Faustine by Imogen Rose Page A

missing? Now, even though finding him seems like a priority to you, it’s not. You’ve got way bigger issues to deal with,” she said firmly.
    “I know, but I am making him my first,” I retorted, just as firmly.
    She looked at me intently. “Spunky little demon, aren’t you? I like it,” she laughed. “I will help you. However, we will do this my way. You’re sitting in my territory,” she reminded me. “And, you’ve not been sworn in yet. Now, normally, I would tell you to go home and wait this out, but since you are Sebastian’s named heir, I’ll respect that.”
    She had me. I was sort of powerless, especially here in New York, where I was totally under her jurisdiction. She could ship me off to London with a snap of her fingers. Time to change tactics. “I apologize for coming across so... petulantly. It’s just that I’m really worried about everything.”
    “Are you worried about anything other than what you’ve told me? If so, out with it. It’s best for me to have all the information.”
    “Just teen stuff. The guy I like ignored me at school today. My best friend is angry with me....”
    “All right. That really is pretty irrelevant,” she interrupted. “What I need to do first is secure your siblings, any based in New York anyway. Do you know if you have any brothers or sisters in New York, other than Peter and Kismet?”
    “Yes, another sister–Katerina.”
    She waited. “Do you know anything apart from her first name?”
    I shook my head.
    “That’s not a lot to go on. I’m guessing that you don’t want me to get Dorian involved in this?”
    “It’s not that. Could you just avoid mentioning to him that Luke is missing?”
    “Luke is his son, Faustine. He has every right to know,” Alexandra protested.
    “I know, I know,” I sighed. “I just want to handle this myself and find Luke. Dorian will fall apart if he finds out, and I need him to take care of London for me at the moment.”
    “I can see your dilemma. I’ll have Katerina in my database, if she’s in New York. It would be easier with a last name, but there can’t be that many demons called Katerina.”
    “Sounds good. And then what? I still need to find my dad, Kismet and Luke....”
    “Faustine, go home and go about your normal routine until I contact you with more information. Then we’ll decide what to do next. In the meantime, deal with your teen issues. You seem to have a few of those,” she smiled. “My daughter attends the same school as you. She’s a senior, so you probably haven’t met her, but I’m sure she’ll take you under her wing and make high school a bit more palatable for you. Let me set up a meeting to introduce you to each other. It will be good for you to know some of your own kind here in the city. She’s part demon as well.”
    “Oh, that would be great! Did she go to the Academy?”
    “No, her father refused to send her–or his son. The man’s an idiot. I left him years ago, but he’s still her father and has some say. Not just because he’s their father, but because he’s a warlock and can make my life pretty complicated when he has one of his turns. I must have had a total lapse of sanity when I mated with him. Anyhow, she seems pretty well adjusted, so I’m not too worried.”
    “I’d love to meet her. It would be nice to have another teen demon to bounce things off of,” I said, thinking about my uncontrolled glowing issues when I kissed, for example.
    “I owe your mom breakfast, after she got so rudely blown off this afternoon, don’t you think?”
    “I don’t think she really minded,” I assured her.
    “Well, it was rude. Why don’t the two of you come over to breakfast before school tomorrow, and I’ll introduce you to my daughter. Shall we say around six?”
    “I’ll come on my own. It’ll be less complicated. I’m sure Mom has other plans anyway. We can do a social date another time.”
    She nodded. “And by tomorrow, I hope to have some more