Page 10 of Luca

My brow furrowed, and I peered over his head at the book. “What was his name?”

“Zadok Velarde.”

Without warning, a gasp escaped my mouth and my entire body jerked forward, swaying as if hit by an invisible force. I squeezed Luca tightly for balance as a shooting pain pulsed from my nape to the middle of my forehead, my vision blurring as memories flooded me.

There was a Fae, tall and slim with twisting black horns and kind, familiar eyes. He threw his head back and laughed heartily as tendrils of magic flowed from his fingertips, bathing the palace in a violet hue.

I knew him.

Small hands cupped my cheeks, and once I blinked away the fog, I realized Luca was in my lap, staring up at me with concern etched on his face. “Are you okay? What was that?”

“I… I know him,” I said, voice slurred as if I were intoxicated. Luca dropped his hands to my chest. I mourned their loss on my overheated face. “He was my father’s adviser, and the main Fae representative in Edenglas.”

“What?”

I groaned in discomfort and pinched the bridge of my nose, the headache lifting the harder I rubbed. “He disappeared without a word after years of service to the king. In the back of my mind, I thought it was strange, but we learned not to question my father’s methods and, in truth, the details were always hazy.”

How did I forget him?

“If he was your father’s adviser, why is he in these books?” Luca chewed it over, biting his cheek and gazing off to the side. “Why was he a person of interest while still in your father’s service?”

“Perhaps because he was powerful.” I unbuttoned the top few buttons of my shirt to cool off. “And Father wanted to keep tabs on him, just in case.”

Luca’s eyes returned to mine. “Powerful?”

“Zadok opened the portal five hundred years ago.”

His eyes widened, and he scrambled over to the shelves, almost landing a stray foot on my balls in the process. He picked out a tome from the very bottom before knee-walking back to me and flicking it open to the first page. “Zadok Velarde,” he announced, pointing to the recorded entry. “The first name to appear. That makes so much sense. Your father’s not secretive about his hatred of the mixing of our kinds, so the guy who opened the Veil between our worlds, even as his closest confidant, would have been first on his radar. Keep your enemies close and all that, especially someone powerful who could be used to his advantage. What is he exactly? Some kind of enchanter?”

I nodded. “A mage, yes.”

“Do you think it’s possible that he made everyone forget about him? And now that you’re seeing his name, the enchantment is lifting somehow?”

“It’s possible.” I shrugged. “Though I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that my father had something to do with it. One of his ridiculous bargains or such.”

Luca made a sound of agreement, lips parting as if to add something more, but he must have clocked a fault with my expression. He frowned in worry and lifted his hand to my face again. “Are you alright? Be honest.”

“I am.” I covered his hand with mine, turning to kiss his palm. “My head felt like it would burst, but it’s much better now. I promise.”

“Good.”

I smiled at him, lacing our fingers together and bringing them to his lap. “Ask your questions, sweetheart.”

He huffed out a short laugh as if embarrassed that I’d read him entirely right. “Did you know him well?”

“Not particularly. I knew little of him growing up as he was already tied to his business in the human realm, only returning every year or so to report to my father. I was aware that he was the king’s right hand; his name would often crop up in meetings, and there were a few occasions where I noticed him casting wards around the palace. But even when I ventured through the Veil a hundred years ago, it was rare that we crossed paths for more than a polite greeting. When I arrived in Edenglas, I was so focused on building a life away from my father that I tried my best to avoid anyone close to him.”

“That’s understandable. You don’t know what happened to him?”

“No, that part hasn’t returned to me,” I admitted with a frown. “Whether there’s still a spell lingering or I never heard the specifics, I don’t know. The last I remember of him was at a meeting in the city hall. It was a debate about monsters and their right to purchase land over the barrier that Tee and I attended as figureheads. We saw Zadok outside, and he came over to us, thanking me for being present. He’d alluded to the possibility that he was courting someone, that he had an engagement elsewhere so he was in a rush, but after that day, I never heard from him again. He was just… gone.”

It was strange having memories slot back into place after so many years. Especially the events that had followed, which I’d also stored in the back of my mind. Around that time, Teighan and I were seventy or so years into our stint in Edenglas, and having the dates laid out made me realize their possible significance. It was almost a year—eight months to be exact—after Zadok’s disappearance that I’d felt a shift in my soul that I couldn’t explain. A stronger tether anchoring me to that realm. I’d brushed it off as a warning of some kind, the spite in me fighting against my father’s bargain, knowing I was near the end of my time there, but it all suddenly clicked.

What I’d actually felt was my soulmate coming into existence.

I’d feltLuca.

“A woman?”

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