Alice’s face went pale. “I know of him. We fought him in the last battle in New Orleans when we tried to rescue Joy from the Elder Dimension.” Her brow furrowed. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of him.”
“Because you were three when your mother died,” I said. “You heard a voice. You didn’t see a face.”
Grump’s hands curled into fists. A vein pulsed at his temple. He looked ready to tear the cavern apart with his bare hands. “Tell me he died in that battle.”
Alice shook her head. “No, like Ari, he escaped.”
My fists clenched. Another monster who slipped through the cracks. Another debt left unpaid.
Grump narrowed his eyes. “Where is he now?”
Alice folded her arms, her shoulders sagging. “I don’t know. After the battle, we lost track of him.”
“How could you lose track of him?” Grump demanded, his voice rising. “He murdered your mother.”
Caterpillar exhaled a slow stream of smoke. “How... can one lose... what one never knew to find?” His ancient eyes settled on Grump. “The girl did not know her mother was murdered. Did not know her father lived. Did not know... anything.” Another curl of smoke drifted upward. “You cannot blame her for not chasing ghosts... she did not know existed.”
Grump cracked his neck as if readying for a fight. But something in Caterpillar’s words caught him. He stilled, then turned back to Alice, still seething.
I felt Alice flinch. Something hot and protective surged through my chest.
I stepped in front of her, putting my body between her and her father’s rage. I didn’t care how weak I was. Didn’t care that my side screamed in protest or that my legs threatened to buckle. No one. But no one. Disrespected her like that.
“She didn’t know anything, Grump, until she came here.”
“I don’t care,” Grump said. “She was my mate. She would have been queen.”
“Would have been. Could have been. Should have been.” Chester’s voice cut through the tension, soft and sharp all at once. His grin was gone, his luminous eyes unblinking. “So many ways to live in the past, Grump. So few ways to hold what’s standing right in front of you.”
He tilted his head, that unnerving owl-like twist. “You lost a mate. Tragic. Terrible. True. But here stands your daughter—alive, breathing, here—and you’re too busy mourning the dead to see her.” His voice dropped. “How very mad of you. And not the good kind.”
“Shut up, Chester,” Grump snapped.
Alice murmured behind me, her voice small. “I didn’t have any dreams of her until I came here. Had a little problem with my magic.”
Grump’s eyes blazed with anger. He looked like he wanted to murder someone. Anyone. “That’s more important than finding your mother’s killer? She was fucking burned alive.”
Alice edged away from me. I glanced over my shoulder, and her crestfallen face broke something in me.
No one talked to her that way.
I shoved Grump hard. He stumbled backward, surprise flickering in his eyes. No one ever stood up to him like this.
“Back off, Grump.” My wings flapped out. I’d carry Alice away from here, and he’d never see his daughter again.
“She sacrificed everything for you.” Grump growled. “Everything.” He glared at Alice. “And you just—let him go.”
“You walked away too, Grump, and look what fucking happened.”
Something snapped in him. Grump lunged at me, his fist connecting with my jaw. Pain cracked through my skull, and I staggered sideways.
I tasted blood. Spat it out.
I should have walked away. Should have been the rational one. But rationality had left the moment I saw Alice’s face crumble.
I swung back.
My fist slammed into his ribs and he grunted, doubling over. But he recovered fast—faster than I expected—and tackled me to the ground. My injured side screamed in agony. Black spots danced at the edges of my vision.
