Page 45 of How to Keep a Fae

“If I mate her?”

“If you mate her, she would eventually take your imperial blood, and your life spans would entwine until there was no difference between the two.”

I didn’t know female fae, omegas, took their mate’s blood. The thought of her biting me, at my throat… at my groin. The erotic fantasy is abruptly thrust aside by my father’s next words.

“Likewise, the human alpha you bind to you. Is he worthy?Is he someone you could endure eternity with? Do you trust him? Believe what you will of your stepfather and his purity. He knew feelings lingered between your mother and me and claimed her anyway.”

Fuck, he’s saying Jayga will likewise take my blood. Whether directly from me or indirectly through Adaline doesn’t really matter. He will share our lifespan.

I look inside myself and then outward into the broad, sweeping unknown and the future I have yet to live.

Can I know how my life will play out or the dangers I might meet?

Of course, I cannot.

All I have is a gut feeling. Instinct. But instincts can be colored. They can also be confused.

I’m an imperial.My blood will change Adaline, and from what my father is saying, it will change Jayga, too.

I do not have the luxury of waiting, for waiting also comes with risks, and losing Adaline is not acceptable, no matter what angle I view this from.

How well do I know Jayga? How certain can I be?

Life is a risk. Aurelius sees my mother in me; he also sees himself. I am neither one nor the other of my birth parents, but a blend of them and of everything else that has happened to me independently of them during my life.

When I try to consider a future that does not involve Jayga, the path grows murky.

When I imagine one with the three of us, I see open pathways and possibilities.

My earlier thoughts play back in my mind. Adaline’s happiness is entwined with my own, like our future lives. But we are not two trees growing together in isolation. We are three, surrounded by the loving and sometimes imperfect support of many more.

“Yes,” I say, pleased my voice has no waver. “Yes, I trust him. No, he will not betray me while I am gone, nor will she.”.

He nods. “Good.”

It seems so clear so suddenly.

Why did it take so long?

He surprises me by rising and begins packing the camp.

I frown. “What are you doing?”

“Packing,” he says. “It is time we went home.”

I laugh, it has a sharp, disbelieving quality, but I get my ass up and pack too.

When we are done and the horses are laden with everything, he opens a portal right there in the middle of a giant tree.

“All this for a conversation that could have happened in the span of an hour while still in Sanctum?”

The portal flickers, beckoning to me. Why am I talking when I could step through and see my heart’s desire?

My father meets my gaze. He shrugs. Then he smiles. “We have been conversing since we left Sanctum. Today is merely the culmination that we chose to do through words. Besides, I was, in fact, searching for the missing keystone. Now that I have found it, another imperial can assume the bothersome job of keeping track of it.”

As we ride through the portal into the stone chamber of Sanctum, I see my father in a new light. He is no longer an enigma, cold and indifferent. He is imperfect and carries scars.

I suspect it will take many human lifetimes to unravel this complex man.

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