Page 104 of Wicked Heirs

I’d be ready either way.

I wouldn’t run or hide.

I wouldn’t let fear rule me.

Not anymore.

19

~Orpheus~

Three Years Ago

The violent clangof metal upon metal echoed around the gardens of the palace.

I lunged, he parried.

It became a blur as we both found our rhythm with each other, having learned one another’s moves well over the course of the years that we’d spent dueling around the palace and its expansive grounds.

I managed to push back the experienced and formidable man before me.

Saryan Hart.

My father.

The almighty King of the Dark Fae.

He looked his usual edgy, yet somehow also regal self in a pair of silver leather pants and a sleek black open-collared shirt made of the finest silks in all the Realm, the color matching his spiky hair, the cut serving to highlight his spiky ears and the many earrings adorning them, almost more metal than skin.The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up to his elbows revealing his black Fae markings all over his arms, disappearing further beneath his clothes. Several chains hung around his neck with jeweled pendants, and rings encircling every finger, a whole lot of bling on display as usual—even when we were sword fighting.

“Well-executed, my boy. I’m impressed,” he said, smiling with pride.

Of course being the self-assured being that I was, I couldn’t simply leave it at that and I spun out of the reach of his sword just in time, then ducked and came up to deliver a faux deathblow and—

Only to have his sword press just a hair’s breadth from my throat.

Motherfuck.

He had me.

He pulled his blade back and gave the gesture for our battle being over.

Chuckling, he told me, “You overplayed your hand there. Careful, Orpheus, there’s a difference between confidence and arrogance.”

“A lesson you take far too much delight in teaching me.”

“You remind me of myself as a younger man. I know the dangers of that mentality and I don’t want you suffering for it as I did. It’s important for beings like us to be humbled once in a while.”

“You’re taking far too much pleasure in this.”

The glint in his eye said it all. I knew it well.

“Aww, my boy,” he said, slapping my shoulder, then wrapping his free arm around me while his other held his sword. “I’m overjoyed to have you home for a while. Since you moved out to your own place in the Realm due to your fierce independent streak, I’ve missed you dearly.”

“I’ve missed you too, Father,” I said, sinking into him, as we made our way out of the gardens and back toward the palace.

“Where’s Mom? She messaged me that she’d be out when I first arrived back from my induction in the human realm at Electi Academy, but I assumed she’d be back by now.”

“And what have I also taught you about assumptions?”

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