Page 58 of The Aether

“Can I sleep in here with you and Mama tonight?” Sabrina’s question came out of the blue and surprised him with its hesitant quality.

“Why would you want to?”

With a half-hearted shrug, she focused on her sparkling pink socks.

A sickening dread began to build, and Damian frowned as he hugged her. “I think you need to tell me what it is you’ve seen, my love.”

“I’m not ready to go with Morcant yet.”

Rarely could people shock him, but his daughter managed it quite frequently of late. It took a solid minute for him to form words.

“Morcant will never get you.Ever.”

When she looked up, the sadness in her almond-shaped eyes gutted him.

“Tell me,” he demanded.

“He will take me away, and you will find me.”

“No. No.” Damian shook his head so hard. “No one willevertake you away from me again. Understood?”

Her silence said it all. She’d seen her own kidnapping and that her own father—the mightiest warlock on the planet—could do nothing to stop it. Never in all his life had Damian felt the urge to vomit as he did then. Sweat broke out on his upper lip and lower back, and his skin felt clammy.

“Beastie,” he whispered raggedly. “Please tell me you see an alternate future.Please.”

Why the hell hadn’t he gotten a vision of the upcoming event now that his abilities had returned in full? Had Morcant developed the power to block him? Highly unlikely, which meant the Authority or the Fates had a plan for Damian’s daughter and knew he’d rebel.

She swallowed hard, shaking her head.

“Then I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

“It will be worse if you don’t,” she said in a small voice.

“How long?”

“Tomorrow.”

“No, how long will it take me to tear the world apart to find you?”

“Not long, Papa. I swear.”

She was hiding something. As someone who’d always told her never to reveal what she knew, to keep from affecting future outcomes, he couldn’t insist she tell him. But as the father of a future missing child, he wanted all the details.

“Promise me that, no matter what, you’ll remain positive, Beastie. You can’t give him your power.”

“I promise.”

“And you’ll stay alive, no matter what it takes. No matter the cost.”

“I…” Her lips compressed, and unshed tears made her dark eyes large pools of bleakness.

“I’m not letting you go until you tell me you’ll survive this, Sabrina Dethridge.” He pressed his forehead to hers. “You’re my heart, and it won’t beat without you, child.”

“But what about Mama? You and Nate can’t live without her either,” she said brokenly.

Never in his life had Damian been so overcome with emotion that he couldn’t speak. There were no words to assure Sabrina that Vivian would gladly sacrifice her own life for her children, just as he would. True, he might never love again, but he would eventually come to accept the loss if it meant Sabrina and Nate would live a full life.

When he managed to unlock himself from the shock chaining him in place, he shifted to sit her on the mattress and knelt before her so they were eye level.

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