Page 86 of Faerie Hunted

I wasn’t alone in this world.

Uncle Will had done the best job he could but he hadn’t been able to replace my mom. I’d never known a life with her, and yet having her here, feeling her softness and her strength, sensing her magic, it was as though she’d never left.

A hole inside of me began to fill.

“That man called you Livvy.” Her hair muffled my voice.

She stroked her hand down my back. “That’s my name here. I had to change it in order to disappear completely.” She stepped back and cupped my face in her hands. “My god. Just let me look at you.”

I was a mess and an ugly crier on my best day.

“I see myself here.” She pointed to my nose, swallowing over a laugh. “And here. But this is all your father. And the stubborn chin!” She pinched me. “Yes, I know it.”

Parts of me finally started to make sense. I leaned into the feeling of her touch. This was so much better than anything I could have asked for. Better than a dream.

Noren bumped his head against her hip and Livvy tore her gaze from me at last. The sight of him brought a smile to her face.

“You’ve found yourself a handsome protector, haven’t you? Look at you!”

Words failed me a second time when Livvy bent down to scratch between Noren’s ears. The direwolf, rather than keeping his distance, practically inserted himself between us to be part of the embrace and went so far as to roll his eyes back in his head in pure ecstasy when she moved to his chin.

He’d turned to putty in her hands.

“I’ve never seen him act this way before,” I muttered. “He’s strangely affectionate with you.”

“I’ve always had a way with animals. Which it seems you’ve inherited from me.”

Dae straightened, keeping one hand on me and the other on the top of Noren’s head to connect us together. He whined but she ignored him, staring at me once again. Her smile stretched from ear to ear, and based on the ache in my cheeks, I knew mine did too.

I trusted Noren’s ability to read people implicitly. She must be a pure soul and a good person.

But then again, I’d have said anything nice and good about her. Iwantedher to be loving and kind. Iwantedher to love me the way I’d always dreamed about.

I hugged her again and she squeezed me back tightly enough to bruise ribs. All those empty photo frames in my room at home, or the ones I’d left with the store-bought pictures of ready-made families, were a fading memory.

We were together at last.

It mattered. We’d found each other again, and man, it had taken a good bit of work, too. Dae— “Livvy”—had hidden herself pretty well.

But a lingering question still demanded an answer.

“If you were alive, then why did you never come back for me?” I asked, hating that my voice sounded whiny, almost close to tears. “Why weren’t you looking for me? We could have been together.”

“You were much safer with your Uncle Will.” She maintained her grip on me and my body vibrated with the need to pull away from her. To move to cross the room, go where the others stood pointedly allowing us to have this moment of sweet reunion.

A reunion wenevershould have had to have because Dae shouldn’t have disappeared and abandoned me with a lie.

She grimaced. “Your uncle has always been a steady man with a good head on his shoulders. He could provide for you and keep you safe.”

Despite the good things she said, her expression told a different story.

“It wasn’t up to him to do those things.”

“I’m a wanted woman, Tavi.”

Hearing my name come out of her mouth spun my head in useless circles.

“I’ve been on the run for over twenty years,” she continued. “It wasn’t the kind of life one drags a child into. You were better where you were, hidden, and I had to keep my distance even though it killed me. Your uncle knew all this.”

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