His face blanched of the little color it held. “I’m sorry.”
She could see from his expression that he was, but it wasn’t enough. “Then tell me why.”
“I left because there was a war on and I had no choice but to answer the call of my king.” His gaze flickered to his brother. “But I gave your mother a ring—a talisman—that she could use to call me, told her that if she needed me, I would come.”
“Fat lot of good that did. She called to you over and over but you never came.”
He swallowed. “I was a prisoner. There was a great battle, and I was captured and awaiting ransom when I got the call. I begged them to let me go, promised on my honor to return, and they refused. In the end, I killed the guards and broke free, but it was too late. I got there to find the village destroyed and two stakes all that remained. I found her ring among the ashes and presumed you had both died.”
His voice was filled with remembered horror, and some of the tension inside her loosened. He hadn’t abandoned them through choice. He had cared. Still, she couldn’t find it in herself to forgive him completely. He should never have left them so vulnerable. He should have taken them somewhere safe. No doubt, he’d been too ashamed of their mixed blood to take her to his people.
“You survived,” he said. “How?”
“After my mother was dead, they were coming for me. I called for help and someone answered.”
“Someone?”
“I saved her,” Asmodai said, his tone smug.
The fae’s eyes narrowed on the demon. “At what price?”
“Nothing I wasn’t willing to pay.” That wasn’t quite true, but there would be time to go into details later.
“You lay with a demon?” His tone held barely suppressed horror.
“Yeah, get over it. I’m five hundred years old—you expect me to still be a virgin?”
“But a demon.” He glanced at Piers, who stood at her back. “Still, things could have been worse.”
Why did she think things were going to get a whole lot worse, very quickly? She bit back a grin at the idea, as Piers came up behind her. He put his hands on her shoulders and drew her back against the length of his body. She stiffened for a moment, before relaxing against him. There was no point in putting this off, and her “father” had better get used to the idea. From the horrified expression on his face, it looked like that was going to take some doing.
“Let go of her,” he snarled. “Do you mean to use her as a hostage for my good behavior? Even you wouldn’t stoop so low.”
“I might, if I had to, but in this case I don’t.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer, nuzzling the side of her neck. Okay, so her father needed to know, and she wasn’t ashamed of Piers, but she had an inkling he was being an asshole.
“But don’t think I’m any happier about this development than you are,” Piers said. “I’d have run a mile if I’d realized who she really was.”
Roz elbowed him in the gut.
“Hey, I might have run, but I would have let you catch me…eventually.”
She pulled free. “Lay off winding him up. I thought you wanted his help.”
Piers sighed. “We do. But come on, Walker, tell me one thing. I get you had to leave them, but why not take them somewhere safe? Why not take them to the Faelands where they could be watched?”
“There were reasons.”
“Which were?”
“Nothing I wish to go into right now. But Rosamund, believe me, I was never ashamed of you or your mother. I loved you both. Give me the chance, and I’ll prove that to you.”
“The chance?”
“Come back with me now. Let me show you my world, my people.”
Roz searched his face. He appeared to be genuine. Maybe what Piers had hinted at was right. He should have tried harder. He should have kept them safe. She suspected he carried around a great weight of guilt for not doing that.
But she also knew that her memories of his love had not been lies. That he had cared for her back then. Could that emotion have survived over the intervening years? This was the man who would have slit his own niece’s throat just for some purity-of-the-blood shit ideals. The man who had just claimed he would stand by and watch humanity die with a smile on his face. It came to her then why he felt that way. “That’s why you hate them, isn’t it—because they killed my mother?”
He gave a sharp nod. “I failed your mother, but I promised myself that I would keep the rest of my people safe at any cost.”
“And you’re the type to hold a grudge,” Piers said. “You blame the demons for keeping you away. You blame the humans for killing her.”
“And I blame the vampires for not keeping better control. If you had done your jobs the war would not have broken out.”
“So basically you hate everyone except the fae. I suppose that explains a lot.”
“But I’m half-human,” Roz said. “So where does that leave me?” Unless witches weren’t human. But her mother had certainly looked human. Acted human—for the most part.
“You’re my daughter,” he replied. “But you’re not half-human.”
“I’m not?”
“Come back with me, and I’ll tell you everything.”
“Why not now?”
“This is not the place to talk of such things.”
“Come on, Walker, spit it out. What do you know?”
“Not here and not now.”
His tone was resolute. But much as Roz desperately wanted to discover what he could tell her, she wouldn’t go with him now. She had an idea things were going to go bad at any moment, and she wished to spend the intervening time with Piers. If they came through this alive, there would be time to get to know her father, to talk of her mother, to visit his homelands.
“When all this is over, then I’ll come.”
“You do know that with the Key, Andarta will be virtually indestructible?”
“Yeah, I know.”
After studying her for long moments, he reached up, lifted a chain from beneath his shirt, and pulled it over his head. A white gold band was strung on the chain. For a second he held it in front of his face, then he offered it to Roz. “This was the ring I found in the ashes. If you need me, hold it in your palm and wish. I will hear you.”
She took the chain from him, dangled it from one finger, watched as the light glinted off the curves. She remembered it on her mother’s finger, and bit her lip. Her mother had worn it every day and night, had never taken it off. She’d been wearing it the night she died.
“And will you come this time?” She hadn’t realized the bitterness she still harbored until the words slipped out.
Pain flashed across his face. “I will come.”
A cell phone went off behind her, and she jumped. Christian answered and spoke in low tones. When he looked back at them, his expression was grim.
“That was Carl. There’s been a demon attack at an army base in Surrey. Everyone slaughtered. It’s begun.”
“We must go and prepare for war. I will talk with my people, see if they are willing to fight beside you,” the Walker said. “If we survive this, we will renew our acquaintance. Until then…” He took the chain from her and lifted it over her neck. “Try not to think too badly of me.”
“You know,” Piers said, “I never thought I’d say it—but under that cold, mean, twisted exterior, there’s a soft, fluffy guy.”
“Piss off, Lamont.” He gave him a narrow-eyed stare. “I hold you responsible for her welfare.”
“Er, actually, I’m responsible for my own welfare,” Roz butted in.
