His side-eye was epic. “You definitely inherited your mother’s mouth.”
“As long as I don’t inherit those creepy antlers.”
Dad barked a laugh. “Those creepy antlers are part of your great heritage, daughter.”
“They won’t match anything in my closet.” I nudged him and stepped forward.
“Once you do this, there is no going back, Evangeline.”
“Are you urging me to be cautious?”
“Me?” Dad laughed. “If you’d seen me in my youth, my dear, you’d know I used caution like the most precious spice. A little here, a little there, never too much.”
“And now?”
Dad grinned, a flash of white teeth in the night. “And now I find I tire of spice.”
We were more like each other than not, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. “You’d burn it all to the ground if you could.”
“I still could. But I won’t. It’s bad for business.”
“I’m not a businessman.”
“Exactly. The Lord owes you a pound of flesh. Go take it.”
With a snap of his fingers, the wind shifted direction, blowing my scent away from the Keep and out into the forest. If Caelan came close enough, he might scent the bond on me. Tonight would be difficult enough. If I could keep this secret until I figured out what to do, I could save Caelan from more heartache.
Not that he deserved much from me after everything, but I would always care about him. Even if he didn’t care about me, not in the way I deserved.
Concentrating magic in my hands, I focused power in one spot just like my father had shown me and slammed my hand against his wards.
“Good luck,” Dad said as he faded away.
Power clanged like a bell inside my head. Gritting my teeth, I pushed magic into the wards. They flashed with lightning forks of crimson, painting the Keep with the color of blood. He’d tweaked them again since I’d left, though I could have flown in if I were in wren form. Not today. I wanted to make a statement.
A loud crack rang out as the wards crashed and fell, allowing me to step onto Caelan’s lands without harm.
Shouts rang out as shifters flooded from the doors of the main area of the Keep. They saw me and stumbled, surprise flashing over their faces as I stood in the middle of the property.
Caelan walked out behind them.
“I wondered when you’d show up.”
My heart dropped into my feet, but that tug, the yearning to go to him was no longer there. I loved him, that had always been true, but a gulf stood between us now, a yawning chasm too deep for me to cross. All my hopes and dreams lay shattered at the bottom, promises made and cast aside, tender words and secret touches, all broken and torn.
Caelan was beautiful, had always been beautiful. He probably always would be. Tall and handsome, and those familiar storm-colored eyes, I remembered the feel of his hands gliding over my skin, how much I wanted him, how much he made me feel.
All I felt now was grief.
I spread my arms out and smiled. “Here I am.”
He stopped several feet away. A tall man I’d never seen before stepped up beside him. “You’re dismissed,” Caelan said.
“Lord.” The man looked at me with fear. I was the wolf in the garden when Caelan only saw a rabbit.
“She is my fiancée,” Caelan said. “We’ll be in shortly.”
We wouldn’t. I smiled at the man I assumed to be his new Second.
