Page 159 of Wicked Heirs

“Your father.”

Oh shit.

30

~Orpheus~

A sense of foreboding flooded the office of Dean Bronson.

It really wasn’t helped by the urgency coming off both her and Marlowe.

And then there was Cornwell sending me worried and sympathetic discreet looks.

At least the latter was a warning that I needed to prepare myself.

The attitude from them all had already ruled out that the dean and the faculty, outside of Cornwell, knew about themissionat hand.

No, this was something else.

I’d only walked into her office a few moments ago and taken a seat as Marlowe had moved to stand in his usual rigid and ready-for-anything pose to her right, while Cornwell was just tomyright, perched on the edge of her desk close enough to me that if he moved a couple of inches, our knees would brush.

It had been days since our encounter in the showers and this was the first time we’d seen each other since then, so that after-fucking tension was there hanging in the air between us.

“Swallow me whole, Professor.”

“You’ll moan, beg, and scream for me. You’ll shatter in ecstasy as I play your pretty body to my will.”

Fortunately, we were both excellent at hiding our emotions and reactions from others. Even if we hadn’t been, in this case, I believed it would still go unnoticed by Bronson and Marlowe with how uppity they were right now by whatever they’d called me in here to discuss.

“What’s the issue?”

Did they know aboutObsidian’sactivities here? Had one of the students reported it? Was that why Cornwell was here too? Had Marlowe’s claim that it was about my father really meant that he’d been called and brought in to handle it, to handleme?

All of those questions were answered in the next second when the dean informed me, “Your father has been reported missing.”

I froze.

What?

“He’s King of the Dark Fae, he can’t simplygo missing.”

Cornwell gave the two of them a disgruntled look. “Just tell him how it really is. Don’t sugarcoat it. He deserves to know the whole truth.”

Marlowe and Bronson hesitated and exchanged a concerned look.

And in the moment I saw it—they were afraid of what I might do.

Afraid of my power.

Cornwell stepped up, as he had with everything since I’d known him, and gave it to me straight, telling me, “Saryan Hart was taken two days ago. He missed several meetings in that time and we were able to confirm with his Court that he’s been taken.Exemplarwas called once word spread and they’re in the process of investigating now, running down a couple of leadsthat were provided by his guards.” He gestured at Marlowe, “Hence, his presence here in this meeting.”

“You visited him recently,” Marlowe said. “Is there anything you learned while there, anything Saryan might have conveyed to you that could assist, a threat he was concerned about, perhaps? A covert meeting he was attending? He’s known for conducting meetings of the sort, it’s possible it backfired on him this time, that he bit off more than he could chew?”

“More than he could chew?” I scoffed. “You were in my father’s Court for a long time, the Commander of his army, do you really believe there’s anything Saryan Hart can’t handle?”

“Normally, no.”

“Aside fromExemplar, at least,” Dean Bronson spoke. She shook her head in dismay. “Going against them was a foolish move that cost him so much. Perhaps, this situation is another akin to that?”

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