Page 52 of Solstice

“My brother.” My voice shook as I tried to process it. “You took me to see Marcus.”

Realization sank into her eyes, her childlike features dropping. “Are you saying it worked?”

“Yeah, Poppy.” I nodded. “Yeah, it fucking worked.”

My phone vibrated in my pocket, indicating a number from New England, and a tremble of excitement went down my spine. Ignoring the implications of what had just happened with Poppy, I climbed to my feet and lumbered into the next room so she didn’t hear me.

“Hello?”

“Lex, it’s Victor.” He cleared his throat. “Siobhan is in DC, and she’s asking for you, all four of you. The whole gift must be present.”

I paused, playing out the scenarios in my head. This could be a trap. If I were the king of fairies and I wanted to lure out the people who had hidden an abominable child of space and time, I’d use Siobhan as bait.

She was the one who had our answers. She could get rid of the gift. She could make this all go away. At the very least, I could finally get the truth out of her, assuming my gifts worked on the one who gave them to me.

“Why all of us?”

“I don’t fucking know, do I?” Victor let out a frustrated sigh. “You asked me to call if she showed up. I did. She wants to talk to you. So go see her, ya wee bloody bastard.”

And he hung up on me.

16

Ivy

Siobhan had asked all of us to come, but Miri couldn’t get away from her royal duties so soon after visiting us last month.

“I wish I could, darling,” she said. “But it’s better if I stay here for the time being.”

I clenched my eyes shut at the strange tone in her voice, telling myself it was just my own exhaustion creeping up on me.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” I remembered finding something else in her mind when she’d let me see her memory of the king, something buried so deep that I wondered if she even knew about it.

“I’m okay. Truly.” It sounded like another lie, and I secretly wished Lex had been the one to call her instead. “I love you. Please be safe. Call me when you get home.”

“All right. I love you—” She hung up before I could get the rest of it out. Something else was going on with her, something more than her memory of the king, and if she didn’t come clean soon, I’d hop on a plane to London myself. I’d once promised her I wouldn’t let her get away from me again, and I meant it.

Theo picked Carter up from the airport and brought him to our townhouse. Tomorrow night, we’d go see Siobhan at the address Victor had sent to Lex and hoped three out of four would suffice. For now, we took the opportunity to reacquaint ourselves with our husband. We hadn’t seen him in weeks, and for someone magically bound to us, that felt like years.

Having his smile against my cheek, his hands in my hair, his words on my lips, it soothed some of the ache of his absence. It wasn’t completely right, and it wouldn’t be until we could be a four again, but it sated us enough…for now.

Lex took us both the way he’d been doing for years: rough kisses and deep scratches and slow, passionate fucking. He forced us into the shower and watched while Carter fucked me within an inch of my life. Then he pinned my arms down on the mattress with his knees and fucked my mouth while Carter ate his ass until he came in a low, desperate roar. He loved us and unloaded on us and then passed out on his side of the bed with me in between him and Carter. His soft snores hinted at how deeply he’d fallen into unconsciousness, which pleased me because neither of us had been sleeping well recently. He deserved the rest.

The next evening, we left to meet Siobhan at a park and ride on the outskirts of Northern Virginia. There was nothing out this way except for vineyards and cornfields. Theo sat in the driver’s seat, Lex and me in the second row with Carter in the third.

“She’s late.” Lex checked his phone for the fifth time, his knee bouncing, his fingers twiddling over his thigh.

“She’ll be here.” She had to be. We were long overdue for a conversation. Even I had to admit, fifty minutes didn’t bode well. Anxiety coiled in my stomach, and I ignored my vibrating work phone. Again.

Giana had balked at my taking the time away so close to my bill going through the Senate and now needed to contact me immediately, but I couldn’t focus on that. With Siobhan and Alberich and all this fucking mess, the Senate would have to wait. There might not even be a world to save after this was done.

Movement by the trees caught my attention, and I glanced up, trepidation shooting through my nerves as Siobhan ran closer, a giant male following behind her. I hopped in the third row with Carter when she opened the back door and climbed in next to Lex. A bigger male fairy with short pale hair climbed into the passenger seat, his face grim and scarred.

I opened my mouth to ask who he was, but Siobhan snapped, “Drive,” at Theo, looking from Lex to me and Carter in the back seat. “Where’s Miri? I told you to bring everyone.”

“Well, seventy-five percent is still a passing grade, right?” Lex pulled his lips into his devil’s grin. “Who the fuck is this?” He nodded at her companion.

“Finn, my commander.” Siobhan grimaced at Lex’s arrogance but shifted her attention to me, turning toward the center of the SUV, one arm across the back of the seat. “It’s good to see you again, Ivy.”

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