“Does it hurt if I lie on your wing? I’m kinda heavy.”
“It doesn’t hurt, and you’re not heavy.” Eve had her mother’s petite bone structure paired with a gutsy strength, would no doubt grow up to be a sleek little dynamo.
“I have a layer of puppy fat—that’s what I heard one of my friend’s moms say.” Stated with equanimity. “I don’t think I’m going to become a swan like Amy or Mom or you.” A ferocious scowl. “I just want to be a bit less fat, but I really like cake.”
Elena felt an overwhelming wave of affection. “Would you like to hear a story?”
“Okay.”
“Beth and I, we had two older sisters, did you know that?” She was unsurprised at the shake of Eve’s head, but it hurt to be reminded how thoroughly her father had buried the long-legged dancer he’d once waltzed across the kitchen floor, as thoroughly as the serious second-born with whom he’d discussed stocks and bonds at the breakfast table. “Their names were Mirabelle and Ariel.”
“Did they die?” A quiet question, Eve weaving her fingers with Elena’s.
“Yes. They died.” The words were still so hard to say. “Ari wanted to take care of everyone, and she was kind of bossy.”
“Amy is bossy, too. But I know it’s because she loves me.”
“Yes.” Elena felt the scars of loss stretch painfully as she thought of the time Ari had told her off for running down the stairs, only to cuddle her when her lower lip quivered. “Belle had more of a temper, but she wouldn’t let anyone be mean to me.”
“She sounds like a good sister.”
“She was.” Elena concentrated on the happy memories, fighting against the blood-splattered shadows that threatened to taint the joy. “And she was a dancer. The way Belle could move, it was like watching the wind.”
“I bet she studied a lot.”
“Yep.” Hours and hours, determined to grow up to be part of a prestigious ballet company. “But you know the best part?”
“No, what?”
“Belle used to look just like you when she was younger.” That same appearance of sturdiness created by stubborn baby fat. “I saw the photos. But her dancing soon created lean muscle—just like your hunt training will do for you.”
“I like going to the Academy, even if I get bruises sometimes.” Patting her free hand gently over the inner surface of Elena’s wing, she said, “Ellie?”
“Yes?”
“I’m scared.”
Elena drew her sister into her arms. “I know, baby. I know.”
• • •
Having settled Eve in the kitchen with the laptop after her sister told her she’d e-mailed her teacher the previous night and received the day’s lessons to do at home, Elena had just taken off when Montgomery caught her attention from the clifftop. “Miss Evelyn’s mother is at the gates,” he told her.
“Open them.” Elena folded back her wings, thinking Gwendolyn must’ve driven through the night after receiving the message Elena had used the hunter network in the area to personally deliver.
“Eve?” the other woman asked the instant she stepped out of the mud-splattered black SUV, deep shadows under the dark blue of her eyes.
“Doing her lessons inside,” Elena said. “I didn’t think it was a good idea to send her back to school until you’d returned.”
Gwendolyn ran a trembling hand through her raven black hair. “I’ve just come from the house. Jeffrey—” A sudden break, walls of polite reserve slamming down, as if the other woman had remembered she was talking about her husband to his estranged daughter.
“Would you like a cup of coffee?” Elena asked, stifling her impatience to get to the Tower—Eve’s future welfare could depend on what Gwendolyn chose to do next.
“No, I’ve already had too much caffeine.” Gwendolyn’s confession was a fracture in the reserve. “I appreciate you helping Eve.”
“This is serious, Gwendolyn,” Elena said, struggling with the ethics of whether or not she had the right to share the truth about her biological grandmother. “Jeffrey really scared her. I don’t think he’s ever going to come to terms with the fact she’s hunter-born.”
The other woman’s cheekbones pushed white against her skin. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t pull anything like this ever again.”
Elena had total faith in Gwendolyn’s love for her daughters, but she understood her father far better today than she’d ever before done. “You can’t watch her all the time.”