Page 48 of Solstice

“Yes.” Poppy nodded. “But not without asking.”

“But not to go back in time?” I narrowed my gaze on her as she shook her head. She wasn’t lying, at least not that I could sense, but that didn’t mean she was telling us the complete truth.

“Thank you for feeling safe enough to share that.” Ivy kissed her on the temple and stood, turning to me on the other couch.

“If either of them comes looking, the king or the queen, you’ll tell us, right?” Ivy asked, seemingly expecting the girl’s agreement.

Poppy met my eyes with a smile and nodded. But something about the grin seemed fake, and that piqued my interest. Poppy was smarter than she seemed, and sometimes, I felt like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, for her to turn into some kind of hell-monster, set on killing us all. It took a lot to convince myself she was just a little girl who needed a family, and even then, I kept myself guarded.

I wanted to love Poppy as much as the others, and maybe it made me an asshole to admit I didn’t, that until all of this was over, I couldn’t trust her completely.Well, fuck it. Fine.If it made me the bad guy, I’d be the fucking bad guy. We shouldn’t have brought her here in the first place, and every second that ticked by was another that the king could find her and kill us for taking her.

“Thanks,” Ivy said. “How are things at Vera’s?”

Poppy said things were okay and talked about Ursula, but my thoughts drifted elsewhere, to what this could mean. Of course, I had the initial gut reaction any other person might have: ask her to go back and change something to see what happens. Maybe stop Siobhan from giving us this gift. Stop our parents from forcing us together. Stop Marcus from going out on that boat.

But c’mon, I’d seenBack to the Future. I knew fucking with time had serious consequences, most of which made my head spin. Still, it posed the question, if I could save Marcus and marry Miri and never ask anyone for the truth again, would I?

It was a compelling thought, if only because I didn’t know my answer. If Marcus hadn’t died, I wouldn’t have gone to London. And if I hadn’t gone to London, I never would have had that night with Carter. I might not have met Miri. Ivy would have happily ended up with Marcus, and Carter likely would have been a footnote in both our stories.

Sitting there in my living room with my fiancée and her kid, I wasn’t sure I would change it. I missed my brother. I always would. I loved Miri, and if I had the chance, I’d marry her in a heartbeat. But I’d once told Ivy that there were worse people I could end up with, and I’d meant it. We had come a long way since those ten-year-old children wrestling backstage at her mother’s inauguration. I wasn’t sure I would trade that for anything else, and I definitely wouldn’t trade our time at Solstice for a life where she married my brother instead.

Once upon a time, I might have, but now, I couldn’t stand it if Ivy hated me again. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I hated her. We’d grown so much. We’d done so much. I used to wish it would have been me who died instead of Marcus. Today, I thanked my lucky fucking stars it wasn’t.

“Knock knock,” came the voice from behind me, and I sat up, a small twist of panic seizing my gut at the sight of Ivy’s little sister.

“Abigail?” Ivy pushed to her feet. “What are you doing here?”

“You said to come over for brunch.” She looked at Poppy, eyebrows furrowing. “Who’s this?”

“I’m Poppy,” she said, her smile wide, her hand out in front of her to take Abigail’s.

“She’s my cousin,” I said. “On my mother’s side.”

“Oh.” Abigail seemed delighted, her gaze brightening. “I didn’t know you were having family over. You should have told us. Mother would have wanted?—”

“No,” Ivy cut in. “It wasn’t a planned thing, and you shouldn’t tell Mother she was here.”

Abigail’s smile faltered, but she nodded. “Yeah, okay.”

“How are you related?” Poppy asked, likely to be polite. She already knew everyone in Ivy’s family from the pictures around our place.

“My sister,” Ivy said.

Poppy nodded, her grin growing wider the longer she looked at Abigail.

“Well, I’ll take Poppy and leave you two alone.” I nodded toward the exit, and Poppy stood to follow, but she paused when she got closer to Abigail.

“Nice to meet you,” Poppy said, eyes twinkling. “So very nice to meet you.”

“Yeah, likewise.” Abigail gave us a wave before turning her attention to her sister.

Poppy practically skipped down the hall to the stairs and into the family room, plopping in front of the fireplace. “She seems nice.”

“Uh-huh.” I didn’t buy the innocent act. “Keep Ivy’s siblings out of this, you understand? They don’t know about you. They don’t know about the king or the queen or any of that shit.”

Poppy pursed her lips, seeming to mull this over before responding. “Don’t you think they should?”

“Their ignorance keeps them safe.”

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