Page 28 of Solstice

“Vera doesn’t care where I am.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Carter looked at me before shifting his focus back to her.

“Vera is worried about Ursula’s premiere in high society.” Poppy shook her head. “The pomp is ridiculous.”

Carter grimaced and looked at me. “Call it in.”

“What?”

“Tell Vera I came and got her.” Carter leaned back in his seat. “That way, you won’t have to make up an excuse about why you didn’t say hi.”

“Really?” Poppy’s eyes lit up as she looked from Carter to me and back again.

I paused. As much as I wanted her to be where she belonged, this was dangerous. If anyone saw us with her, if word got back to our parents or the media or any ill-intentioned fairy, we’d be compromised.

But Carter gave me a look that screamed,C’mon, it’s Christmas,and what was I supposed to do? Be a fucking Scrooge? I sighed and pulled out my phone, pressing the contact for Dmitri’s secured line before turning my back on these two idiots who had me wrapped around their fingers.

* * *

Two days.

We got her for two days before we had to figure out a way to return her that seemed reasonable. Dmitri had been furious I’d sent someone for her without clearing it with him first. But I pledged not to do it again, and he agreed to put it behind us.

For those two days, I knew what my dream could be like. We didn’t think about the drama waiting for us at home. We celebrated Christmas like we might if society’s rules didn’t exist, as if I wasn’t a Fairfax, and Ivy wasn’t a Washington, and Miri wasn’t a Stuart. We huddled around the fire and played in the snow, and I took pictures of the whole fucking thing. I tried to capture my vision, the one where we grew old together, the one that came to me on a Midsummer’s morning under the clear blue sky.

We would need these memories anytime things got difficult, anytime Ivy acted like this inferno between us wasn’t real, anytime Carter couldn’t make it home for months on end or Miri threatened to marry some pretentious prick twenty years older than her.

I’d look at these photos, these happy moments, and I’d come back here.Thiswas our family.Thiswas our home. No matter what came for us, nothing would fucking change it. The world would have to pry it from my cold, dead fingers.

The last night we were there, I spent time on my computer, flipping through my shots long after everyone had fallen asleep. The fireplace cast the room in eerie shadows, fitting for the somber glow of the darkest time of the year. I zoomed in on a picture of Ivy, blurring something in the background before stopping to admire her eyes.

Those Washington eyes. So piercing. So hypnotizing.How had I ever thought I hated her?

Something shivered down my spine, a chill settling in my gut. I looked up to meet the haunted gaze of a pale blond woman in flowing white robes standing outside the balcony windows.

I jumped out of my seat, knocking my chair over. “Holy shit!”

Heart pounding, I took a few steps back, blinking and shaking my head to make sure I’d seen what I thought I saw. Between one breath and the next, she was gone.

Poof!

Like I’d imagined the whole thing.

What the fuck was that?

I took a tentative step closer, looking into the living room before crossing in front of the dying fireplace to the French doors. I turned the lock and opened them wide, bracing myself against the snowy winter air that burst into the vacuum of space.

“Darling?” came Miri’s voice behind me. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I said.

Just seeing things. Just delusional. Nothing to be worried about.

“Did you…” She cleared her throat and ran a hand over the back of her neck. “Did you feel something strange? Just a moment ago?”

“I thought I saw…” But it couldn’t have been—could it?

“Saw what?”

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