His expression remained indifferent. “We’ll stop them from coming for you. Otherwise, it’s a risk I won’t allow.”
I leaned forward, gripping the edge of the table. “You don’t get to decide how I tell them. Let me go, and I’ll explain. And come back.”
Maybe.
Reagan’s mouth curled at the corner, as if he’d read my intentions. “I can’t do that. You’re to stay here and do as you’re told. I’ll decide what happens to anyone who disrupts the passageway to the human lands.”
“You don’t decidethis.”
A flicker of something—amusement, frustration—crossed his face. “You’re naïve if you think that.”
My pulse surged. Maybe it was the lingering adrenaline, or the suffocating sense that my control over my own fate was slipping too fast. Or maybe it was the realisation that he was threatening my family. Either way, I wouldn’t stand for it.
Drawing a steadying breath, I rose from my chair.
“Listen, I’m trying to—”
He didn’t let me finish.
“You are an uninvited guest here. If you’re saying more of your kind are threatening to trespass like yourself, you’re putting my land in danger. That risk grows. I can’t allow that. So you will behave and comply with whatever we decide. Do you understand?”
His words were spoken so calmly, so casually dismissive, that it took me a moment to process their full weight.
Something inside me snapped.
“I won’t accept you involving my family. You will never know anything about them.” The rasp in my voice betrayed the raw fear I felt.
He merely raised an eyebrow. “That so?”
The room had gone silent as they all watched me, as if I were an animal in a trap. Already caught, already doomed.
“They will not be dragged into this,” I ground out, “nor threatened the way you are threatening me. You people are vile.”
His expression didn’t shift. But something in the air did, becoming charged.
Cerridwen cleared her throat. “There are ways to resolve this without anyone getting hurt.”
I shot her a glare. “Nothing will happen to my family. I’d sooner be locked away than let them be dragged into this.”
Reagan hummed in mock thoughtfulness. “You think I’m asking for your agreement?”
My teeth clenched so hard my jaw ached. He seemed to be savouring it, as if my predicament were a source of entertainment.
I needed to stop appearing defenceless, stop letting him toy with me.
“You say people like me can’t know about you. But now I do, and I’ll agree to keep it to myself if you don’t try anything.”
Reagan scoffed, but something flickered across his face, gone too fast to name. “Are you threateningmenow?”
“I think she is,” Gwinifer murmured, her lips curling. “Oh, let the venom drip.”
“What happens if I ignore your rules and leave?” I asked, more to the room than to anyone in particular.
“You wouldn’t make it to the gates,” Reagan said, dry and menacing. “Sit down. I’ve had enough of you for today.”
I refused to move, outrage tightening in my chest at theorder. None of the others appeared inclined to object.
His jaw clenched, eyes narrowing briefly. “Sit. Down.”
