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Everyone raised their eyebrows at this. Sage, Kessler, Caden, Travis, and Justin were orphaned young, but they knew who their parents were. Was there someone in Ifreann that she was related to? If so, why would Mr. Rafferty have demanded this meeting with only this group in particular?

Was anything ever going to make sense in her life ever again?

“Okay, and she thinks we will find them for her?” Jace looked at Mr. Rafferty as well.

“No,” Justin murmured, crossing his arms over his chest as he let out a weary sigh.

“She thinks it’s us.”

Chapter 11

Brynsatfrozenasthe voices of her friends rose in varying degrees of disbelief and agitation around her, but her mind was able to cancel them all out as the words reverberated through her brain.

They were all kin?

A tapping at the small window broke Bryn’s thoughts, and she looked to see Cyerra standing on the sill, a look of avian annoyance on her somehow expressive face. Bryn was quick to wave her away before anyone saw her. She did not need to answer any questions about the obsessive crow when emotions were already high.

Her eyes moved around the room to see if anyone noticed the crow. No one did, but it took a moment to realize the grimace on Declan’s face meant he had caught on to what she had been thinking about before Cyerra interrupted. It was the same look of horror she was sure had just been on her own face.

Was she related to Declan? Her stomach twisted, and she tried not to wretch right there in front of everyone.

That was far too much. She’d take the talking crow and shadow man, but being related to her ex...

“Calm yourself.” Niamh’s hand moved next to Bryn’s but did not make contact. A tap of Niamh’s pinky next to her own had been a signal created between the two and used ever since her father had died. It meant that Niamh would handle whatever was needed and Bryn was safe. “There is no way everyone in this room is related. So don’t worry, you didn’t sleep with your cousin.”

Bryn heard the mirth in Niamh’s voice, and had she not been in the midst of her own spiraling thoughts, she would have thrown some sharp words the woman’s way.

The chaotic and panicked voices of her friends went eerily silent all at once, and Bryn glanced toward the door to see Travis guiding an elderly woman and a young man with golden curls wearing a white cloak into the room. Bryn wasn’t sure if it was the pure panic running through her or the room going quiet so abruptly that made her ears ring.

These were the two people who had made it in under the radar. Two completely unassuming individuals that looked for all the world like a grandmother and grandson. Yet somewhere in Bryn’s brain, she sensed something dangerous about the pair that she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

It was the same thing as when looking out at the horizon, a small cloud of dust actually being miles of dangerous sand and wind.

One didn’t know they were in danger right away, and that was how it felt to be in the room as the two new people stood before her. Bryn’s skin tingled in anticipation of what was to come as she watched the elderly woman look them over.

Travis trailed them in and closed the door, the sudden feeling of being a caged animal made sweat break out along Bryn’s hairline, and it took everything in her not to start pacing and growling. The fact that Travis kept his hand on the pistol at his hip did nothing to calm her nerves.

Justin watched both of the newcomers like a sand serpent as the young man helped the woman to sit, her frail hand patting his youthful one in thanks.

Turning a grandmotherly smile on everyone in the room, she looked at them individually, taking her time as if memorizing their every detail.

“You are all so different than I remember...” The woman spoke with a thick accent. One that could have been a song in the lyrical way it rolled off her tongue. Her eyes moved over Kessler, and she gave him a warm, affectionate smile. “Looks wise at least.”

A shadow moved behind the woman, resembling a man for a flicker of a second before it moved to the corner, blending in with the other shadows. Bryn looked around to see if anyone noticed, but their focus was only on the older woman.

“Well, I am sure I’ve surprised you all with my visit.” Placing her folded hands on top of the table, she steadied herself, the young man who came with her keeping his place at her side.

His eyes were curious, but otherwise his expression was stoic. It was as Justin had said, the man wore a rope around his waist as if it were a belt, a velvet bag hanging from it. Velvet was something she had rarely seen in her lifetime and only the church could afford. She wondered if that meant he was a religious man.

He kept his hands folded behind his back as he waited for the woman to speak again.

“So different, wouldn’t you say, Callum?” she asked the young man at her side.

Giving her a nod, he placed his hand on the velvet bag at his waist.

“Stop right there,” Justin growled, his gun already in hand. “I warned y’all about this before we came in here.”

The older woman put her hand out to stay the young man as she gave a nod of acquiescence to Justin. The young man released the velvet green bag on her order and refolded his hands behind his back.