you were full-on human and the differences are startling. Your features are enhanced and kind of perfect?” My nose wrinkled. “It’s weird thinking I’m going to change when you unbind magic.” The worried expression came back.
I wasn’t going to lie, the fact that she had referred to me as human in the past tense stung. I still counted myself among humanity. I forced away the negative feelings.
“Yeah, and I have all the neat little tricks up my sleeve. I wish Sabine would try me now.”
Her smile waned, and a spark of hate shot through her eyes. “I’d love to see you kick her ass.”
Laughter burst from me at her violent comment. It seemed so out of character—she was so sweet.
“Rae, are you okay? So much has happened to all of us, but even more to you. You’ve basically turned into another being, for goodness’ sakes. That must be incredibly difficult, and then the Roark situation.” Her sympathetic eyes made mine moisten.
“It’s been… tough,” I said and grabbed a couch pillow, hugging it to my chest.
“I bet.” Her eyebrows flicked together. Rosalind reached over and clasped my hand. I squeezed it back. “Ouch!”
I yanked my hand back at her yelp. She rubbed her hand and looked at me in surprise. “Sorry.” I grimaced, and she started giggling.
“You should see the look on your face.”
“I forgot about my strength.”
“It’s okay.” Rosalind patted my shoulder.
Elbows on my knees, I leaned over and smoothed back some of the hair that fell from my loose ponytail. I reached for the base and pulled off the elastic band and slid it onto my wrist. My hair fell over my shoulders in a cascade.
“Your hair is gorgeous. It’s like it got shinier,” Rosalind breathed. Feeling a tug, I watched her fiddling with the dark strands. “And smoother.”
“Like yours will be if I manage to unbind magic in your lifetime.” I could tell she was grappling with the fact that she and the other girls would be changing if I succeeded. We could blame that on our ancestors who’d slept with Fae.
“Oh, God,” I rasped and shot straight up, startling Rosalind. “It just occurred to me that we inherited this Fae gene from someone. From one of our parents.”
Rosalind’s eye widened. “They’ll be turning Fae, too.”
“We need to tell the girls.”
Rosalind threw her hands out as if she’d just come to a revelation. “Siblings, too.”
I sunk into the couch. I’d known that, but I hadn’t thought about the other girls’ families.
“Who else has siblings other than Jasmine?” My memory flashed to the young fourteen-year-old girl Sabine had tried to snatch.
“Eliza has an older brother and an older sister.” We didn’t bother mentioning Selina. Karen’s death still haunted us all. “Camilla was adopted.”
“We need to warn them.”
She nodded, serious. “Tell me what’s happened, what you’ve experienced. Tell me about Faerie.”
So, I did. I told her everything. I told her about training to take on the influx of power, about the castle, and the way Fae lived. She seemed more fascinated by the second as I divulged everything I’d learned. After a good half hour of talking, I’d brought her up to speed on everything. Silence stretched between us and I could see she was absorbing everything. My eyes watered with my yawn.
“You must be tired,” she exclaimed and popped off the couch. “I’ll show you your room. You need to rest because tonight we’re going out.” She headed for the staircase.
“Out? Where?”
“To this neat little bar we go to all the time. We just took final exams. Camilla and I completed all our courses. Only Eliza’s left to finish but this last stretch was awful and we need to de-stress.”
“Congratulations!” I pulled her into a hug, truly happy for her and tried to ignore the sliver of jealousy. I frowned. “Finals? How long has it been since I saw you at the diner?”
“Six-ish months.” She nodded once and flounced to the door down the hall.
I followed her as I absorbed the amount of time that had passed in comparison to Faerie. The simple, normal wooden door was a relief to see. Everything here was comfortable in its familiarity. It wasn’t like Faerie, where everything was emphasized and large.
She popped the door open and waved me in. “This is the
