Page 71 of Forgotten Arcane

“No,” Calia replies. “Why do you ask?”

“Because Pete, from Bobby’s, does. I have absolutely no doubt that it’s my father. I just assumed that he was obviously older now, and that’s why he has wrinkles. It didn’t occur to me that obviously he’s a supernatural, so he wouldn’t age like humans do,” I explain.

“He must have put a glamour on to make himself look older,” Eamon replies. “I know you said that you lived in a human town, but if supes who had seen the pictures, or even recognized him from Trieneliea had seen him, they would have just assumed that it was an uncanny resemblance, because supernaturals don’t age that quickly. He most likely managed to suppress his magic so that he had absolutely no power signature.”

I nod, “Yeah, that makes a lot of sense actually.”

“As soon as your magic develops, then you might be able to sense when a person has a glamor on. Your mother used to be able to do that,” Calia smiles.

Navy.

My mind instantly pings with the memory of being able to see Navy when not even the guys were able to. I shouldn’t have been able to see her, especially not as I was almost entirely human at that point. My magic hadn't come out much at all.

It makes sense that I would be able to do that because of my magic from my mother, and it’s clear that my magic has been gradually growing for a long time, and I just had absolutely no idea that was what was happening.

“Wait, I don’t think that would apply to Pete, he was just human to me, completely human, and I was able to detect power signatures at that point. I know that there are ways to mask them, but usually I can still tell how strong a supernatural is. With Pete, I would have bet my life that he was human,” I question.

“You can detect power signatures?” Eamon asks, sounding impressed.

“She’s always been able to, apparently,” Evander adds helpfully.

Calia and Eamon’s eyebrows rise in unison, and I try not to smirk so that I don’t end up getting in more trouble.

I feel like a teenager again.

“You’re an adult now, but that was probably something that you should have told us,” Calia says, something more in her eyes that makes me fidget.

I nod, “Yes, I know. But I didn’t want to get Van’s hopes up. All of the tests came back as me being human, so the fact that I could sense power signatures made absolutely no difference. I still registered as human on everything. It wouldn’t have made a difference to anything.”

“Oh, Neith,” Eamon says, sounding slightly exasperated, and sad as well, which is confusing.

“What?” I ask with a frown.

“If you had told us, we could have helped you to refine it, and you would have been able to attend the Magical Academy, regardless of what your test said. It’s happened before,” Calia explains to me gently.

The floor falls from underneath me as I just stare at them both. I could have gone to the academy if I had just spoken to them about it?

Are you fucking kidding me?

Chapter Twenty

Neith

Ransom moves so that he’s crouching in front of me, his eyes meeting mine.

“It’s okay. Everything happens for a reason, remember? It’s really fucking shitty though,” his hands cup my face, and his thumbs gently rub my cheeks.

I swallow all of the what-ifs and then take a deep breath and release them all.

“It does no one any good focusing on the what-ifs of the past,” I say.

It’s something that I actually used to repeat to myself regularly. It’s just a little bit harder to listen to this time.

“Exactly,” Ransom says, and he leans forward, kissing me softly. “Better?”

I nod, “It would have changed a lot, and it would have saved me from a lot, but life didn’t work out that way, and that’s okay. The mistake is mine and I own that, but I will not let it affect my present.”

Ransom smiles proudly, “That’s my girl.”

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