Page 24 of Whispers of the Water

As I finished getting ready, a thought occurred to me. Formulating a plan, I quickly shot Dallas a text before meeting Rune back in the bedroom.

He wore dark jeans with a black button-up. The fit of the material left little to the imagination, and I second guessed my decision to not lock ourselves in the room.

Bad Bria. No fornicating right now.

Clearing my throat, I said, “I guess we should run next door to have Avana get me ready.”

We quickly met back up with the others in Akira’s room where Rune stood tall in his Fae form, and Avana did her magic. Tingles erupted along my skin in the targeted places, and within seconds, I too looked like a Fox Fae. Two fox ears were erect on either side of my high ponytail, and a fluffy black-and-white tail flicked behind me against my knee-high black dress.

Ardley gave a low whistle from the couch. “Damn. You really do look fine as hell as a Fox.”

Rune opened his mouth, no doubt to rip his cousin a new one, when Akira quickly interrupted to say, “It’s 10:55. You should probably head to your doom and gloom family meeting. Wouldn’t want to be late.”

Anxiety climbed up my throat. The idea of sitting down with Rune’s family had always been nerve-wracking, but having that time finally be here amplified that emotion to new levels. I knew Rune would be right there next to me, but having a room full of fearsome Fox Fae staring me down and judging me was becoming harder to stomach. The closer Rune and I drew to the sitting room, the more I floundered on the inside. What if my Fox Fae illusion didn’t hold up? What if I said the wrong thing? What if my emotions got the better of me, and I accidentally made someone’s tea jump right out of their mug?

“Ready?”

I looked up at Rune to find him watching me with a steady confidence. We were outside the closed oak doors that led to the sitting room, and I knew that right on the other side was a whole group of people eager to assess me. They were ready to find any flaw they could, yet as Rune looked at me with nothing but respect and trust, I found my anxiety dwindling.

Rune believed in me, and it was time I did, too. I had trained for this. I’d worked tirelessly to learn what it meant to belong in his world, and I did belong here. I was Fae, damn it. I was a Princess. And I was worthy, Fox Fae or not.

Holding my head high, I nodded. “I’m ready.”

Rune opened the door, and I strode inside the expansive sitting room with the grace and prowess of a Princess. All eyes found me, but instead of crumbling beneath their immediate scrutiny, I smiled and continued to stand tall.

“Good morning,” I greeted, and I was pleased with how boldly my voice came out.

Myra sat in a high-backed chair by an empty fireplace, and her golden eyes followed me over the rim of her teacup as Rune and I took the open spaces on a couch. Across from us was a couple I recognized from photos Rune had shown me—Sinopa and Crevan, Rune’s aunt and uncle and Ardley’s parents. Aidan sat on a chair between ours and Sinopa’s and Crevan’s couch. Aidan’s hostile gaze tracked my movements and Rune’s.

“I’m glad you could join us,” Myra said. She waved her hand at the tea and array of sandwiches and treats on the coffee table in front of us. “Help yourselves.”

“Where’s Ardley?” Sinopa asked. Her glossy black hair was piled in an updo around her erect onyx fox ears. She narrowed her brown eyes at Rune and said, “Did he not come down with you?”

Rune leaned back against the cushion of the couch with a look of ease. “He didn’t. I think he decided to skip out on this little get-together.”

Crevan sneered, his sharp canines glistening. “That boy.”

Sinopa shook her head and let out an exasperated sigh. “I can never make him listen anymore. Really, Myra. You must tell me your secret on how you manage to get Rune to obey at this age.”

Myra grinned coyly, and her eyes left Rune to find a picture on the mantle of Rune and the twins. “Oh, a mother has her ways.”

I gritted my teeth to keep from lashing out at Myra. For her to sit there and be proud of how she manipulated Rune at the expense of her other children was repulsive.

“Where are Grandmother and Grandfather?” Rune asked, and I noticed that despite the evenness in his voice, his shoulders had grown tighter. It seemed he hadn’t missed his mother’s message, either.

“They’ll be getting in later today, as will Alvaro,” Myra answered as she set her teacup on the table beside her. She folded her clawed, manicured hands over the skirt of her dress, and her eyes found me once more. “So, Bria. I’m afraid we know very little of you.”

“Yes, why is that?” Sinopa asked skeptically.

“Because she isn’t an accomplished Fox, clearly,” Aidan said snidely. She tipped her chin higher and scanned me over in the same way someone might look at a pile of week-old trash.

Forcing a polite smile, I ignored Aidan and addressed Sinopa. “I’ve not been involved in Fae affairs for some time. After my parents, Blayze and Seraphina Bowen, were killed, I spent much time in hiding for my safety. The Water Fae who killed them, as well as other Fae, believed I had died with them, and I had to keep it that way.”

“So you were a coward,” Aidan said as she studied a scone that she’d taken from the tray in front of her. “Instead of tracking the Water Fae down and annihilating them, you hid like a spineless weakling.” Her eyes snapped to mine as the scone in her hand erupted in flames before falling to the floor as mere ash.

Rune went rigid next to me, and he leaned forward with a growl building in his throat. He was about to explode and come to my defense, but I quickly placed a clawed hand on his thigh to keep him in place.

This was my fight.

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