“Oh, but I do. I recognize them, and I work to overcome them. Sometimes I’m even successful, like when I finally realized I couldn’t trust you to tell me the sky is blue. You fancy yourself a good mother, Pamela. Tough love. Preparing me for a harsh world. Like criticizing me when I’m making mistakes, when I’m not fulfilling my potential, not as clever as you expect.”

“You are clever. That’s the point. You aren’t utilizing your intelligence—”

“Do you know what’s worse than telling your kid that you’re disappointed in her? Using that to manipulate her. Telling her she’s made a stupid mistake, when in fact she hasn’t—you’re just trying to grind her self-confidence into the dust so she’ll stop chasing questions you don’t want answered.”

Her face hardened. “I am trying to stop you from making a mistake, Olivia.”

“Yep, you are. Except that ‘mistake’ isn’t chasing a false lead. It’s following it to a conclusion you don’t want me reaching.”

“You—”

“If you hate fae so much, stop acting like one. Stop manipulating and diverting and distracting. You don’t know anything about Greg Kirkman? I’ll refresh your memory. He killed three young women and then disappeared shortly before you went after the Tysons. All signs point to him as the guy who murdered those girls. One of his victims was from Cainsville. She had fae blood—I’ve confirmed that, which would make her killer a Cŵn Annwn target.”

“What does that have to do with your father?”

“You made a deal with the Cŵn Annwn. That much is undisputed fact. But the details aren’t entirely clear, like how you contacted them in the first place. It’s not like you can look them up in the Yellow Pages. You know what Cainsville is now, but you didn’t when you were growing up.”

“How do you—?”

“I have visions, remember? I’ve seen you in them, as a child.”

Her composure rippled. “You’ve seen—?”

“You only got the full picture once you made that deal. Maybe not even then. So how did you make contact?”

“I’d heard things, growing up. I figured out what Cainsville was.”

“Bullshit.”

“You asked, Olivia, so I answered—”