Isniffedatthedrinkmy father placed on the long worn table between us, and my nostrils flared.
“Bane calls it Dragon’s breath. It's his own brew.”
Narrowing my eyes, I swirled the glass. “Is it poison?”
My father’s strong shoulders shrugged and his eyes sparkled. “Likely but hasn’t killed us yet.”
Tossing it back with one gulp, I hissed while it slowly burned my insides. I sat down at the long kitchen table and admired the strength of the fae before me.
My father studied me with the same quiet intelligence he possessed most of my life. It had made him a powerful leader before the bloodlust took him. He poured me another drink and waited. The same way he did when I was a cub, silently watching me until I was uncomfortable enough to confess all my secrets…except this time there were so many, I didn’t even know where to begin.
I dropped my gaze to my glass and swirled it just like the thoughts running amok inside my head.
The cat was surprisingly quiet. Taking a page from my father’s book.
“Daemon.” His voice rumbled and I looked up to see a sad smile on his face. “Son, it’s been hundreds of years. Let us not waste any more time to speak to one another. What is on your mind, my cub?”
“How did you do it?” I blurted out, just like when I was young. The silence always won. “How did you stand it? When mother died?”
He stiffened and sadness bled into his patient gaze. “You and I both know that I didn’t. My own people suffered and I nearly killed my own son—I almost lost everything that I loved, not just her.”
My throat burned and it wasn’t from Bane’s poison. “I am sorry. I’m so very sorry for what I had to do.”
Blonde brows fell heavy over his eyes. “My cub…you did the right thing. I would have done the same in your position. There is nothing to apologize for. After your mother—” He released a guttural growl and I tensed, my hands tightened around my glass. “After we lost her, I lost myself. The only thing that made the pain go away was giving into the rage…but it also made me forget. I forgot about everything that I once cherished.” He sighed and tilted his head. “You’re afraid. Afraid of this happening to you, afraid of your soulmate bond.”
“I’m fucking terrified and it's not even complete. The way I feel for her…” I rasped and then bowed my head so he could not see the anguish inside of me. “I won’t survive it. You know what is inside of me. Our world won’t survive it. If I lose her again…I can’t do it.”
He was silent for a moment, his lips pressed in a thin line before he barked a short laugh. “You know what your mother would say?”
I spread my hands on the dark worn wood, not daring to look up. “What would mother say?”
“Our greatest strength comes from embracing fear with love.” I could hear the sad smile in his tone. “Bond or not, my cub, you love that fae out there. That is a glaringly obvious truth. I don’t need my powers to see that.”
“She doesn’t know.” I swallowed. “I’ve masked the bond.”
More silence.
“Why?”
I ran my hand through my hair and stared hard into his concerned eyes. “Deirdre would have used it against us, against Remnant. During my capture, she was already using her against me. She thought it was my own honor she was torturing. If she knew there was a soulmate bond.” I shivered. “There’s no telling what kind of depraved torture she would have concocted.”
My father’s gaze was intense and haunted. “Jarquinn was not alone that night he found you. You were barely alive when we tracked you down. When you were stabilized, I returned home. I was worried what my presence would do to your recovery. I should have stayed.”
I inhaled sharply. “I did not know. Jar never told me.”
He drew a shaky breath and leaned in towards me. “I thought I lost you Daemon, and all I could think was that one day I would be given another chance to be a better father. What Deirdre did to you, seeing her cruelty with my own eyes, the suffering you endured.” He choked again and looked away. “I am sorry that you have paid the price for my mistakes Daemon. All of them it would seem.”
“My suffering is nothing compared to what that bitch did to my soulmate.” I rasped and I reached out to grip his hand. “And that had nothing to do with you. Deirdre was tainted from the beginning.”
He gripped my hand and growled fiercely. “Are they all dead? The ones responsible?”
I blinked at the memory of terrified eyes begging for mercy, I had almost forgotten him, the human. I pulled my hand away. “All but one. But you should know it wasn’t just humans under Deirdre’s influence. It was our own people, father. Shifters, led by Falcon.”
“Falcon?” My father hissed, curling his fingers into his palm, no doubt imagining strangling him. “What does that two faced feathered shit have to do with all this?”
I inhaled deeply. “The war between our nations had to stop. No matter how much I wanted to honor mother for you, I could not stand losing one more innocent fae.”
My father remained silent…allowing it to spill more secrets.
