By the time I got back to Pepper, Veronica had arrived. We all went upstairs, where Helia greeted Pepper with, “My mate is fixing tea, so we may play proper hosts. And, as proper hosts, I will invite you to leave your glamour at the door, along with your jacket, and make yourself comfortable.”

Pepper smiled and thanked Helia, relaxing with obvious relief.

Veronica and I went into the bedroom, where Seanna was sleeping. I closed the door behind us. Then I told Veronica what I was looking for. At first she gave a start, and I think she was about to say that it wasn’t possible. Then she thought for a moment and said, “Yes, I suppose we should.”

Seanna was in a deep sleep and stayed that way as Veronica gently examined her. Three times Veronica said, “I’m not finding anything, Liv.” Three times I urged her to keep looking, suggesting new places.

Finally, she stopped, holding aside a lock of Seanna’s hair, and said, “Do you have—?” and I handed her the scissors I’d brought.

Veronica clipped a quarter-sized spot, trimming closer and closer, until only scalp remained. And there we saw what looked like a red birthmark. The mark of the sluagh.

—

We’d moved to an empty apartment now, Veronica and Grace and I, our voices lowered as we talked.

“You were right,” I said to Grace after we explained. “Seanna is soul-reft.”

Veronica shook her head. “Being marked doesn’t mean they’ve taken what passes for a soul. It means they will, on her death.”

“But they already have, in a way,” I said. “An advance on payment. Rose says Seanna changed around the time she hit puberty. She was always self-centered. Always more fae than most. But there was humanity in her…and then there wasn’t, and I bet if we lined up the exact date, it’d coincide with the time you guys made that deal with the sluagh.”

Veronica’s lips worked, silently calculating. Then she said, “Yes, it does.”

“So that’s how they got a mother for your Gwynn. Find a girl more fae than human. Mark her and take her nub of a conscience. Make her fully fae.”

“I wouldn’t say—” Grace began.

“Unruffle your feathers, old friend,” Veronica said. “Liv is correct. The difference is that fae are accustomed to the lack of what one might call humanity. Seanna was not prepared for that. We failed to see what had happened and therefore failed to help her. We abandoned her, as much—and as unwittingly—as we did her son.”