Speaking of Ben, I sent a small wisp of magic through the ground and had the vines close to him curl around themselves until they spelled out:
Everything is fine. Thank you for a nice afternoon. I’ll see you around.
An abrupt dismissal, yes, but Mom showed no signs of this being a short visit.
“Evie, have you had any visits lately?”
Ah. Here it was. “Visits? I own a shop in town, so lots of people come and go.”
Mom rolled her eyes. “I know you have a flower shop. I’m talking about dream visits or day walking from any...fae or other creatures.”
Danger, my senses screamed. I kept my heartbeat perfectly steady. “Um. No. That’s an odd question. Why do you ask?” Telling her about Cernunnos seemed like a bad idea.
“Odd magical pulses here and there,” Mom said, her azure eyes pinning me to the chair.
“Who would visit me? No one knows I’m here.”
“Your attack brought many questions,” Mom hedged. “There are some who are interested in knowing about your abilities and how they might have changed.”
“No one knows about my attack, Mother.” Or they shouldn’t.
Mom waved a delicate hand. “They have no idea what attacked you. Only that you were seriously wounded.” Her lipspursed in a perfect pout. “Everyone was asking about you, and it seemed like a natural time to bring it up.”
My hands tightened around the edge of the countertop. “And you thought the worst night of my life was a great conversation starter?”
Anger flickered in the azure depths of her eyes. “You are my daughter, Evangeline. Naturally, I worry about you.”
“Naturally,” I said, unable to keep the deep sarcasm from my voice. “We both know no one ever asks about me. I’m not sure why you’re here, but I think it’s time we get to the point.”
Mom set her mug down with a sharp click. “No one has visited you?”
This must be it. “No one ever comes to the property unless it’s for work, Mother. And my dreams are just that. Dreams.”
Worry flashed over her face, there and gone so fast I almost missed it. “Who would you think would be visiting me?”
“No one,” she said far too quickly.
Cernunnos’ words from his first visit came back to me in a flash of memory.
Do you know who your father is?
And me answering that he was human, only for Cernunnos to ask me if I was sure.
Mom hated when I brought up my father. The subject could send her into a blinding rage, but I tried to broach the subject once more. In a roundabout way, of course.
Fae hated direct conversation and confrontation, very reminiscent of a southern mother-in-law. “Is there something I should know?”
Mom’s stillness betrayed her. “Of course not.”
I waited, but she didn’t elaborate. “I’ve heard reports of rogue pockets of magic. Could it have something to do with that?”
Mom shrugged. “I’m worried about you.”
No, she wasn’t. “Why? Everything is normal here.” No sexy Shifter Lords on my tail. No hot, gentle shifters walking my land, and certainly no Council sniffing around me.
“Have you discovered any...new abilities?”
I kept my face uninterested. Mom was under the impression I’d developed zero new abilities after the Chimera mauling. She knew what attacked me because she showed up right at the tail end, but she had no idea of the aftereffects or that the tattoos I wore protected me from others sensing what I was. Hazel had watched from the woods until my mother disappeared, leaving me to die brutalized and alone, then hurried to gather me from my almost grave and helped me save myself.
