Page 64 of Wicked Deeds

“Small family on my mom’s side and all the ones I know about are dead.”

“And you don’t know who your father is?”

“No.”

“You never searched for him?”

“My grandparents put in a request when I was thirteen. There were no matches. I put one in again when I was eighteen. Still no matches. I haven’t tried since. My profile is locked down.”

“And, most likely Cassandra had you flagged as a witch once she found you, so you’d be in the Annex. That’s an added complication. More hoops to jump through to put in contact requests. That’s the easiest thing to do, if you want to know.”

“Yeah. But something’s bugging me about it. Gwen put her request in last night and suddenly out of the blue I get a notification.”

Meredith’s eyebrows shot up, surprise replacing concern. “You think it could be Gwen?”

I knew it sounded ridiculous but I couldn’t shake the feeling. “You have to admit, it’s a weird coincidence. She got two matches, and now this is the first time I’ve ever matched with anyone.”

“Have you told Gwen yet?”

“No, she’s still sleeping. I figured she needs the rest.”

“Good call. In that case, you could both put in requests. Or I could compare the history she got with yours if you both give permission.”

“I don’t have much of a medical history,” I said. “I mean I had that weird reaction to the chip. But that was because of the demon. Otherwise, I’ve been healthy. Will there be enough to compare?” I’d been in hospital only once as a kid. When I turned thirteen. At the time it had been chalked up to a severe bout of fever due to an unknown virus, but I knew now it was either from being bound to a demon or a reaction to whatever Sara did to me to make me forget the ritual. Any other childhood bugs, Sara had handled herself with her healing skills.

“Yes, in cases, where there’s not much to report, there’s still a genetic marker comparison to establish the relationship. I’ll be able to tell if the one she got matches yours.”

“Right.” So I had to wake Gwen up and tell her we might be half sisters? That was…crazy. I had no idea how she was going to feel about it. I had no idea howIfelt about it.

“Maggie,” Meredith said gently. “Gwen aside, if it’s her, you’ve found your father as well. Gwen got a parental match, too.”

Crap. I’d been focused on the half-sister part. But half sister in this scenario meant same father. My father. After all these years. I had no idea how to feel about the possibility. “There’s no chance it’s a match with her mom?”

“No, it was a paternal match. Besides which, I’m willing to bet quite a lot of money that no Fae has ever allowed their DNA to be sampled. Even most of the tanai tend to steer clear of it. Cassandra could probably tell you what percentage of the Annex records are tanai.”

“Cassandra?”

Meredith looked at me as though I was being dim. “She’s the head of the Cestis. So she’s the boss of everything that falls under their jurisdiction.”

Right. “I know that.” Logically, yes. But I’d never considered how broad that role was. I had only seen the tip of the iceberg when it came to the Cestis.

“But regardless of Fae DNA, Gwen’s first match was her father. So if you matched with her and you’re half sisters, then he’s your dad, too.”

I swore half under my breath. I’d made my peace with not knowing who my father was more than a decade ago. I still didn’t want to know, and seeing the photo of Sara and Jack hadn’t changed my mind. But a sister…even if a half sister. That was different. I swore again. Then made an apologetic face. “Sorry.”

Meredith grinned. “It’s not an uncommon reaction. But if you’re right about Gwen, even if you have no interest in finding out who this man is, I recommend you get the medical history. It’s useful to know.”

Maybe. But Gwen had that information. Maybe she would share. And Meredith had said last night there was nothing to be concerned about, anyway.

I nodded. “Let me think about it a bit. When Gwen wakes up, I’ll talk to her. That’s going to be a fun conversation.”

Meredith’s expression turned sympathetic. “You could leave it a few days.”

Yeah, and how would I explain putting it off to Gwen when I finally decided to tell her? Hey, Gwen, I’ve known for a few days we might be related but I didn’t want to mention it? I didn’t need magic to know that was a bad idea.

But if shewasmy sister and we shared a dad, well, suddenly I couldn’t get that picture of my mother and Jack on the island out of my brain again.

“I think this is more a ‘better to rip off the Band-Aid’ situation,” I said. At least as far as Gwen was concerned. Jack…well, I’d have to think about that part.

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