Narrowed black eyes stared into my emerald gaze. He tilted his head to the door and silently mouthed, “Answer him.”
I cleared my throat, and said loudly, “I’m awake, Father. I’ll be ready to go shortly.” It sounded normal to my own ears, even though I felt anything but.
“I wish to talk with you a moment,” Father called. “Open the door, please.”
“I’m not decent right now,” I returned quickly.
“Then get decent and open the door. This is important.”
That wasmy kingspeaking.
I had no choice.
“Give me a second,” I shouted.
I started shaking a pointed finger behind the naked shifter king, ordering him to get into my bathroom.
He ran his fingers of his free hand through his hair, tugging it back from his face in aggravation, but nodded his head in agreement.
As one, we hurried around my room, grabbing his clothes that were all over my floor. I shoved what I had collected at his chest and then grabbed his shoulders and jerked him around toward the bathroom. I gave him a none to gentle shove in the back to get him moving.
He stalked across the floor in all his naked, foul glory, and glared at me over his shoulder. He hadn’t appreciated that, but I didn’t truly care if I had bruised his kingly ego.
I shrugged a shoulder and silently closed the bathroom door on his face. I walked across the room and regulated my breathing and plastered a disgruntled look onto my face. I unlocked my door and opened it, mumbling, “What is it now, Father? I packed everything you told me to pack.”
Father rolled his emerald eyes and strode into my room. He sat down on my wrinkled comforter, and stated, “This has nothing to do with your packing. I wanted to talk to you about my welfare while we are in the Blood Forest.”
I stared. “What of it? You are more likely to survive than I am.”
“You would think that to be true, but it is not.” He shook his head softly, his emerald eyes somber and patient. “I have a soul mate, Trixie. I know you have seen the effects after someone loses a soul mate. I’ve sent a guard to Jarisbur to warn your mother so that she may prepare for my absence. She’ll need to purchase a lot of drugs to handle this, thanks to my power level, but the same may occur for me while we are there. I honestly don’t know. Our power is being taken away so it could do nothing, but I need you to do your part.”
I gulped hard and looked nowhere near the bathroom.
Softly, he murmured, “I will need you to protect me if I am unable to protect myself. They won’t hurtyou. You are young. They will think they can mold you to be who they want. I will be the one they would try to remove if they thought it best for their kingdom.”
“I don’t think they will,” I answered slowly, even with a horrible worry now eating away at my heart—all for my father. Words that King Athon had said last night strained in my mind. “You may be the one needed to find an artifact. They wouldn’t risk the realm only for your death.”
Father’s grin was cutting. “You would be surprised.”
“Who?” I asked instantly, my hackles rising in wrath. I stomped forward to stand right in front of him. “Which one wants you dead?”
“King Elon. He despises me,” he answered easily.
My forehead crinkled. “What did you do to him to make him risk the realm?”
“I may have killed his favorite brother.” Father shrugged a shoulder.
I threw my hands up into the air. “Good Fae, Father. Will you quit assassinating people that royals care about?”
“As opposed to people they don’t?” Humor twinkled in his emerald eyes. “I’m proud you have your standards, my daughter.”
I shook my head and sighed heavily. “Yes, I will make sure the snake does not bite you, Your Royal Highness.”
And purchase some damned pills in a hurry.
I hadn’t thought about being affected by losing a soul mate, even a soul mate I wish I didn’t have. With pills, survivors can “manage.” But without, they are positively in painat all times. Being drugged and pain-free would be better than being useless and a burden on this journey.
“I appreciate that, my daughter.” Father stood and wrapped me in his arms, gifting me a rare hug. He kissed the top of my head, and then he stepped back and frowned. “Are you sure that King Athon didn’t harm you when you were alone with him?”
