Marked By Lies: A Reverse Harem Series (The Marked Series Book 1) by Paige Orr (the red fox clan TXT) 📗

I release a breath of relief that I didn’t even realize I was holding. This is one of the reasons I love Adelaide so much. She always manages to take my worries and make them disappear. She’s done the same thing for years. With her knowing about my little visitors, it always meant the world to me when she put my mind at rest.

“I would ask how you knew I was worried, but that would be a silly question. I’m sure you already know what’s going on, but I just need to know if I’m doing the right thing by helping the Prince’s.”

“Of course you are! You know yourself the worry that you experience when you don’t know what has happened to someone you care about.”

I close my eyes, trying not to let the long-buried feelings resurface. After mum’s death, I was determined to find any sort of answers that would make it all make sense. Obviously, that’s not how things work in this world, but those very things are what made me want to be a private investigator.

“I just can’t figure out how I’ll be able to do something that the best Fae have already failed at. There are so many lives on the line, Adelaide, what if I can’t do this?”

“Just follow your gut child, it has always led you in the right direction. I have seen little of what is awaiting you, but already you are following the right path. You have to embrace everything that makes you who you are. That includes your connection with the dead.”

I cringe at her words. I’ve been avoiding my connection with the dearly departed for so long that I don’t know if I can open myself to it that way. Sure I asked Grey for his help, but if I’m being truthful with myself only did that so he wouldn’t be around all the time.

“You know it’s not that simple.”

“Simple no, but necessary, yes. I know this will be difficult for you, dear, but there is a reason that you can see things that others can’t. That is the only advice I can give you. Use your sight, you can find a way and that will give you the answers you need. Now drink up, you have an eventful day ahead of you.”

Adelaide’s words ring with a finality that tells me she won't say any more about what my future holds. So I pick my tea up and use the time to think over what she said while I drink it. I don't know what she means by my sight, sure I can see ghosts, but it’s not like I have any choice over that. I’m missing something important about what I can do, but the question is, what am I missing?

If I think about it from a different perspective, there has to be something that makes me able to see the ghosts. If that’s the case, then maybe it’s this sight that Adelaide mentioned, and that means that I can turn it on or off. If I think about it logically, then it makes perfect sense, if I could see ghosts all the time then they would be everywhere, but it’s like I only see specific spirits.

So what makes them different from those that I can’t see? I’m never going to figure this out right away, but Adelaide says that I need my sight to find the answers. What I need is for Grey to pop up so that I can figure out the differences between my normal vision and when I’m looking at him. This just leads me to more questions, like can I call him to me instead of waiting for him to appear. Deciding to try it out, I put my now empty cup down in my saucer and take a deep breath before calling out his name.

I wait for a few minutes feeling like a complete fool as I wait for him to just pop up; I shake my head, about to laugh at how stupid my idea was when suddenly Grey appears right in front of my face. I let out a squeal as I jump in my seat, grabbing my chest and feeling my heart hammering away under my hand.

“Fucking hell! Was there any need to scare the living shit out of me!”

He looks at me sheepishly before stepping back to give me room to get myself under control. I turn to Adelaide who gives me an encouraging nod and I take a deep breath before turning back to Grey.

“So that was a first for me, boss lady. Your voice kind of came from everywhere and I didn’t have a choice but to bring my dead ass to you.”

“It was a first for me too, buddy. But I have something I need to try, and well, you’re the only non-corporeal stalker I know by name.”

“I take great offense to that! I’m not a stalker, I just don’t have any other meat bag to talk to. Anyway, are you sure it’s alright for you to look like you're having a conversation to yourself in front of granny over there?”

“Yeah, it’s fine. Adelaide knows that I can see things that I really shouldn’t. How about you stand still for me so I can check something?”

“You're awfully pushy today, boss lady.”

Even though he says that he does what I ask, standing as still as he can with the whole inability to actually stand thing. I take my time to look him over, going as far as squinting my eyes and walking around him to see if anything is different. I can feel my frustration building when something strange happens.

My eyes begin to tingle, not in a painful way, but it sure as shit doesn’t feel natural. I try looking him over one more time, and to my surprise, I see a