Page 11 of Hunted By Darkness

Without reading it, I hadn’t any hope of understanding. I’d need to carefully review each page, and I had to rein in my curiosity so I could address the man watching me with the same level of intrigue.

Clutching the journal to my chest, I stared at Dugan. “He gave you this before he attacked the Council? So what do you know? Why were you and Silas already acquainted? Was it all on purpose or by accident?”

The arm around me tightened, his distrust of my father’s lover in the hold, but he didn’t know Dugan like I did.

Dugan’s smile was apologetic. “You might not believe me, but even now, what I know is very little. I only know what he wrotein the letter he sent and what I’ve overheard in the last half year since your escape.”

He wet his mouth and stared back at the field of flowers, grief reaching his eyes. His smile lost its usual brilliance. He was mourning my father. It was in the tired lines of his face and sad stare he cast at their special field. “I loved your father, Nika. I fell in love with him knowing that he had secrets, and many of them he feared telling anyone. It might not make much sense to you, but I trusted him in spite of the secrets he kept.”

A tear trailed down his cheek before he wiped it away and gave me a small smile.

My heart broke for him. Dugan loved my father despite knowing he still loved my mother and kept secrets. Despite knowing he could only give him pieces of his heart. And yet, Dugan loved him with everything he was and stood by my father to the very end.

That was why I trusted every word he said.

“Bane and I had always talked about changing the world together, and whatever he asked, I did. So my meeting Silas, while apparently intentional from his end, was something I didn’t connect until after all of this was said and done. I never anticipated it would be Silas you’d choose. When I first heard it was him who you’d contracted to help you, I couldn’t believe it.”

Silas caught my eye, waggling his eyebrows. “Guess I’d called the wrong bloke in worship, little rebel.”

“Pardon?” Dugan asked, confused.

I elbowed Silas and smiled at Dugan. “Ignore him. I’m sure you’re plenty aware of what an idiot he can be.”

Laughing, Dugan nodded. “Rather perplexing, isn’t it? How could this shameless brute be one of the most fearsome mercenaries in the business? Doesn’t make much sense, does it?”

“Oi, you smiley cloak-and-dagger wanker,” Silas barked. “That’s part of my charm.”

“Sure it is,” I teased. “So you didn’t know much before he attacked the Council? Do you know what happened after?”

Anguish crept into Dugan’s expression. “Very little, darling. I’ve been careful to stay hidden. Your father made all the arrangements, and he only told me what he did the night before he attacked the Council. I know he was killed. I know you’d escaped with Silas. I heard about the attack on the Dark Fae Society and Yuma’s demise. Your father mentioned your powers and that you’d collect your grandmother’s soul, so I imagine that was somehow connected with the attack, yes? But outside of what I needed to do and what it could mean should I not, not much else. I was told to wait for Silas to talk to me as Dugan, not Trevion, and I’ve been waiting for him to reach out ever since.”

“What it could mean should you not…what?” I clung to that one statement.

Dugan bent down and pressed a gentle kiss to my forehead. “It isn’t important, darling. You have it.”

I opened my mouth, but Silas cut through quickly, “Did you know who I really was after we met?”

“That you’re Silver and worked for the Brotherhood at one point in time? I mean, I’d be a bad friend if I didn’t know at least that much after eight years. We were all meant to be morally-challenged mercenaries, after all.”

Silver, not the Shimmering Assassin?

My brow furrowed in confusion. “Silver?”

“Doesn’t matter.” Silas finally let me go and turned to look at me. “We should go, love. I don’t like to stay out in one place too long, and dusk will be here in a few hours. I’d rather not lose daylight for our drive.”

I peered down at the journal. “You should come with us,” I said to Dugan. “I like to think we’re family, all things considered.”

Silas stiffened. “Nika—”

Dugan took several steps back and readjusted his messenger bag as tears tracked down his cheeks. The smile that overtook his face was one of rejection. Why was it that the most beautiful things in my life were also the most painful?

With a hand over his chest, Dugan let the tears fall and didn’t make any attempt to stop them. “We are, Nika. You’ll always be my daughter, and nothing will change that. If I could come with you, I would, but I’m afraid that’s not my destiny. And it’s not yours.”

Silas peered over at him, a sudden wind blowing his hair all over the place. Leaves took flight and petals danced across the sky. But it was the man in front of me who stole the show. I’d missed him, and I hated that I couldn’t keep him.

I couldn’t keep any of them.

Biting my lower lip, I nodded.

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