Lexa’s smile faded. “No, Ellie. You don’t know me.”
My gut clenched, and I felt a Dark awareness pass between the women. Ethim remained oblivious to the odd communication, as did Cadmus, who still had too much Light to see what happened.
Ellie’s eyes widened, but she said nothing.
“Ellie?” Cadmus pulled her back into his arms and glared at Lexa, a move I had to respect. The Storm Lord knew Lexa could bend him like a pretzel yet continued to fight to protect his own.
“Never mind,” Ellie said in a distracted voice. “I was mistaken.”
Cadmus nodded but remained tense, guarding his affai. As I watched the two stand as one against Lexa and Ellie’s father, I had to admit they looked right together. Ellie was fair where Cadmus was dark, yet her Darkness fit his Light like a key and its lock. Through Ellie, Cadmus had grown stronger and Darker, better able to meet and defend himself against Sin Garu and the Netharat menace readying for war.
The love they shared would empower them both. Had Ethim not been so prejudiced against the Light Bringers, he might have felt a measure of peace seeing his daughter so well-protected and loved.
Instead, he growled at Lexa. “This is bullshit. My daughter brought the Earth Lord to heel. Giving her to him was not part of the plan.”
Ellie laughed at her father. “To heel? Are you serious? You obviously don’t know Cadmus very well, Father.” Ellie rarely called him her father to his face.
He blinked at the familial title and softened a fraction. “You’re right, Daughter, I don’t. But I do know my kind and theirs don’t mix.”
“Don’t mix well,” Lexa corrected. “And that’s a mistake that has cost many lives and much pain through the years. Because of that chasm, Tanselm is in dire straits. But with Cadmus and Ellie mending the rift, along with Alandra and Aerolus, things are looking up.”
Ethim glared at Lexa. “How can you say that? Are we all just pawns in your quest for revenge against Tanselm’s sorcerer? Yes, Mistress. We all know how much you long to strip the Light from Arim’s soul. What I don’t know is what you plan on doing with my daughter. Do you think to sacrifice her for Tanselm?”
Lexa’s icy expression didn’t bode well for the Sarqua’s future. I quickly stepped between her and Ethim when a blue spark fired in her hand.
I tried to placate her. “Mistress, you know his response is based on nothing more than love for his daughter.”
“And ignorance and fear.” Ellie surprised me by chiming in. Cadmus said nothing, squeezing her arm in support. “I know I’m fairly new to all this Light and Dark stuff, but I’ve heard Jonas’ stories my whole life. Sounds to me like a lot of untruths have been flying about both sides.”
She turned to me. “You always told me that the Light Bringers thrived on killing anything not Light. That they thought themselves better than the rest of existence. But I know Cadmus doesn’t feel that way. His brothers have married women from my world — my former world. And Alandra, a princess from Aelle — a Shadow realm — would sacrifice anything for her husband, a Storm Lord and Light Bringer. I know this because she and I have been friends for a year.”
“I knew it,” I muttered.
Ethim stared in shock. “You refused to acknowledge the Djinn, yet you befriended a conniving Aellei?” His voice rose in anger. “I don’t fucking believe this!”
“Watch your tone,” Cadmus warned in a cool voice, though I could feel amusement below his seemingly calm surface.
“Watch my tone? Look, you little lekharn, I only allowed you here to appease our Dark Mistress, an act I regret more than you can know. I’ll speak to my daughter any way I fucking feel like!” Black rays of energy shot from Ethim’s eyes into Cadmus.
For a moment, I feared the worst. To my amazement, Cadmus shrugged the blast away.
“Thanks, Ellie.” He kissed her and winked at me before turning back to Ethim. “Get this. Through your daughter, I can now withstand direct Darkness. How cool is that, Ethim? Or should I call you Dad?”
Ethim choked on his rage, and suddenly, Amanda appeared behind him.
“Oh, good. You’re all here together. Thank you for the invite.” She nodded at Lexa. “I’ve been so looking forward to this.” Completely ignoring her blustering husband, she approached Ellie and Cadmus and enveloped them both in a warm embrace. “My little girl finally found her heart. Oh, Ellie, I’m so happy for you. I just knew he was the one. I could sense it the moment I looked into his eyes.” She turned to Ethim. “Now we can relax. Our daughter has a big, strong warrior to protect her. You should be happy.”
“Happy?” he growled. “You don’t understand. Cadmus Storm is a —”
“Very nice man who is going to take good care of our daughter. And if you want to see our grandbabies one day, you’d better play nice.” Amanda’s gaze grew hard. “I think we’ve all shared enough prejudices and misunderstandings to last a lifetime.” She glanced at Ellie with apology, her eyes damp. “I hope we can all start over again. A clean slate, maybe?”
I sighed and ignored the aggravated grumbles around me. “This is worse than those daytime television dramas I used to watch in Seattle. Why don’t we all agree that Ethim’s got work to do in the father-in-law department and grab something to eat? I’m hungry, and I’m sure you two could use some food.” I glared at Cadmus and Ellie. “While you’ve been becoming ‘better acquainted,’ some of us have been waiting out here, starving.”
Amanda chuckled and walked back to Ethim, yanking him to her side when he took a threatening step toward me.
“Well said, Jonas.” Lexa smiled. “Now, why don’t we all sit down in Ethim’s home and sup together while we wait for what comes next.”
In the blink of an eye, we sat in Ethim’s home before a large table covered with food. My mouth watered as I eyed fresh fowl and spiced meat, ripe, juicy fruits and honeyed cakes hopefully spiked with sorba.
