“We have a lot we will have to fix in our world, and that starts with us being together. Given how you’ve grown up physically, I find myself looking forward to that in a way I didn’t think I would be. It will happen though, as it was promised, and in our proper places. I will guide you to yours.”
And if that speech couldn’t get any worse, he actually looked towards the ground with a smirk… Saying mine was before him on my knees.
He wasn’t ready for me this time. I kicked out his knee so he started to fall and threw a side punch that launched him into the empty pool in front of us. I used the water rune to fill it, not caring the night was seriously cold, and the moment he resurfaced, I started freezing the water while he struggled. I did it until he was mostly held in place, but not to crush him.
I smiled evilly as I squatted down at the edge. “I would rather crush you right now than even think of giving up Darby. If you try to get between us or hurt him, I will shove you right back into that viscous magic your mother brought upon all fairies and our world, killing my mother. That alone would stop me from ever being with you, Neldor.
“I’ve said it before, but listen to my words because coming out of that magic apparently affected your ears. I don’t care if the gods signed our engagement whatever in their blood. I. Did. Not. I’m not going to be with you, and your thoughts of taking me, or Faerie, over are not happening. And lastly, I don’t get on my knees for the men I love. They get on their knees for me. I’m not doing it for a loser like you.”
And then I went back inside, leaving him there to handle it however he wanted, feeling better and more settled. He kept taking the lead and assuming I was passive because of my shock.
He was in for a rude awakening.
And I’d have no problem giving it to him.
16
The next morning, I woke early for my normal swords training with Mr. Rothchild. He obviously had limited time and seemed to truly enjoy getting away from the Vogels’ mountains to someplace quieter for a one-on-one workout. Plus, he always took the time to stay for breakfast and see Mel.
It was slow progress between them, but progress, and I knew it meant the world to her he was trying and adjusting his view to understand how everything had gone so wrong from how she saw things. He really was a better man than I’d given him credit for. He’d kept the royals in his charge alive when others hadn’t, and sacrificed a lot because of it.
He simply hadn’t seen the cost of that at the time.
Yeah, who of us hadn’t made that sort of mistake?
“Want to talk about it?” he asked when we squared off again.
“Not even a little and no offense—when have we ever talked about stuff like that?”
“None taken, and it’s awkward for me too, but I think you need to get it out to someone who won’t coddle you.”
I snorted. “Have you met your daughter? She doesn’t coddle. She just knows me well enough to know…”
“That you’re seconds from running. Yes, she didn’t hide how worried she is about that.”
I couldn’t even deny it, so I didn’t, getting my frustration out in our sparring and taking his sword from him in twelve moves… Which did not make him happy.
Well, it made me smile.
I tossed it back to him, but then frowned when I saw him tense. “What?”
“I do have one thing to say, as a father, not as a dragon who serves the Vogels.”
“Okay.”
“Hudson’s not my son, but I’ve watched him from the moment he was born. He’s a good kid.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t, not fully. He’s been… It’s crushed him how much he’s hurt you. He fucked up, but I believe you now understand the true difference between a prince who sees people as pawns and possessions, and one who made a serious mistake trying to do the right thing and didn’t get the upbringing he should have to handle all on his shoulders.”
I blinked at him several moments, taking in what he’d said. “I’ll think on that. I will. It’s a good point.”
“Good, because you were valid. Maybe harsher than I would have expected, but it wasn’t your fault everything with all of them blew up at once, but valid. I’m not on his side, as I’ve also sworn to protect you.”
“Why bring it up then?”
He cleared his throat and glanced at the house. “Because I have a feeling you’re going to need the support of those who will be loyal and at your back now, more than ever. He is not like the fairies I used to know but… Twenty years is a long time. No, fairies weren’t perfect, but maybe we romanticized them some. Maybe things changed.”
My heart thudded so loud, it echoed in my ears as his meaning sank in. “You think the dark magic and the evil of it sank into the ones it was cast upon.”
“I don’t know. I didn’t know him before. It could be a million different things and honestly, I’m no peach, but waking up twenty years later and finding out my mother had done all of this to my whole species, and world, would make me a rat bastard, of that I have no doubt. But it also wouldn’t be the strangest thing
