Page 130 of The Cursed Fae

In the End

That night, I came clean with my family and admitted how badly I’d screwed up.My mistakes had cost Lena her life.

My great-grandmother was sympathetic, though she didn’t tell me the situation was not my fault. I appreciated that. Missy tried a little harder to absolve my guilt, and Mom quickly reminded me just how easily vampires manipulated mortals. I wasn’t sure whether she meant Lena or me as the naïve mortal.

When I told them Mat took Lena’s body with him, Nana and my mother had one of their silent conversations, probably deciding who would break the bad news to me. Missy had already done the honors, so I knew the likely reason—to turn Lena into a vampire.

“There are worse fates,” my mother said gently.

I scoffed in response. Drinking blood to survive and never seeing sunlight seemed like the worst. My eyes strayed to Missy, and I reconsidered my stance. Was her existence really any better? At least people could see vampires and interact with them.

I kept one secret from my family. I didn’t tell them about the man Mat claimed was hiding Archer—I felt certain I knew who he was.

At the time of Archer’s accident, few were aware of my eternal nature—Nana Essie, Mom, and my father. Sure, others had probably wondered, but nobody who would’ve wanted to keep Nicasia’s soulmate—my soulmate—alive and hidden from the other eternals.

Why did my father care about my love life? He probably didn’t, though I intended to ask when we finally met. I suspected Walter Stolly’s interest in Archer revolved around the prophecy.

With a little help from Missy, I found the corners of the internet where supernaturals hung out. More than all my other questions, one plagued me; I searched “Carol Sable.”

The results made me gasp. A pre-teen with a gap between her teeth sat upon a bicycle in the newspaper photograph about her death.

She’d urged me to trust her. I’d met her. The girl from the night at the cove when I’d been trying to summon Roy and ended up with a live audience of spirits.

I should’ve trusted her, my Aunt Carol.

Feeling uneasy, I decided to go for broke. The floor had already tipped from beneath me, why not try to find Walter Stolly while I was at it?

It was somehow worse. Not that I’d encountered him, but I would’ve met any supernatural, ghost or not, above the truth. According to all the online gossip, Stolly had quite the reputation as a fae crime boss.

“Why couldn’t he be human?” I groaned.

She stared over my shoulder at the laptop screen. “A mafia daddy is way cooler than, like, a mechanic.”

My stomach roiled. “Never call him ‘mafia daddy’ again.”

She laughed and sat back against my pillows. “No, I mean what I said. Walter Stolly is hot if you’re into that age-gap thing.”

“Please. Stop,” I begged. “It’s getting weird.”

“You’re no fun.” Missy pouted. She pointed to the screen. “You gonna call?”

There was a phone number for Stolly Enterprises in New York, owned and operated by my father, listed on the company’s website.

“I don’t know. I mean, yes. But what do I say?” I turned to her. “Won’t a receptionist probably answer?”

She gave me a look that suggested my brain bulbs had dimmed. “Just tell them your name. Even if the person answering phones doesn’t recognize it, your dad will.”

When I finally worked up the courage to dial, all the buildup led to nothing.

“Stolly Enterprises, how may I direct your call?”

“Walter Stolly, please,” I said with false confidence.

“Mr. Stolly is unavailable. May I take a message?” the pleasant voice replied without putting me on hold.

“Can you tell him this is Winter Sable?”

Missy nodded encouragingly, her head bowed beside mine to hear the conversation.

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