“It doesn’t upset me.” I tapped my fingers on the bar. “Don’t you ever get nervous?”
Her smile was soft. “I do.”
It didn’t make me feel better, but it was a nice reminder that we had as many similarities as differences. I took another long drink. “My family agreed to stop testing, stop trying to find a remedy for Father’s vision, but I can’t help but…”
She nodded. “You can’t help but think you can learn something new in the study of blood magic?”
I sighed. “Yes, I guess that sounds pathetic.”
Her hand reached for mine, covering it where it lay on the bar top. “It doesn’t. I do the same thing for my mom. In fact, it’s part of why I want the Vesten historian position.”
I sat up straighter, even though my attention was still locked on her hand where it lingered over mine before she removed it. We were no longer touching, but now only inches separated our fingertips.
I’d overheard the end of her conversation with Lord Arctos today. Her fae father wasn’t in the picture. I had already assumed that from the lack of information she had on how to shift, but the confirmation made me irrationally angry.
“My story doesn’t sound as altruistic as yours. It makes me sound like a terrible daughter, but I’m hoping you’ll hear me out, and consider where I’m coming from, like we’re supposed to be doing.”
The way her finger wrapped around the end of her ponytail told me she wasn’t sure she believed that. She wasn’t making eye contact, but I nodded anyway.
“Mom and I have different thoughts on where my father is.” She cleared her throat. “Mom thinks something … happened to him.” This time, she took a long drink before proceeding. “I think he left us.”
I wasn’t sure where this was going. “What would have happened to him?”
“Mom believes he was a victim of the mist plague.”
The mist plague had put those affected into an endless sleep. Whole villages had been taken, and it wasn’t until recently that the Compass Points figured out how to awaken those impacted. “If that were the case … wouldn’t…”
“Yes,” she nodded. “That’s my point. If he had been impacted, he would have been home by now. It’s been months since the Compass Points awakened the last village.”
“I see.” I did, but I didn’t. The way she had spoken to Lord Arctos, it made the statement that her father left her seem like a fact, not something recently determined.
She understood the vague question in my statement. “Yes, I believed this well before I had proof of it. It never made sense that he happened to disappear to a random village the same day it was taken by the mist plague.” She waved her hands in exasperation.
“If he were a shifter, he could have been, you know, shifting and running.” I shrugged as she glared at me.
“I get it. It’s possible. It’s just not particularly likely, is all I’m saying.”
“What does the position of Vesten historian have to do with protecting your mom?”
She sighed. “It would just be nice to be able to put the conversation to bed once and for all. Part of the record keeping is family trees.”
I nodded. “You would find him?”
It was her turn to shrug. “I would for Mom’s sake. She doesn’t deserve to wonder what happened forever.”
It must have been the empty glass sitting in front of me, but I leaned forward. “What about you? Don’t you want something, too?”
Her eyes widened in surprise. She tried to hide it, but she wasn’t fast enough for the way I studied her. “I learned a long time ago not to want anything from him. I would like to know ifhe’s a … if his shift is the same as mine. If he has any answers for me, I’d take them, then we could go our separate ways.”
I opened my mouth to respond. Before I could speak, a large hand clasped my shoulder. I glanced up, and Lord Arctos stood behind us in his fae form.
His green eyes were filled with mischief. “Were you two starting without me?”
19
Evelyn
We relocated to a table with Lord Arctos. My spine straightened at the fact that everyone stared at us. Word had spread that the Vesten God was in Sandrin. Most still considered it a novelty that he appeared on the continent at all.
