Page 3 of Shifting Winds
That man was intense.
Chapter
Two
Asingle dark feather tinged with blue lay by the entrance to my greenhouse. I was bending to reach for it when a subtle shift in the air and a tinge of pine scent tickled my nose.
“Here to collect?” I asked my father, knowing it was him by the buckskin boots he wore and the smell of ancient forest.
“It’s been a month.”
I tucked the feather into my bag and faced Cernunnos. He wore a pair of leather breeches and no shirt today. His antlers rose high in the air, moss dripping and sparkling from the tines. Around his neck lay a leather necklace with a silver spiral charm.
Sometimes the Fae King showed up in joggers. Sometimes he showed up looking every inch the feral forest god. Today, he’d chosen the latter.
Meanwhile, I barely slept at all last night. I needed a shower and fourteen cups of coffee, and I was not in the mood to deal with Cernunnos.
My father.
Perish the thought.
“I never said yes.” The greenhouse welcomed me when I stepped in, every plant in the vicinity of the door reaching outto brush my skin. I set my bag down and went straight to the worktable, needing to dig my fingers in the dirt for a little while before I showered and made my way to the shop.
I hadn’t lied to Caelan. I was late to work, and my friends were getting frustrated with me, but the greenhouse sustained some of our shop’s work, and I needed this time.
Preferably alone.
“You are my child.” Cernunnos ducked as he followed me inside, his power tingling over my skin. Someone like him, no matter how tightly he cloaked his power, could never contain what he was. Even a human would realize there was something otherworldly about Cernunnos, even if they couldn’t put their finger on why.
I pulled a flat of arugula seedlings over. The weather was cool enough to plant some of my favorite greens, and I’d overcompensated, planning on giving the others a bunch for their homes when they were ready.
“I wasn’t your child until a month ago,” I said in a cool tone. He might have offered the genetic material, but Cernunnos wasn’t involved in my life until only a few months ago.
Cernunnos blinked in surprise, hurt flashing over his face. “Evie.”
I held up my hand. “You can’t not show up for eighteen years, pop in to help me a few times, refuse to answer my questions, then boom, all of a sudden hand me a damn crown and be like suuurrrprrriiiise!!”
He opened his mouth, frowned, and snapped it shut.
“And another thing, if you haven’t noticed, I am completely ill-equipped to rule the fae. I wasn’t raised with them, nor have I had any real contact with the fae unless you count my mother. Which I don’t.”
His expression grew thunderous. “Never?”
I slapped the trowel I held down. “How many times did you check up on me?”
If he had, he would have known humans raised me.
“I—” He scrubbed a hand over his jaw, a thoughtful look on his face.
I barreled through. “When Mom got tired of me, she dropped me off with two humans who raised me as their own. I had no friends, and Mom told me my father was human.”
Cernunnos stared.
“There was no way for me to know what I was or what I was capable of. I figured some of it out on my own. Mom never bothered to teach me much, and I spent my entire childhood wishing I was special like her.” My voice broke, and I swiped away a stray tear I didn’t realize was there. I had never spoken about my life like this.
Moira and the others knew because I tried not to keep secrets from them, but standing here with my father had opened old wounds.
“So excuse me if I don’t accept some destiny you want to thrust on me because you want to retire.” I glared at the Fae King.
