Page 69 of Fallen Heirs

“Well, I’ve never been adverse to pressure, have I?”

“No, I can’t say that you have.”

“Then trust in my word. I’ll be here.”

“Then I look forward to it.”

“For any of that to occur, we need to reach an agreement here first. Regarding Alena, Father.”

“And I’m hopeful that we will. You need to see her, I believe.”

The harshness he’d been levying my way since he’d arrived finally softened a little. “For you to offer that freely is a step in the right direction.”

“I’m nothing if not reasonable.” Off his look, I added, “When it comes to my son.”

He stepped up to me and demanded in that forthright way of his that made me proud, despite the fact that it was proving a challenge currently, “Take me to her.”

I nodded and took his hand, then teleported us to the far north wing of the palace.

We materialized outside an arched silver door that shimmered in the darkness that enveloped the rest of this part of the corridor.

“What is this? I’ve never seen this before.”

“I fashioned it, especially for your love.”

He tensed, receiving my words in a worrisome way.

Time to put an end to that.

I unlocked the door with my magic and we stepped inside, with me careful to lock it behind us the moment we did.

I turned to my son as he took everything in.

“Well? What do you think?” I asked.

He swung his head toward me, eyes wide, his stark surprise clear.

“Motherfuck,” he choked.

17

~Orpheus~

This absolutely was not what I’d expected when I’d deduced that my father had been the one responsible for kidnapping Alena and holding her captive.

I knew well how he dealt with threats to the Realm, how unapologetically brutal he could be in the name of protecting the Dark Fae Realm and his rule.

And this most certainly didn’t follow suit with that.

I couldn’t actually believe what I was seeing.

I’d allowed him to lead me here, intending to use it as an opening to catch him off guard then grab Alena and flee the DFR like bats out of hell.

I’d actually been surprised when he’d offered to let me see her so easily, without me needing to lay down threats or force the issue like I’d been prepared to do when we’d first arrived here. He knew me, I’d had little doubt he would have expected me to pull something like the snatch-and-escape I’d been planning. I’d even mind-linked the guys to instruct them to follow out after us at my signal.

But now there wasthis.

I’d thought the most unsettling thing was the way my magic had felt like it had been zapped from my body the moment I’d stepped over the threshold because of themagical vacuumhe’d employed.

---