Page 79 of Magic Forsaken

I sounded like a babbling idiot.

“She’s not my mom,” Ari announced calmly. “But we live with her.”

I had to figure out how to keep my blessedly oblivious six-year-old quiet before she blithely announced anything I couldn’t explain my way out of.

I crouched down in front of her. “Ari, how did you find me? Do Kes or Logan know where you are?”

She shook her head and grinned. “I got bored. Logan is napping, and Kiki is talking to a stranger.”

Another surge of fear hit me. Kes never talked to anyone.

“Why are you raising a sprite child?” Angelica interrupted suddenly. “You can’t possibly keep her safe. She should be with her own family.”

A million possible retorts rose to my lips, along with a million denials, but it was Ari who turned to look up at her with a frown.

“My parents are dead.” She said the words with a calm sort of finality that broke my heart. I hadn’t even been sure whether she knew what had happened to her parents. She’d always seemed so cheerful and energetic. “So are Logan’s. But Rainy loves us and feeds us. She keeps us safe, so she’s our family now.”

It hit me right in the heart.

We were family. No matter where we’d come from or how we got here.

“You’re right, Ari-bug.” I told her firmly. “Wearea family. Which means we look out for each other, no matter what.”

She nodded emphatically. I heard a soft sound from Angelica as if she was about to interrupt, but I ignored it. This was too important.

“Can you tell me who Kes was talking to?”

Ari’s button nose wrinkled. “Fae,” she said, and I instantly felt that old spike of urgency and adrenaline that accompanied my fear of discovery.

But Draven had said our tormentors were dead…

“Did he have short hair? Scars on his face?” I sensed Callum’s scrutiny burning into the side of my head, but I kept my gaze on Ari.

“Yep!” She nodded and bounced up and down on her toes. “Kiki looked mad, but I think she was sad.”

Rath. He’d found us somehow.

I stood and whirled towards Callum. “I need to go. I have to make sure…”

“I’ll take you.” He didn’t even hesitate.

“But…”

“Raine.” Our eyes locked. “Let me do this.”

If I hadn’t been so frantic… If I hadn’t needed to be therenow…I would have still said yes. Because he was the one person I trusted enough to let him see my fear.

“Thank you,” I murmured. “I’m sure it’s fine. But I need to know…”

I turned to Ari. “We have to go, Bug.”

Her chin lifted stubbornly. “I don’t want to. It’s boring there.”

She wasn’t wrong, but what else could I do? And yet, how could I keep her anywhere if she chose not to stay? My control over her was tenuous at best, and the harder I tried to contain her, the more frustrated she might become.

I was out of my depth and sinking fast, and had literally nowhere to turn.

“Leave her with me.”

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