Page 109 of His Retribution

"No." He smiles softly. "I'm afraid it's much darker than that."

"Ok… So, what then?"

Havok sighs. "My great-grandfather believed that feeding from fae would eventually lead to asuper species, so to speak. We already possess the ability to heal quickly, but he found that fae blood increased that as well as made it harder to become injured." The unreadable expression is back and damn near has me peeing my pants. “Constantine also believed that enough fae blood would make it possible for vampires to endure sunlight, becomeDay Walkersas he called it. He had any and all fae they hunted down turned into blood slaves and drained them until there was nothing left. The effects proved his theory but never stuck, which he tested by also exterminating a huge chunk of the vampire population by forcing them into the sun for hours on end or piercing their hearts to see if they would heal."

Havok just endured hours in the sun.

He always seems to heal quicker after he feeds from me, like instantly after he feeds.

There was one time, back before, that Havok had been stabbed through the spine with a sword dipped in vampire blood, and when Andrej brought him to me, my love was practically paralyzed from the waist down. So he fed off and on for about a half hour and by the time we had to leave, Havok walked me home.

I never put too much thought into it before now because I just assumed it was our blood-bond, the fact that my blood is tailored to his needs but even still, that all seemed pretty quick.

And now thinking about that on top of the fact that Havok just slept in the sun for who knows how long before Samson woke us up like the good boy he is...

Oh my gosh.

Oh holy shit.

My eyes snap to Henrich. "So you think, I, me—you think I'm..."

He nods. "My theory is in fact that you may be fae."

"You said they were extinct!" I shriek. "Well before I was born!"

"Yes, that's what is recorded; however, I believe that you are an exception."

"How?" Havok asks, his fingers stroking my neck. "How would my light have been born fae the year she was, if fae were already said to be extinct by then?"

"I believe, after many hours of reading, Cora is not only the last remaining fae, but daughter to their king and queen."

I scoff. "You met my parents, know that they were assholes. You really think they were king and queen of anything other than making my life hell?"

"I don't believe they were your true parents."

I blink.

Then do it again.

"Just hear me out." Henrich grabs the book and talks while he flips through the pages. “Fae, just like shifters, had one true king and queen that ruled over the whole species, but there were also elders, male and female, who ruled over each individual branch of the fae kingdom. The ultimate king and queen, Tolan and Ellida, were friends of our father's—good friends—and when the vampires started slaughtering their kind, Bozidar offered them protection."

I take a sip of water and fight to get it down.

My whole fucking world is about to change, I just know it.

"This was well before we were born, even before Havok was born, but our father hid them away for as long as he could until one day they just vanished." Henrich sighs and closes the big book then slides the small one toward me. "Bozidar assumed with great heartache that Tolan and Ellida were taken by Nero's minions of death, but around 1707 he found a small patch of irises growing in the center of a clearing in front of our family cave. They, as you know, don't grow in the middle of winter in Slovakia so that was a sure sign of something, but they also symbolize—"

"Hope. Gratitude. Faith. Wisdom. Friendship," I list almost robotically.

"Exactly. Bozidar took that as a sign that Tolan and Ellida were safe, and about five years later those same irises grew in the same place, but alongside them were orchids and marigold cosmos." Henrich waits.

"A sign of fertility." I swallow hard. "And October's flower."

Kai shakes his head. "So you're saying you believe Tolan and Ellida hid for three or four hundred years, gave birth to Cora, then left her with idiot humans to raise her?"

Henrich nods. "Yes. I believe they were able to conceive but knew their chances of keeping her safe were slim because even though Constantine was brutal, Nero was downright savage. They put our little one with human parents that resembled her enough that no one would ask questions, and living with them would mask her scent."

"Shit," Havok grumbles next to me.