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“Really?” Lore held up her stone, glancing at each of them through the hole. She noticed something odd—there was a green light shimmering around the door behind Finn. She tilted the stone and noticed the windows had the same green glow.

“What do you see?” Finndryl’s irritated expression had shifted into, well, not excitement, but perhaps mild interest bordering on curiosity.

“I see a greenish light around your door and windows.”

Isla let out a squeal of delight, startling them all. “They’re real, then! Those would be our protection spells! My father paid a lot for those. For someone who owns a pub, which is an inherentlysocial place, he really doesn’t like or trust people. The traveler he paid seemed untrustworthy, and I never understood why my father trusted him.” She bounced in her seat. “What do you see when you look at your book?”

Lore angled the stone until its hole faced the pages of the book. She held her breath as she looked through, focusing on the strange characters. Excitement thrummed through her. If the Adder Stone showed her the spells in the house, could it translate her book, too?

After a brief moment, Lore’s shoulders fell in disappointment. “Still the same characters. I can’t read them.”

She wanted so badly for Grey’s gift to be the answer to all her problems. It would have made understanding what she was dealing with so much easier. It was still helpful though, if it could show her spells, and she would need to always keep it on her. It was just like Grey to give her something that could help her, even when he couldn’t be there himself.

She placed the stone back into her tunic pocket and reached for the whiskey bottle instead, despite Asher’s raised brow.

She didn’t care, though. If she couldn’t read the book tonight, she might as well drink to drown her disappointment.

Chapter17

The sun burned red through Lore’s eyelids, and she turned her face away, pressing into the sheets.

She groaned. Her sheets protested, pulling against her.

Lore leaned back, opening one eye, and immediately scooted backward into the couch cushions. Those hadn’t been sheets—she had been snuggling into the back of an incredibly gorgeous fae, one who was in nothing but a slip.

Lore pushed up from where she was lying sandwiched between the couch cushions and Isla, looking around the living room. Asher was sprawled on the floor beside the sofa, head on a book, arm thrown over his eyes, and breathing evenly in his sleep.

She looked up and noted that Finndryl wasn’t asleep. Instead, he was sitting at the kitchen table, pouring tea and reading a book. He didn’t even glance toward her, though he must have known she was awake from her clumsy movements.

Lore raised an eyebrow. Nobody needed that much concentration when pouring tea.He’s still being an ass, then.

Lore climbed over Isla, trying not to wake her. She swayed on her feet a little and winced at the dull thudding behind her eyes. She was relieved that she was still in her clothes from the day before and not in her underthings like Isla.

Come to think of it, whywasshe snuggled up with Isla and not Asher? She’d had every intention of kissing him into oblivion last night.

Lore frowned. She actually didn’t remember anything past her third swig of the bottle, after Finndryl had made a snarky comment to Asher about... something. She couldn’t quite remember what. Finndryl had then gone back to his room, anger radiating from him like a dark cloud.

Asher had brushed it off with a shrug and an amused glint in his eye.

Lore squinted at the wall, as if it would tell her the events of the previous night. Well, she couldn’t remember, but she thought they had played a drinking game? She vaguely recalled relishing the burn of the whiskey every time she missed the cup with the coin.

She must have fallen asleep on the couch at some point.

Where was the washroom?

She opened her mouth to ask Finndryl, but before she did, he pointed down the hallway behind him, still not looking up from his book. Lore nodded in silent thanks—she didn’t think she could form coherent words at the moment. She began picking her way over the empty bottle of whiskey, glasses, and the still sleeping Asher on the floor.

When she returned from the washroom, feeling mostly refreshed, she passed a sleepy-looking Gryph. At last, she got a look at Isla and Finndryl’s father. The dark fae was tall and strong, with arms like tree trunks and hands so large she figured he could crush his enemies’ skulls one-handed if that was something he was into. Hedidlook like casual skull-crushing might have been a hobby in his youth.

Gryph turned, revealing his wild, unkempt beard, and his even-wilder-than-Lore’s curly hair, which had strands of silver that gleamed in the gray light filtering through the window. Despite his threatening size, she noticed laugh lines surrounding his eyes and that his mouth was already set into a grin.

He looked intimidating, but he radiated warmth.

“I’ve been wanting to meet a human for so long. Though I have to say, I didn’t realize your kind was so small when you are full grown.”

Lore couldn’t help but laugh. “Most aren’t. I’m definitely on the small side for a human.”

He eyed her up and down again. “You look like you require breakfast. I was planning on heading down to the Exile to whip up some food before I open for the day. I’ll feed you.”