Page 5 of Heir to His Court

I listened to the cadence of his voice closely, parsing the words he said into those he didn't.

“Yes, you should have. With knowledge, she could have guarded me from your enemies while you slept.”I tore away the flimsy veil of his excuses.

Embry had tried to protect me even from a distance, even though we had never actually met. My mother. . .my mother would have been murderous, even if I assured her nothing inappropriate happened.

“It was a new dilemma for me, and I have never been good,” Raniel said, his voice softening into a more familiar cadence. “I wanted to keep you but I knew that I could not. I recoiled from what might have happened if I had not pushed you away. I felt revulsion for my feelings, for my. . .instincts. I should have trusted your mother with you, and with myself. For this offense against you, I will not seek forgiveness, for I know I don't deserve it.”

“And later? When I was older, and you still didn't tell me the truth? I'm twenty-seven, Raniel. Anytime in the last ten years you could have told me.”

The shadows writhed. “I had promised myself I would not make my father's mistakes. That I would not inflict on you my mother's pain. I am failing that promise.”

“Acknowledging you were wrong and apologizing is the first step.” I relaxed, a little. I was still angry, but. . .I was beginning to see a time when I might not be. For now, that was all I needed. Hope of a resolution.

“Oh, do not be put off your guard so easily, my halfling.” The shadows dissipated, revealing his expression, his old eyes. “For every transgression I reveal, there are a dozen more of which you are unaware. My son was wiser than you knew. He warned you to flee, but it is too late now.” He shook his head. “It was too late when Muriel and Nur and I were children. I am sorry, Aerinne. But I cannot let you go. You are the lynchpin of plans centuries in the making. It is. . .unfortunate you must also bear the burden of my love, which was unexpected.”

“Love is not a cage, Raniel.”

He regarded me, eyes narrowed with thought, and his expression shifted, cruelty blooming. Masculine heat rising to the surface. “I could make you desire the cage. I could make you crave it.”

“Perhaps. If I were the kind of person capable of living in an illusion. You know I'm not that person.” I refused to step back as he paced forward. These lightning shifts in mood kept me off balance.

“No. You are my bonded, blood of my bloodline. I know you are not that person. If there comes a time when you wish it, even for a few hours, simply ask. I can take it all away, Aerinne. I can take you, and your false cries of no will not stop me.”

I braced myself, opening my eyes to a starry night sky. The storm clouds were gone. “Put me down.”

Juliette stopped running and set me on my feet.

I looked around. “What happened?”

The grounds were deserted. . .well, not quite deserted. The rain had ceased, but the lamps lining the campus walkways were still out. The colorful detritus of an abruptly, and chaotically, abandoned faire fluttered in the breeze, colors muted, the emptiness macabre. Somewhere the faint scent of burned cinnamon sugar originated. The scent of blood overpowered it.

“He's killing everybody,” she said, eyes grim and narrow as she scanned our surroundings. “He snapped once you flung his bond back in his face. Knocked you out then went on a rampage.”

Her tone of voice wasn't accusatory, but I accepted the implied accusation nonetheless.

Evidence of an angry Old One littered the grounds. Broken stone, torn trees, bits of ripped cloth. . .blood. Relief and sinking sorrow fought for dominion. On one hand, it was not nearly as bad as the dream he’d spun, but it was still bad enough. It looked as if he’d begun killing, and tried to rein himself in. For those who had died, his eventual victory over spiraling madness was no comfort.

“What did he do? Just start killing people?”

“I don’t know. He was behaving strangely, even for him, after you collapsed. One of the White turned on him and there was a fight. I got you out of the way. Then he left, and the screams began.” Juliette scowled, hiding unease. “I felt a power concussion.”

“Where’s Numair? Baba?”

There were bodies. I knew better than to stop and try to help. They were dead. I counted no children, and few non combatants, which offered a little grim comfort. A handful of Everenne’s various House warriors must have tried to intervene when Renaud. . .when he what?

What did you do?

Juliette grabbed my arm, and we ran. A useful talent, running. Now I must run toward my enemy, rather than away. In his mercy, he’d given me a taste of what could happen if I continued trying to escape him. I accepted the mercy. This could have been so much worse.

You are not responsible for his actions,I told myself. But I was responsible for not taking more care with his triggers, especially since Nora had warned me. Of the two of us, I was currently the more sane. Which meant, in a perverse way, that I should know better. It didn’t matter if it wasn’t fair.

“The White took Numair,” she repeated after I didn’t respond the first time. “The others scattered to evacuate the faire once it was clear you were alive, and in the least danger of all of us.”

I winced. “How long was I out?”

“About two hours. I tried to wake you up.”

“No one could have woken me.”

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