“Don’t move,” said a voice which made her skin crawl.
He released her mouth.
“Questor,” she said.
She heard his laugh ringing in her ears as his magic washed over her, locking her arms to her sides. He stepped away and came around to her front. His hazel eyes glinted in the moonlight, a menacing and cruel expression on his face.
“What do you want?”
He laughed again. The sound grated on her. How had he found her? Novus’ warning about people coming after her to get to her father blared in her head. She had never been safe alone. Why didn’t she fight harder to have Jamie here with her?
Her heart felt tight. Jamie. She grabbed a hold of him deep in her heart. He’d get her through this. The bond had to work. So she tried to send a message down it. Tell him she was in danger. Whether or not it worked, remained to be seen. It was all she could do for now. And she’d keep trying as long as it took.
“I want the crown, sweet Dandelion, and to see your father destroyed.”
That was hardly surprising. He’d always hated Mitah.
“What do you want with me?”
The fae prince eyed her for a long moment, breaking into a cruel smile.
“You’re his favourite child. If he lost you, just like he lost his wife, perhaps it will be the final straw for poor Mitah.”
It dawned on her all at once.
“You killed my mother.”
He threw back his head and laughed a full belly laugh. His amusement was beginning to get on her nerves. And the sickening feeling in her gut told her she was right. The man in front of her had forced her mother to breathe a human and left her for dead.
“I did always wonder if you’d inherited her condition. Mitah kept that secret close to his chest.”
She hadn’t attempted to escape the magic hold Questor had on her, but now, she let her magic flare out of her hand. He knew how to kill her. His eyes told her so. This couldn’t be happening. All this time she’d been kept safe. She was only out here because she was trying to save her people.
Questor shook his head, purple glittering magic flying out of his own hand and further wrapping around Dani, forming a protective barrier around her. Her magic bounced harmlessly off it.
“Did you think I’d let you escape that easily, little Dandelion?”
“Don’t fucking call me that. My name is Dani.”
“Well, Dani, you are feisty, aren’t you? Everyone thinks you’re Mitah’s innocent little daughter. When I learnt you were out cavorting with vampires, I knew you were a dark horse. Tell me, did it feel good to be a whore for the undead?”
She wanted to claw his eyes out. This man was scum. Murdering her mother all those years ago and now, trying to start a war for his own ends. Did he really hate her father that much?
And of course he knows about me and Jamie.
Raoul wouldn’t just have informed her father. He’d likely sold the information to the highest bidder. He was scum too. She hoped her father would see that Raoul was only loyal to himself.
“Go fuck yourself. You don’t know anything.”
“Don’t I? I know you have your mother’s condition, which makes killing you so much easier.”
There was no way he could force her to breathe a human. She had more than enough magic pulsing inside her. Any more and she’d burn up completely. That made her freeze. It would be simple for Questor to kill her. Her stomach dropped out from underneath her. She had to get out of here. Get away from this man. And that meant stalling until she could come up with a plan.
“How do you know?”
“Fae do not always glow after they breathe a human. It can only mean one thing. They need something else to help their magic settle inside them. For others, it can be a meal, blood letting or something else. For your mother, it was a sexual release. The day I killed her was so sweet. She couldn’t help breathing that boy. I made it impossible for her to resist by draining her of all her magic.”
Dani trembled at his words. Was that how he was going to kill her too?
“She took too much and it ultimately killed her. Your father couldn’t save her. I doubt even he wanted to fuck a convulsing woman.”
Bile rose in her throat. Questor disgusted her. He was sick in the head and what he’d done to her mother was awful. He didn’t know her father like she did. Mitah would’ve done anything to save his wife, even if it meant having sex with her in front of their daughter. She knew that deep down.
“You’re wrong. My father loved her. He would’ve sacrificed himself for her.”
Questor frowned, his brows drawing down in a hard line.
“Perhaps you’re right. It’s neither here nor there. She’s dead.”
Tears pricked at her eyes. The way he’d dismissed it like it was nothing broke something inside her. Her parent’s love for each other meant a great deal of things. The fact that Questor wanted to snuff them all out made her angry. She wouldn’t let him.
“Her memory lives on. In me.”
That evil grin appeared on his lips again.
“Not for long.”
“What is killing me really going to achieve? My father still has four other children, besides, right now, I doubt he’d give a shit about what happened to me.”
Questor cocked his head to the side, eying her steadily.
“And why is that?”
“Did you really believe Raoul only told you about my visits to ObliVion?”
His eyes flashed with irritation.
“I see.”
There was no doubt in her mind, Raoul had played
