“Yeah,” I nodded. “He’s the bravest guy ever. He would do anything to protect the people he cares about, and he’s completely selfless. He always puts everybody first. And he’s really, really strong. He’s…” I swallowed and decided that I couldn’t talk about him anymore. I shook my head and looked away.
“What about my mom and dad?” Rhys pressed, and I didn’t know how to answer that.
“Dad died when I was five,” I said carefully. “Mom took it pretty hard, and um… she’s been in the hospital ever since. For psychiatric problems. Matt and my dad’s sister, Maggie, they raised me.”
“Oh.” His face contorted with concern, and I suddenly hated Mom even more. I knew that she had done everything because she loved him, but this is what I was left with telling him. And she’d never be able to have a life with him because she’d always be locked up. All she had done was hurt him and me and Matt and everyone.
“I’m sorry.” I placed my hand gently on his, to comfort him. “It’s hard to explain how I know it, but your mom really loved you. She really wanted you.
And I think she always hated me because she knew I wasn’t you.”
“Really?” There was something hopeful and sad in his eyes when he looked at me.
“Yeah. It kind of sucked for me, actually,” I smiled wanly at him, and he laughed.
“Sorry about that,” Rhys smiled back at me. “I guess I’m too hard to forget.”
“Yeah, I guess you are,” I agreed. Rhys moved his hand so it was actually holding mine, and even though his mood seemed to brighten, I didn’t take it from him.
“So what about this Maggie? What’s she like?” Rhys asked.
“She’s pretty cool. A little overly attentive sometimes, but cool,” I said.
“She’s incredibly loving and patient, and she put up with a lot of crap from me.
They both did, really.” I thought about how strange this all was, that they weren’t my family anymore. “This’s so weird. They’re your brother and your aunt.”
“No, I understand. They’re your family, too,” Rhys insisted. “They loved you and raised you. That’s what family is, right?” That was the exact thing I had needed someone to say to me for so long, and I squeezed his hand gratefully. I still loved them and always would, and I just wanted that to be okay.
“Wendy!” Finn apparently had just woken up and was on his way to check on me when he spotted me sitting on the steps. Instinctively, I pulled my hand back, and Rhys stood up. “What are you doing?”
“I just woke up. We were just talking.” I looked up at Rhys, who nodded in agreement, but Finn glared at us both. I felt like we’d been caught robbing a bank or having sex by the way Finn looked at us.
“I suggest you get ready for school,” Finn commanded icily.
“Yeah, that what I was doing anyway,” Rhys said somewhat defensively, then smiled down at me. “I’ll see you later, Wendy.”
“Yeah, okay,” I smiled back at him.
“What are you doing?” Finn hissed, glowering down at me.
“I already told you!” I insisted and stood up. He was still intimidating, but we were closer to the same height now, so I felt a bit better. “We were just talking!”
“About what?” Finn pressed.
“My family,” I shrugged. “What does it matter?”
“You cannot talk to him about your family,” Finn said firmly.
“Mänsklig cannot know where they come from. If they did, they would be tempted to track down their families, and that would completely ruin our entire society. Do you understand that?”
“I didn’t really tell him anything!” I said defensively, but I felt stupid that that hadn’t occurred to me. “I missed them, and I just said stuff about how neat Matt was. I didn’t tell him their last name or where they lived or anything like that.”
“You have to be more careful, Wendy,” Finn persisted.
“Sorry! I didn’t know!” I didn’t like the way he was glaring at me, so I turned and started walking down the hall toward my room.
“Wait.” Finn grabbed my arm gently so I would stop and look at him.
He took a step closer to me so he was right in front of me, but I was trying to be mad at him, so I refused to look at him. I could still feel his eyes on me and the heat from his body, and it did little to help me maintain my anger.
“What?” I asked curtly.
“I saw you holding his hand,” Finn lowered his voice.
“So?” I said. “Is that a crime?”
“No, but… you can’t do that,” Finn explained emphatically. “You cannot get involved with a mänsklig.”
“Whatever.” I pulled my arm from his grip, irritated that the only thing he ever thought about was the job. “You’re just jealous.”
“I am not jealous,” Finn said defensively and took a step back from me. “I am watching out for your well-being. You don’t understand how dangerous it would be to get involved with him.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I muttered and started walking back to my room. “I don’t understand anything.”
“That’s not what I said,” Finn followed after me.
“But it’s true, isn’t it?” I countered. “I don’t know anything.”
“Wendy!” Finn snapped, and grudgingly, I turned back to look at him.
“If you don’t understand things, it’s because I didn’t explain them well enough.” He swallowed hard and looked down at the ground, his dark eyelashes falling on his cheeks. There was something more that he wanted to say to me, so I crossed my arms, waiting. “But you were right.” He struggled with what he was saying, and I watched him carefully. “I was jealous.”
“What?” My jaw literally fell open and my eyes widened with surprise.
“That does not affect the job I have to do, nor does it change the fact that you absolutely cannot become involved with a mänsklig,” Finn said firmly, still looking at the ground instead of at me. “Now go get ready. We have another long day ahead of us.” He turned around and started to walk away.
“Wait, Finn!” I called after him, and he paused, half looking back at me.
“The matter is not open for discussion,” Finn replied coolly. “I promised I would never lie to you, so I didn’t.”
I stood in front of my bedroom door, reeling from his confession. For the first time, he had really admitted that at least some of his feelings for me had nothing to do with the job at hand. Yet somehow, I was supposed to forget all that and go about like everything was normal.
With the party only twenty-four hours away, Elora felt the need to check on my progress, not that I blamed her. Her plan was a dress rehearsal through dinner, testing my ability to converse and eat, apparently. She didn’t want a massive audience to witness my possible failure, so she just invited Garrett, Willa, and Rhiannon over to join her, Finn, Rhys, and me. It was the biggest group she could assemble without risk of embarrassment. Since I had already met with these people, I didn’t feel all that nervous, even though Elora informed me before hand that I needed to treat this the same way I would tomorrow night.
Everyone had clearly been instructed the same thing because they all appeared far more regal than normal. Even Rhys had dressed in a blazer, and he looked rather handsome. As usual, Finn was unnecessarily attractive, and thanks to his random confession of jealousy, I wasn’t entirely sure how to act around him. He had come into my room before dinner to make sure that I was getting ready, but I couldn’t help but feel that he was purposefully avoiding looking at me.