Page 110 of Wicked Heirs

Off my startled expression, she rolled her eyes and told me, “Nobody is truly infallible. Not even those with angelic blood.”

I nodded. “Constantine did strike, as you know. My father was vindicated a little when he was proven right, but by then the damage was already done. The Kingdom was in shambles. It was just by sheer force of will that he managed to claw it back over the last few years. But it doesn’t take away from the damage itself, or what it did to him. He lost that spark and he became bitter and paranoid. Your mom shattered my father, Alena.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“It’s notyourfault. I just wish I’d recognized that sooner and made the distinction between you and her immediately. It’s even worse, given that I hate it when people treat me like I’m the same person as my father, not because I revile him or anything, but because it’s important to me to be seen as my own man.”

“You did. Eventually. You saw me as my own person.” She reached out and took my hand as we both stood at the edge of the turret looking out over the serene view through the dark night. “And, just so you know, I wouldn’t have reacted the way that she did. Then again, I don’t have the pressure bearing down on me of the entire supernatural world on my shoulders that she does.”

“Ignoring the part about you making excuses for her and putting it down to her being your family, what do you mean you wouldn’t have reacted that way?”

“Imeanthat I would’ve wanted to put Constantine Vale down too.”

I couldn’t hide my stunned reaction. “My father’s intent was to murder him in order toput him down. You understand that, yes?”

“Perfectly.”

The corner of my mouth turned up. “Well, then.”

She was on the right track that I needed her to be.

We were compatible—in many ways. But in this case, from anObsidianstandpoint.

Little had I known beforehand that Alena Rose would become the missing link we’d been needing all this time.

The one who was going to change everything.

The one who was going tofixeverything.

When Cornwell had first gotten word that she’d be coming here, I thought it would be an uphill battle, even a losing one, to even bring her close to what we wanted from her.

But it turned out that she was a far cry from her mother, a real rebellious force in all honesty. She was fucking perfect for us.

For everything that I had planned for her.

“Why didn’t you want to tell me what happened?” she asked, easing her hand from mine and eyeing me curiously.

“Because there were elements of my vulnerability, something I’m not good with, or comfortable with showing to others.”

“Why did you change your mind then?”

“You aren’t justothers.I knew if I couldn’t do this then I’d lose you before I even got to fully have you.”

She smiled. “That memory humanized you. I liked seeing you that way.”

“Weak and unsure?”

“No,” she said, reaching out and cupping my face. “Open and loving. And brave. You were prepared to go against my mom alongside your father.” She grinned. “That’s no small thing, as you say.”

I grinned back at her. “I guess it’s not, little angel.” I grasped her hand on my face, stroking her fingers. “Mylittle angel.”

She stretched up onto her tiptoes and brushed her lips over mine.

I sank my fingers into her hair, kissing her back, savoring her taste, her lips moving against mine, giving herself over to me in such a raw way.

It was slow and sensual and unrushed.

Deep and all-consuming.

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