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Coming from an owl shifter who had once preferred eating pixies to peacefully moving them, that was some harsh criticism.

“Yes, well, I told ya my story because I captured the stabbing fairy. And she may be related to Ezra. I haven’t been able to confirm her story about being his sister.”

“We can do that for you,” Hart declared.

“She lied her way into my home in order to kill me. I have her dagger. I cleaned all the blood off it to protect my and my guardian’s magick. It never occurred to me that I might be ruining evidence.”

“Things happen,” Hart said with a shrug. “Most magickals would have done the same.”

I nodded in relief. Maybe this wouldn’t be as bad as I feared. Or perhaps I needed to believe that. I’m sure I would have to draw uncrossable boundaries eventually.

Hart and Jessing followed me into the house with raised eyebrows. I held a hand out to the statue of my fairy assassin. “Here she is. She claimed to be Ezra’s sister.”

“She is in stasis. Who did this? Did you?” Jessing asked.

The owl shifter pondered the statue, leaning in to sniff the energy surrounding the female fairy. Did it have a smell?

Jessing pulled back. “I cannot identify it, but at the deepest level, it smells powerful and ancient. It also smells Chinese. I know that sounds impossible, but that is what I smell.”

“It’s not impossible. Yer nose is very good,” I said with a grin. “I work with a magickal who calls herself aWu Shaman.She is a Chinese witch, slash demon expeller, slash holy woman. I’ve never met anyone like her.”

Hart looked at me in surprise. “Jessing’s nose is always right. I’ve never known her to be wrong. Are you saying your Wu Shaman put the fairy into the magickal stasis we’re seeing?”

I nodded. “Yes, but she doesn’t know how, and the magickal tool she uses won’t tell her. Her staff is like the Dagda stone. It’s powered by a type of old magick only the gods understand. She and I use our magickal artifacts for our own purposes without really knowing how they work. Her freezing the fairy before she could leap through her escape portal shocked both of us.”

“Can the Chinese witch do this to anyone?” Jessing asked.

“No, but she’d like to be able to. She’s tried to repeat the process but has failed consistently. She may be carrying a baby. If true, it might have been the child helping her that allowed her to do it. Please say nothing of the potential child to anyone. Itis not yet confirmed, and the father doesn’t know. I told you in confidence so you’d know I’m not holding anything back.”

Hart smiled at me. “Jessing could tell with one sniff if she was expecting. One of our daughters can do the same. It was a gift my darling owl developed when carrying our first brood.”

My gaze ran between them. “How many children do ya have?”

I blinked when Jessing’s face turned pink.

“A baker’s dozen,” Hart said with a laugh.

I looked over at the owl shifter. “Thirteen children must have exhausted ya. I had my hands full with just Fiona.”

Jessing shrugged. “My family moved to Ireland to help with them. None of my eagle siblings have conceived. Hart and I produced an equal assortment of eagle shifters and witches. They’re mostly grown. His family lured our six witches to England with promises of learningsecrets. My family insisted on working with the six eagles. Matilda was our only owl. We refused to send her away. She learns what she chooses to. Currently, your mother is teaching her to make potions.”

“Really? Ma never told me.”

This time, it was Jessing who reached out to pat my shoulder. “We understand your ex-husband wouldn’t let you return to the land of your birth. And then you were in prison andcouldn’treturn. Life in Ireland went on without you, but not like it does here.”

My sigh was loud and forlorn, but I couldn’t help feeling sorry for myself. “I never stopped missing it. Ireland is home.”

“I did not say those things to make you sad,” Jessing said.

“Oh, I know. And ya didn’t. What’s yer nose saying about me?” I asked her the question mostly to change the subject. I didn’t want to dwell on what I’d left behind. My life was here in Salem for another four and a half years. I’d given my word and signed the same in ink.

“You smell like ancient magick, Aran, but also strongly of a virile, human male. Underneath that is the energy of the gods that I recall from when I knew you before. I have smelled similar god-magick on your child but not any virile human males yet.”

“TMI, love,” Hart said as he watched my reaction.

“No, I’m glad she didn’t smell men on my daughter. I find it reassuring.” I shook my head at my answer and chuckled as my face turned pink. “Ya’re good at discerning a person’s secrets, Jessing.”

The owl shifter beamed at my praise.