I felt like a child as I padded out of the bedroom and peeked around the corner into the living area.

My mom stood in front of the door, arms crossed over her chest and looking generally displeased. Ray was nowhere to be seen, and to be fair, I didn't blame him. When mom used that tone, it was best to make yourself scarce.

She turned, presumably to look towards where the soft footsteps were coming from, and her sour expression entirely shifted when she saw me.

"Sunday!" she said, rushing over to wrap me in a tight hug. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine," I assured her, patting her back gently. "Little bit of a rough night, but I'm fine. Ray —uh, Dad— helped."

It was still weird to call him dad.

About that time, the man himself walked into the kitchen from the opposite side of the room, presumably off from somewhere else in the cabin. He was already wincing, waving awkwardly, and clearly bracing for impact.

That was probably a good idea.

Mom broke the hug and stomped towards him, though it didn't appear she was trying to shield me from him, which was probably good. It meant she didn't think he was actively a danger to me or anyone around us. She was just pissed. So... good things and bad things, I figured.

"Why didn't you tell me you were back in town?" she snapped.

"Because I'm in town undercover for the Sylvan Council," Ray said sheepishly, shoving his hands in his pockets. "It was a stretch to be able to get this assignment in the first place. One of the conditions was that I couldn't tell you or Sunday that I was back."

"Well, you've certainly managed to wiggle out of that one in a strange way," Mom grumbled.

He had, technically. He'd never told me that he was back until it was an absolute emergency, and he hadn't told my mom he was here at all— that was me that let it slip, and she'd figured out the location of the safe house all on her own.

... How did she manage to do that, actually?

"How'd you know where we were?" I asked, brow furrowing.

"We stayed here for the first year after you were born," Mom explained, plopping down on one of the couches. "It's the only safe house with any kind of proximity to the city, so I took a guess and picked this one. Turns out I was right."

At the moment, I was slightly less concerned about the fact that she'd just casually decided to drive out here and more concerned about learning I'd lived here for a year and no one had told me. How many more secrets were they keeping?

"Witch and Sylvan relationships aren't common, and neither are babies resulting from them," Ray said, already answering a question I hadn't asked. "Sometimes... strange things happen. There's no telling if there will be unusual birth complications, strange magical manifestations, or just angry people on both sides out to hurt the family. It was easier to stay here for a while to keep us all safe until we understood a little more about your magic."

"Okay," I said calmly, but it was a forced kind of calm. It was a calm where you could hear the tension bubbling underneath, where you knew not to move or breathe until everything had been said. "If we're going to continue this conversation, I'm going to need a promise from everyone in this room that you're going to tell me the whole truth," I said firmly.

Mom and Ray exchanged glances.

"I'm an adult woman!" I snapped. "I'm thirty years old and I can handle my own life. If you don't want to lose any relationship with me forever, you're going to tell me everything that you've been hiding from me about my past right now."

They were silent for a breath, but they knew better. At the very least, my mom knew better. I didn't kid around with things like this— I'd left town before, and I would leave again. It sucked having to stat over somewhere new, yeah, but I would damn well follow through.

"Does that include me?"

It came from down the hallway, and I looked over to see Dante slowly making his way into the room. He'd also found a pair of plaid pajama pants that fit him, though he wore the same wing-accommodating shirt from last night, and it made for a strange outfit.

"You should be in bed," I said, sighing.

"Well, I would, if it wasn't so loud in here." He shrugged and perched on the edge of one of the armchairs, his blue butterfly wings spread wide.

"Do you plan to introduce me?" Mom asked, gesturing.

"Dante, Mom," I said. "Mom, this is Dante."

"The Sylvan Council assigned me to protect her," he explained. "She did a better job of protecting me this last time, though."

"The Council—" Mom began, but Ray interrupted, chuckling.

"I didn't recognize you, Your Highness," he said, giving a quick bow. "I haven't seen you in person since you were a child."

Mom's mouth dropped open, but they kept going as though she wasn't there.

"And I haven't seen you at all," Dante said. "And... please don't call me... that. There's no need for formalities," he finished distastefully.

"Sylvan special operatives are rarely invited beyond the Veil unless it's for special meetings," Ray said, shrugging. "And we certainly don't come to the palace. There's too much risk of identity exposure."

"That makes sense," Dante conceded, nodding. "

"So... let me get this straight," I said before anyone could keep conversing as though I already knew what was happening. "Dad is a Sylvan Council undercover agent?"

"It's how I met your mother," he said, flashing her an affectionate smile. Mom's expression softened a little, but she didn't smile back. "My job was to investigate the beginnings of rising Sylvan-witch conflicts in the mundane world, but I've been an operative for centuries. We've had plenty of other missions in that time. More recently, the Council decided I was a good fit for mundane world work because I can pass as human more easily than most Sylvans. I haven't spent much time past the veil in a good two centuries."

That... made a weird amount of sense. Mom had been born in a time when more witches were allowed to travel freely beyond the veil, but Grandma wouldn't have wanted that. If Ray was out and about and trying to interact with witches to investigate rising tensions in the area, it felt perfectly logical that he met Mom during that process.

"Thank you for revealing my age," Dante snorted, but he sounded more embarrassed than angry.

Two centuries since Ray had been—

Wait. Dante was over two hundred years old?

Nope. No. Not going to think about that. I had plenty of other things to process at the moment, and that wasn't one that I was ready for in any way.

"Sorry about that," he said, shrugging. "She said the whole truth."

Dante made a noncommittal noise that I assumed meant he wouldn't fight me on that. I also hoped it meant that he didn't have any other secrets to reveal.

"So you're... actually Sylvan? Mom said you're an elemental." I wanted to keep the conversation rolling as long as we could. I still had questions, after all.

"I am. I'm an earth elemental," he said.

"The plants..." I murmured, remembering his comment about the invisibility pendant in the car.

"Exactly." Ray nodded and looked to my mom. "She's smart."

"I know. Too smart, sometimes," Mom sighed.

"Not really," I sighed. I felt like an idiot right now. "My ex-boyfriend tried to murder Dante."

I really, really wanted to justify what he'd done. I wanted to try. I wanted to believe he'd been brainwashed, that something was wrong. I wanted to give him a chance to explain... and maybe I still would someday.

I wanted my soul mate to be good. I wanted him to have good inside him somewhere.

"I didn't know you'd broken up," Dante said, brow furrowing.

"He pulled a knife on you," I said flatly. "If he has an explanation, it better be a really good one."

Ray gave a low whistle. "Yeah, I... kinda hoped you weren't dating him that day, but I've been tailing the guy for months. He's sketchy."

I blinked, eyes as wide as a barn owl.

"You've been what?" I asked.

"I've been trying to get inside that hotel he bought to see what's going on, but I can't get any closer than the public meetups," he sighed. "There's a lot of sketchy shit that points back to him, if you're willing to dig enough to find it. Also, I can't find a birth certificate or anything for him. We're not even sure Calen is his real name."

Fuck. Fuck, motherfuck, shitty shitballs.

I tried not to panic, I really did, but it was incredibly difficult. The best I could do was sit there in silence and try to keep breathing, to try not to scream or cry. Dante reached over and offered his hand, and I took it. I wasn't sure how hard I squeezed, but it felt like I was drowning and he was the only way I could reach for air.

"I'm sorry," he said. Mom looked on sympathetically, reaching out to pat my shoulder.

"What?" Ray asked, looking between the three of us.

"He's my soul mate," I explained. "And I really don't understand why any more."