Chapter 19 Chapter 19
KILLIAN
I found my father in my mother’s vault with his two guards stationed outside the metal room. He was going through several drawers and I stood in the doorway for several moments, watching him.
“Why are you here?” I finally asked and he glanced over his shoulder. I’d thrown up my mental wards, so I wasn’t really worried about him getting into my head.
“There you are. Your brother’s engagement party is taking place at The Meridian.”
I furrowed my brows. Engagement party?
“Who’s the unlucky woman?”
He snorted while I walked into the vault, leaning against the wall. “Like you don’t know.”
“Contrary to popular belief, I do not keep tabs on Sennet. I have way better things to do.”
Did he come all the way here just to tell me that? Even though I didn’t care about Sennet, it felt weird that I was just finding out about his engagement. They clearly went out of their way to hide it.
“Things like your gift?” he asked and I tensed before he turned to face me. “I saw you with her on my way here. How is she by the way?”
“Why? Do you want to give me another?”
“You just got her this morning,” he replied, raising a brow, and I shrugged.
“I’ll be done with her soon enough.” I did not want to talk to him about her, but more importantly, I didn’t want him sensing that I cared about her.
He barked out a laugh and I ground my jaw, shaking my head slightly. Then he cleared his throat and said, “He’s getting married to Taylor Virelli.”
I didn’t recognize the first name but the last name belonged to my father’s most loyal subject.
“How wonderful,” I said flatly. “Was it love at first sight?”
My father stiffened. He blinked at me before a faraway look settled in his eyes and I set my mouth in a hard line. That only happened when he was thinking of my mother.
…I missed her.
He cleared his throat before grabbing a dagger from the last drawer he’d opened and I tilted my head. It wasn’t just any dagger—it was a harrowe dagger. If a vampire was stabbed with one, it immediately drained their strength and left them in excruciating pain that worsened with every second that passed until the blade was pulled out.
“Haven’t you thought about getting married?” he asked as he closed the distance between us. “You’re not getting any younger.”
“Was that your attempt at a joke?”
“Are you sure you’re not thinking about it? I heard Celeste has been hanging around you.”
“Does your intel come in via bird mail?” I nodded at the blade in his hand. “Who’s that for?” I asked just before he held it out and I raised a brow, collecting it. “Want me to stab you with it?”
My mental wards suddenly cracked and my brows snapped together just as my father’s eyes began to glow. He was trying to get into my head. I immediately took a step back but the next moment, they shattered, and I gasped as cold tendrils rushed into my mind.
Diving into my mind, I raced after the trail his powers were leaving, but it was too late. His fingers wrapped around my will and yanked my body into motion like a puppet on strings.
“Fuck,” I gritted out, still trying to fight as he forced me to my knees.
The last time he’d done this to me was ten years ago and it was part of the reason why I hadn’t fought being exiled. This invasion was even worse than I remembered. Every part of me screamed, trying to break free, but the more I struggled, the tighter his grip became.
It felt like my skin was being stripped away.
My father crouched in front of me, a wide grin on his face. “I’ve grown weak, you say?”
“Oh, you bastard.” I—He—raised my hand and my gaze flicked to the harrowe before I plunged it into my stomach.
White-hot pain exploded through me like wildfire and air was ripped from my lungs. The blade sank deeper, both because of me still pushing it in and its own will, feeding on my life force.
My strength rapidly bled out of me, leaving my body feeling heavy and useless as I collapsed to the floor.
“Watch yourself, Killian,” my father started just as the dagger’s hilt prevented the blade from sinking any further. “The fact that I can’t kill you doesn’t…”
A sudden wave of drowsiness hit me, and my mind drowned out my father’s words before the world around me twisted, then disappeared.
It felt like a hand had grabbed mine and just pulled. The sensation of movement was incredibly strong—I was falling, flying—then just as suddenly as it started, it stopped.
It was a familiar feeling and my pulse picked up before I opened my eyes. I was in a dream world… and my mother was standing right next to me.
I sucked in a breath. “Mother…”
She was wearing a tiger mascot costume and spray painting a wall. “Well, hello there.” She tossed the can to the ground as a smile swept across her face. “It’s been a while.”
The fact that my father had broken through mental wards, stabbed me with a harrowe, and definitely left me lying in the vault was pushed to the back of my mind as a rush of emotions hit me all at once. The leading one was anger—anger that she’d left me for a year, and here she was spray painting a wall like it didn’t happen. The second was relief.
I was so happy to see her.
She let out an “Ooof” as I wrapped my arms tightly around her like she was going to slip away again, and a moment later, she returned the hug just as tightly.
“I missed you too,” I muttered.
“Liar.”
She smacked my back and my lips curved into a smile before I tightened the hug. I had so much I wanted to say.
“Anything new in your life recently?”
Lenore.
“Ah!” I pulled back just enough to see her face. “There was a girl. A—” I cut myself off because I’d wanted to call her a witch. I shouldn’t call her that anymore; it was clear she wasn’t one. “She was here. Outside the cafe where we play chess.”
“Hmm, was she?”
I continued, telling her about the day I saw Lenore in my dream and when I met her in the palace—
“What?!” she exclaimed after I told her I’d almost killed her, and as I opened my mouth to respond, she suddenly smacked the back of my neck as hard as she could—which was pretty fucking hard.
I yelped.
“Oh, I’m sorry! Did that hurt?” She looked extremely pissed.
“What did you do that for?”
“What did you do that for? She didn’t invade this place. I brought her here.”
My brows snapped together. “You—…Why?” How did she even know Lenore?
She looked at me with a mix of pity and amusement. “Oh, you’re stupid... You’re so stupid, sweetheart,” she said, her voice dripping with exasperation, and my frown deepened. “She’s your mate, Killian.”