Page 126 of Find My Way Down to You

“The mortal realm,” he says.

My forehead wrinkles. This doesn’t make sense. I would know if I was one of them, wouldn’t I? I try my best to process everything. It’s too much.

Milos steps between Cary and me.

“The short version: She abandoned us for your world. Left behind all that makes her immortal.” His thumb smooths over the inside of my forearm. “Yet, somehow, her power lives. Faint but here. In you.”

He studies my tattoo as if seeing it for the first time.

“Narcissus.Favorite of the Deathless of life.”

I falter. “Deathless of…life?”

“Of children and the young,” Cary supplies, looking at me again. “She took care of them. Built the gardens for them.”

“And gave it all up for the love of a mortal.” Milos steps away, twirling his hand carelessly above his head, bored. “At least, that is what the old stories say.”

“And I’m…” Words catch on the roof of my mouth like taffy.

“A descendant of hers,” Henri finishes.

I’m dizzy. Nausea roils in my stomach. Me, a descendant of a Deathless. The one who cared for children. Who loved flowers and gardens.

Cary starts toward me. “August—”

“Did you know?” I ask, furious.

Remorse crowds his face. “I suspected.”

“When?”

“That first time you followed me here. On the shore.”

When I was trapped under him. A blush warms my face, but I refuse to let it distract me.

Cary watches me like the memory is playing out in his own head too. “You felt—” His hand reaches for me.

I retreat, my anger too untamed to be near him. He grimaces, then says, “You felt different.”

“I felt different,” I repeat dully.

He nods. “Then, in the great hall below. The flowers, they…they brightened for you.”

I remember. At the time, it was strange. But everything about Aides is strange to me.

“They wanted to be near you. Just like I want—” Cary stops again, eyes closing.

“You never said anything.”

Blinking, he says, “I wanted to. So many times. But…” His voice trails off.

“Butwhat?!” I shout. Hurt flows river-deep in my voice. “Why didn’t you say anything? Why did you keep another secret from me?”

His silence stretches longer than the distance I’ve put between us.

“Because that is who he is,” Milos posits. “My brother is selfish. Comes and goes as he pleases. Never thinks about what his decisions mean to anyone else.”

Gold pops like oil from a heated pan in Cary’s eyes.