Page 91 of Wicching Hour

“We’re all about secrets around here,” I said. “Mom met my dad and they fell in love.”

Elizabeth sat up straight. “She loved him? She’s never spoken about him. I’d always thought he’d hurt her.”

I nodded. “That’s what I thought too. All my life she’s derailed any conversation about him. I finally forced the discussion, asking if he’d been cruel and hurt her, if that was why she never spoke about him. Nope. She loved him completely and the Council—Gran and Great-Gran—forced her to leave him, to send him away, because they didn’t want any more little half-faelings running around, mucking up the pure Corey line.”

Frank stood in outrage and went to the window. Robert held out his hand and Elizabeth took it and squeezed.

“The elders were hard and cold,” Elizabeth said. “Great-Gran had an issue with my marriage as well.”

I looked between the two of them. “But Uncle Robert is from an old and well-respected wicche family,” I protested.

Robert held up the back of his free hand, showing me his dark skin. “I wanted Elizabeth to come East and live near my family, but she couldn’t leave. She was waiting, praying, for Bridget and Samantha to come home. This family, though, is why I treat human children. The Coreys spurned my help.”

He shrugged a shoulder. “They have John, who is a good man and a skilled healer. I work in pediatric neurology. The children and their parents are desperate for my help, so no one much cares about my skin color.”

My throat tightened. “I’m so sorry.”

He waved away my apology. “It wasn’t you, or your mother, for that matter. Your great-grandmother and her siblings were…”

“Cruel,” Bracken finished, his gaze far away.

Robert nodded. “That they were.”

“So, Sybil had to deal with all the whispers, the looks, the judgment because your Great-Gran didn’t want any more fae blood than was absolutely necessary to produce a Cassandra wicche who could survive her gifts?” Elizabeth looked ready to fight.

Declan’s hands were fisted on the table. Reaching over, I laid a hand over his fist. It immediately loosened as he opened his hand to hold mine.

“I guess they’re just going to have to get used to their precious blood being polluted,” Declan said.

Robert glanced over and nodded at us. “They will indeed. No one can make Arwyn do anything she doesn’t want to, and they know it.”

On an eye roll, I said, “Oh, they try.”

FORTY

I’m Telling Dad!

“Try and fail,” Robert contended. “They wanted you on the Council as a child. You held out until you were twenty-eight and established in the art world. I thought for sure that bribing you with this gallery would get you on board, but still you resisted.”

“Wait a minute.” I looked between Robert and Elizabeth. “Do people think I wasgiventhis cannery?”

They shared a look and then nodded.

I stood, suddenly pissed off. “Serena said something similar once. Who the hell told people that?” I paced between the worktable and the kitchen. “No wonder the rest of the family hates my guts.”

When I passed Declan’s chair, he snaked an arm out, pulling me to his side.

“This is why all the cousins thought those earrings I was given at graduation were from John and Sylvia. They really do think I’m a spoiled brat who gets whatever I want.”

“The earrings you’re wearing?” Elizabeth asked.

I nodded, still fuming.

“I was told they were left to you from your Great-Gran,” Elizabeth explained. “That they had been made to celebrate a Corey Cassandra.”

Faith began to raise her hand and then stopped, no doubt remembering she wasn’t in class. “That’s not what we heard. We were told that Aunt Sylvia and Uncle John used the money they’d saved for Cal’s college tuition to buy them for you, that you’d seen them in a jewelry store and begged Sylvia to get them for you.” She shrugged. “They said that you were powerful but unpredictable, so everyone had to keep you happy.”

My anger was turning to grief. I didn’t want to cry—stupid hormones. I needed to keep myself pissed off. “Just so everyone here is clear, these earrings were a graduation gift from my father—not that anyone told me that. I just found out a few weeks ago that he’s wanted to see me my whole life. AndIpaid for this building and all the renovations. Gran bought the property when I was a child?—”

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