“But is it?”

Her mouth drops open as if she means to argue, but the energy behind it quickly wanes when she realizes the truth—we don’t actually know when I was born.

We don’t know anything about who I am or where I came from. Clearly the fae realm, but why? Who gave me to my mother? Was it my birth parents? What kind of fae were they?

Out of all the supernatural beings in Midnight Harbor, the fae are the kind I’m least familiar with. The gate was already closed by the time I was old enough to pay attention. I know a few fae families—there was the family I babysat for as a teenager—but their numbers are scant compared to the vampires and witches and shifters.

What I do know is that on the fae side, they have legit courts, the royal kind, and that they’re broken up into Seelie and Unseelie. The light and the dark. The Unseelie rarely frequented our side, so those that live in Midnight are all Seelie.

The fact that I could be either is both frightening and exciting.

“Even if we don’t know your true birthday, we’ll move ahead as if we do. Besides, you have to Pledge and you’ll accept the Duval bid.”

“Oh, will I?”

“Jessie.” She gives me her mom look, the one with the wide, stern eyes.

“Yes, you will.”

Kelly and I both jump at the sound of Bran’s voice.

“This is the part I hate about living with vampires,” Kelly says. “I’m always on the edge of a heart attack.”

Bran’s shirtless and his jeans hang low on his hips, revealing that fine-as-hell V that is like an arrow pointing at his cock.

Fucking hell.

Why does everything about him have to be so deliriously sexual?

He walks into a room and I’m wet.

That’s literally all he has to do.

He pulls out the chair across the table from me and sits in a slouch. The muscles and tendons running across his shoulders flex with the movements.

I look down at my egg, but the seeping golden liquid just has me thinking of blood and cum and it doesn’t help me at all.

“Damien will bid on you,” Bran says, “and you will accept.”

“Even though none of us know what I am?”

“Even though.” He reaches across the table and snatches my coffee cup, taking a long swig even though it’s piping hot.

The steam kisses his face as he looks at me over the dark rim.

“I could be a liability,” I say.

“We can’t protect you if you’re not under our House.”

“It’s the right move, Jess,” Kelly says.

“I know you think so. You already went to Damien about it. It’s the whole reason Bran came to the coffeeshop to warn me.”

Kelly turns to Bran. “You did?”

He’s still looking at me. “She deserved to know.”

“Was that before or after you seduced her?”