Page 27 of Solstice

“Morning.” I lit a cigarette and went to the coffee maker, pouring myself a cup of the sweet automated bliss.

“Good morning,”she said in Russian.

I chuckled and corrected her pronunciation. “You were close.”

She tried again, getting it perfect this time.

“Was Vera upset you were gone?” I blew on my mug and brought it to my lips, turning to face her and leaning back against the counter.

“No.” She shook her head. “No one ever knows when I’m gone.”

“What do you mean?”

She shrugged. “I spend most of my time in my room anyway.”

I narrowed my eyes, remembering her running around with my younger cousin when I’d dropped her off two years ago. “I thought you liked Ursula.”

Poppy took a deep breath, her haunted eyes shifting up at me. “Ursula’s a child.”

“She’s the same age as you.”

“Physically,” she muttered like I wasn’t meant to hear it.

I pursed my lips, considering what we’d long thought about her. Time worked differently in Faerie. She looked like a twelve-year-old girl, but behind those eyes, had she seen decades? Millennia?

It didn’t matter. On this side, she was practically an infant. She didn’t know our culture or ways of life, and from the time the queen thrust her into Carter’s arms, I knew we wouldn’t be able to teach her because we couldn’t keep her. Perhaps we could have said we’d adopted her, that she’d been the remaining child of a long-lost, dying relative, but once that fairy fucker got through, he’d head straight for us if he knew we had her.

This distance was the only way to protect her. My spouses loved Poppy, and even if my gut still worried that taking her would come back to bite us in the ass, I had developed a hesitant affection for the young girl.

“You’re bored.” I tilted my head, assessing her.

“I’d rather talk with Dmitri and Vera, but they have no time for children.” She said the word like it tasted foul, and I laughed, admitting she had a point.

“How can I help?”

“Tell them I’m spending Christmas here with you.” Her eyes met mine, and she shrugged. “Tell them you sent someone for me, and I’m halfway to California by now.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose as I considered this.

“I know it’s asking a lot,” she continued, “considering you didn’t even want me.”

My gaze snapped up, echoes of my father’s voice in the back of my head.

“You were right when you said it should have been you,”he’d once told me, hatred and vile in his eyes.“And standing here today, I’d drown you in the Boston Bay myself if it meant I’d get my son back.”

“Listen to me.” I walked closer to her, put my hands on either side of her book, and leaned over the table to get eye to eye with her. “I never said I didn’twantyou, and if that were the case, you wouldn’t be at my dining room table right now. You’re welcome in my home anytime, and believe me when I say people want you here.”

She didn’t say anything, just squared her jaw and shifted her gaze between my eyes.

“But none of that matters now. I have you, and you have me.” I took a deep breath and straightened. “I’ll protect you, understand?”

“Not becauseyouwant to. Becausetheywant to.”

“Because you’re a part of this fucked-up little family.”

Poppy broke eye contact and went back to her book, pretending to ignore me while I returned to making breakfast. Eventually, Carter came down and grilled her for the same thing.

“Vera know you’re okay?” He ran a hand over her hair, mussing it before sitting down next to her.

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