Page 67 of Heir

“I’m starting to,” I said softly.

Maxar cleared his throat and brought his dishes to the dishwasher too. “So, Teddy, what did you and Kase find out at Delia’s house?”

“Teddy?” Zandren asked with a cute cock of his head.

“Teddy Bear.” Maxar’s grin was cheeky.

Zandren growled. “Kase was able to disable about eight more spells. There are still more around the house, but he couldn’t undo them. He said he’s going to do some reading tonight on what he thinks the spells entail and will go back tomorrow to try again.”

“And did he find anything else after he disabled those spells?” I asked.

Zandren nodded and reached into the back pocket of his jeans. He pulled out a small, weathered photo of a black woman with wild curls just like mine. She was cradling a small, smiling baby. The woman was smiling too. She was beautiful with kind eyes, and pure happiness radiating from her as she stared down at the infant in her arms.

“Is that my mother?” My throat was tight for the millionth time that day.

He nodded. “Yes, we believe it is. And that’s you.”

“I . . . I’ve never known what she looked like. Delia said she didn’t have any pictures. Why would she lie to me?”

“To protect you,” Drak said. “Everything she did was to protect you.”

My gaze flicked to him for half a second before I focused back on the photo. I stroked my finger over my mother’s face. “How did you and my father meet?” I whispered. “Why did you want me kept a secret from him?”

“Because you’re a hybrid mutt,” Drak said. “The Realm would never accept a hybrid, halfling heir to the throne. And if word gets around that you are indeed a hybrid, there will be an uprising. People will pick sides. It also opens up the doors for another species leader to step in and challenge for the main throne.” His gaze drifted to Zandren. “Doesn’t it?”

Zandren cleared his throat. “My father does not want to rule the Realm. I’ll assure you of that now.”

“Until he realizes his only other option is a mage, a vampire, a hybrid-demon-slash-human, or Lerris Byrche,” Drak pointed out. “Then he might start singing a different tune.”

“Would you shut up,” I snapped at him. “You’re nothing but a Negative Nancy and I’m sick of it. Unless you have something nice to say, just keep your fangs closed.”

His blue eyes went wide, and he winced at the same time a trickle of blood seeped from his nose. That’s when I realized I was trying to sous vide his brain. I quickly gathered all the red, ragey smoke in my mind as fast and as best I could and squished it into a compressed little ball, then I dropped a dome shield over it.

Drak stopped wincing and blinked a few times.

“Sorry,” I muttered. “Are you okay?”

He nodded. “Yes. Thank you for stopping it.”

Even though it was him, I beamed anyway. Without the dominatrix demon there, I managed to successfully block my own rage from breaking someone’s mind. I was getting the hang of it.

That was one tiny victory in a day of colossal failures.

Hopefully, tomorrow would bring forth more answers than questions, and we found ourselves one step closer to finding Delia’s killer. At the very least, maybe that demon bitch with the impeccable winged eyeliner would help me get ever better control of my rage and I’d be able to properly get pissed off at Drak without attempting to blanch his brains.

However, if I did blanch his brains, just a little hopefully, I would destroy the annoying asshole portion. Because that side of him was getting old, fast.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Zandren

I probably shouldn’t have done it.

In fact, I know I shouldn’t have.

But as time ticked by, my affection for the little demon was getting stronger and stronger.

So when she went to bed and locked her door, I waited until I knew she was asleep—until the whole apartment was asleep—then I picked her lock with my claw and just sat on the edge of her bed for a while watching her sleep. She was so peaceful. So beautiful. I also wanted to make sure she was safe. Make sure no nightmares plagued her.

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