“Your messages didn’t tell me much beyond that you’d found your parents and needed a ward placed on them. Do you want to fill me in?”
I nodded and looked around for somewhere to talk. The small waiting area wasn’t exactly private, but it was empty, and it would have to do. Keeping my voice low, I gave him a condensed version of what had happened at Rogin’s.
After everything had gone down, I’d realized Tennin had known Lukas’s identity all along. Lukas was an Unseelie prince after all. I didn’t hold it against Tennin because I understood faeries were loyal to their royals. And it wasn’t as if he hadn’t tried to warn me away from Lukas and his men.
“Now you see why I need a protective ward on my parents,” I said when I was done.
Tennin pursed his lips. “My wards are very strong, but Queen Anwyn’s guard is ruthless. If they do come after your parents, you’ll want the strongest protection available.”
“Meaning what?” Fear sliced through me. Was he saying his magic couldn’t stop the royal guard?
“Meaning, I’ll have to add several layers of protection.” He smiled. “Don’t worry. You think your mother and father would let me ward your home if my wards weren’t some of the best?”
We walked to my parents’ room as Gloria came out and gave me a reassuring smile. The staff here was wonderful, and I’d miss them when my parents were moved to the treatment facility.
The agent posted outside the door put up a hand to stop us. “No unauthorized visitors allowed inside.”
“Tennin is a family friend, and he’s here at my request,” I told him.
The Agent shook his head. “No authorization, no entry.”
I crossed my arms. “Then call your superior and have them authorize him because he is going to enter that room.”
The two of us were locked in a stare down for a good ten seconds, until he nodded curtly and pulled out a phone. Tennin and I walked a few paces away while he made the call.
Tennin let out a low whistle when we were out of earshot. “You’ve come a long way from the girl who showed up at my place in November, and I feel compelled to add you’re hot when you’re bossy.”
I ignored his “hot” comment. “I’m not that girl anymore.”
“I think you are. A little jaded, maybe, but I still see her.”
Uncomfortable with his scrutiny, I changed the subject. “My father doesn’t know about my hunting or my involvement in their rescue. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention any of that around him.”
“You don’t think he’ll find out eventually?”
“I plan to tell him, but not until he’s stronger.” I glanced toward the room. “The drugs are messing with his head, and I don’t want to upset him.”
“Understood.”
The agent walked over to us. “You have permission to go in,” he said to Tennin.
I smiled at the agent. “Thank you.”
He gave his customary nod and went back to his post outside the door.
I crossed the hallway and entered the room. Walking to my father’s bed, I found him sleeping peacefully, thanks to the pain meds Gloria had administered. It killed me to know this would be his life for the immediate future, but there was no other way to recover from a goren addiction.
I turned to look at Tennin, who was frowning in the doorway. “You can come in.”
He waved a hand through the air, and a stream of pale green magic flowed from his fingertips and immediately dissipated. Taking a step into the room, he repeated the action with the same result. He pressed his lips together and finally met my gaze. “Your parents have already been warded.”
“What?”
Tennin nodded absently as he felt for the ward again. “And it’s a strong one, more powerful than mine.”
“Who would do that?” Other than me, the only people determined to protect my parents were the Agency, and they hadn’t mentioned a ward.
He didn’t answer right away. “Your mother and father have many bounty hunter friends. Perhaps one of them hired someone to ward your parents.”
My gaze swept the room as if I would spot the answer hiding in one of the corners. “It’s possible, but why wouldn’t they tell me? And how did they get in? The Agency has been guarding my parents around the clock.”
“That I cannot answer.” He swiped his hand through the air again as if testing the ward. “But this is the best ward money can buy. It will stop any attack from human or faerie. A bomb could go off in this room, and your parents wouldn’t get a scratch.”
“But it doesn’t keep faeries out if you’re able to come in.”
He put a hand to his chin. “It’s a very complex ward, made up of multiple layers. It would only allow me entry when you asked me to come in, and I suspect only you or your parents can invite a faerie in.”
Shock mingled with my relief. My parents were safe, but I had no idea who would go through this trouble for them.
Tennin smiled. “I guess my work here is done.”
“Wait. The old ward you did at my apartment required an incantation to let faeries in. This one doesn’t?”
“This is far more advanced than that one. You only have to invite a faerie into the room.”
“Like inviting a vampire in,” I said dryly, and he laughed.
I walked over to him. “Mom and Dad will be moved to the treatment facility in Long Island in a few days. Will you ward their room at the facility when they go there?”
“That won’t be necessary. When I said your parents were warded, I meant the magic is attached to them, not the room. The ward will stay with them wherever they go.”
I gaped at him. “You can ward a person?”
“If you know what you’re doing, yes. It’s not common knowledge, but many of your world leaders have body wards to protect them from assassination.”
“What about your royals? Are they warded, too?” I thought about the assassination attempt on Prince Vaerik that I’d help thwart. Had he been safe all along?
“Our own magic interferes with other magic, so wards don’t work on us.” Tennin smirked. “Except to keep us out.”
I digested this new bit of knowledge. “There is so much I don’t know.”
Tennin looked past me at my sleeping parents. “For a girl who doesn’t know much, you’ve done well. I’ll admit I didn’t have high expectations at first, and I’ve never been so happy to be proven wrong.” He lowered his voice. “Don’t tell your mother and father that I sent you to Teg’s.”
I laughed at his look of mock terror. “Your secret’s safe with me.”
He said he had to leave, and I walked him to the stairway exit since he hated to use the elevator.
“Tennin?” I said when we reached the door.
“What’s on your mind, Jesse?”
“Do you know if…?” I pressed my lips together as I thought of how to voice my question. “Can you tell me if Faris is okay? I understand if you can’t talk about him. I’d just like to know he made it.”
Surprise flickered in his eyes. “I haven’t heard anything, but if he had died, it would have been announced at court.”