HEATH

I park my car outside Portia's house. Each home in the street is still and quiet, but I know Portia's will be on alert.

I look over my shoulder at Elyssia, who's slumped against Ewan's shoulder. "Wake her up."

Ewan scrunches his nose. "She's a little too friendly when I do."

I can't help laughing. "I'm sure you can defend yourself."

"Do you know how uncomfortable it is that both mother and daughter sexually harass me?"

"You're hilarious! Poor Ewan." He pulls a face as I laugh at him.

"She's barely twenty years old!"

"Ah well, at least she's not a teenager."

"Gross, Heath."

Ewan shifts away from the princess, and Elyssia's head lolls sideways as he moves.

"Hey! Sleepy head! Time to go home."

Her eyes flutter open. "What?"

"We're home. Your mother freaked out when we called her. Prepare yourself."

"Oh shit." She rouses herself further and sits. "Please stay with me."

The girl's a bedraggled mess. More hair escaped her ponytail and her make-up smudged into dark lines on her cheeks. Her clothes are creased, and she faintly smells of the sickly incense from the club.

"How did you think you could get away with trying to leave?" I ask.

Elyssia unclips her seatbelt. "How would you feel if you were forced into a life you never asked for?"

I give a harsh laugh. "Really? You're asking me that question? Believe me, Elyssia, there's no running away from this shit."

She casts her eye down. "Crap. Sorry."

I don't understand the whole fae lineage and politics situation, but I do pity her. Nobody likes life out of their control, but she can't help what she's born into any more than a human child.

Elyssia refuses to allow us to support her on the unsteady walk from the car and up the garden path. She fumbles her key in the front door lock and slinks through the door between Ewan and me, the bodyguard more than eager to open the door when they see who's with us. There's no sound in the house, and the solidly built guy with his crew cut hair returns to his seat between the stairs and door, in the large entrance hallway.

I pause, waiting for Portia to appear.

Nothing.

"Portia?" I call. "We're here."

"I'm in the kitchen." I’m surprised by her even tones, as if we've called around for a quick visit. Shouldn't she rush out to see if her daughter is okay?

Elyssia repeats shit under her breath the whole way from the hall into the kitchen.

Portia sits at the kitchen island counter with a goldfish-bowl-sized glass in front of her on the granite top. She sips the red wine and appraises her daughter. In contrast, Portia's immaculately dressed and groomed in black slacks and a blue shirt partially open.

"Thank you for returning my daughter."

Neither she nor Elyssia speak to each other. I didn't expect a tender reunion, but I expected more than indifference.

Ewan sets Elyssia's rucksack on the floor, and Portia cranes her neck to see what he has. "Well, there's no point unpacking that."

Elyssia glares at her mother.

"You're leaving tomorrow, darling girl. We agreed you could have another month to spend with your human friends, but you've broken that agreement. I need you gone." Portia gives us a tight smile. "By that I mean away from danger. Where did you find her?"

Now this I've rehearsed. "She was at The Warehouse, living it up with some human friends. I expect she was staying with them."

"I was at La Fee Verte," interrupts Elyssia.

"I do hope you're lying," growls Portia. She climbs down from the stool and approaches her daughter. Portia seizes Elyssa's chin and studies her face. "Is this drugs or alcohol?"

"Magic."

The two stare each other down. Elyssia is definitely her mother's daughter; I can't imagine they'd ever live together, long term, without a lot of problems.

"You traded your magic?"

Elyssia shrugs and Portia wipes her brow with the back of her hand before turning away. "I suggest you go to your room. Dennis will be outside, should you decide to abscond again. You may've used your magic to slip the last bodyguards you had, but not again. I'll be warding the house."

"Abscond," says Elyssia with a snort. "So polite. So regal. If you make me leave my life here for another court, and I have to marry some dude I don't like, I'll make sure my kingdom is stronger than yours! You'll be sorry you’re doing this!"

Whoa. I glance at Ewan and tense, ready for Portia's outburst, a crackle of magic, something.

"Good night, Elyssia," she replies firmly, without looking at her daughter.

I cross my arms, awkward in the silence, a feeling matched by Ewan judging by his gaze at the floor. Man, their world is complicated.

Once Elyssia leaves the room, with her shoulders straight, emulating her mother's haughtiness, Portia pulls out two wine glasses from beneath the bench.

"Join me for a drink."

"No, we need to be getting back to the house," says Ewan.

"And I'm driving," I put in.

Portia ignores us and pours. "How are my favourite boys?"

I blink at her behaving as if we're friends who haven't visited for some time, not estranged allies. "Missing your help right now."

"Mmm?" Portia pushes the glasses towards us and picks up hers. "Is your Fifth still with you?"

"Yes. And she's not going anywhere," Ewan says in a warning tone.

"So I gather. And how about the delightful War. Is he ready to apologise yet?"

Xander apologise? She knows the likelihood of that, judging by her smirking face.

"If the apology is mutual, I imagine he would," I reply. "Things became a little heated."

Portia carefully cuts cheese and places it onto to crackers she has lain out on a plate in front of her, and we wait as she slowly eats. Eventually she licks her fingers and returns her attention our way. "I'm prepared to listen to Xander, if he can agree to my terms."

One thing about Portia, it's impossible to judge what she's thinking. She's clever—putting herself across as a charming and friendly lady—but we've seen her darker moods many times.

"What terms?" asks Ewan. "We'll speak to him."

"An apology. The truth about everything you four have done in recent months. Xander must also allow us to question Verity."

I scratch my eyebrow. She certainly likes to pile on her demands.

"And Xander must come to my bed." Another sip, another smile.

"What?" Mine and Ewan's voices reply in shocked unison.

"Xander. Sex. A proof of our unity."

Oh, holy fuck. He would never do something like that. But my shock is joined by a guilty relief that she didn't ask either of us. But of course not, because she perceives Xander as our strongest and the one she needs to conquer.

There's no way anybody could conquer War.

Her laughter chimes around the kitchen. "Your faces! You Pony Boys are so precious! I adore you. I'm joking."

There's a part of me that thinks she isn't. Over the last ten years, Portia's repeatedly propositioned us and then denied she was interested. Is that face saving?

Ewan rubs a hand across his face. "I'm too tired for this, Portia. Can you accept us bringing home Elyssia as a pledge of our loyalty? If we wanted to betray the fae on any level, we wouldn't have helped. We didn't want to interfere because there’s enough shit we're dealing with right now, but we did."

"And for that I am very grateful, and yes this does shine a new light on our situation and relationship." She places her fingers on his arm. "I would like to repay your help in some way. Perhaps we could organise to meet, and you can tell me everything." She emphasis the word everything.

He looks over at me, and I nod. "As long as you reciprocate with information, Portia, because I think you’re holding something back too.”

“Of course.”

“And I don't want you to bring Logan to the meeting."

Portia drops into one of her silences, the kind where things could go either way. Then she smiles. "I will be in touch tomorrow. I need to attend to my daughter."

She leaves us in the kitchen, where I stare at the school notices attached to the fridge by magnets, at the planner posted on the wall besides Kailey's behaviour chart. The kitchen's filled with the ordinary in the middle of a household that's anything but.

We leave, hearing raised voices above as we pass the stairs, hopeful we may be able to get back on track with Portia and gain some help.