Yet Dakota had ensured everyone witnessed Aflora’s fall.
Power licked through my veins, the inclination to kill her riding my spirit. “Run, Dakota,” I said, my voice a low growl. “Hide.”
My father heaved another of his infamous sighs, his annoyance palpable. He didn’t much care for my temper. Funny, considering I’d inherited that trait from him.
I walked over to Aflora and scooped her up into my arms. “Class dismissed,” I informed the room, carrying her to the door and into the hallway. I sensed my father following but ignored him.
He didn’t speak until we were alone in my wing of the castle, his disappointment unmistakable. “You let that get out of hand.”
“I tested her limits,” I countered. “Had you allowed me to recruit her earlier, we would have had time to train your way. But now she’s bound to three other Midnight Fae, thereby necessitating my brand of schooling.”
“She wasn’t ready then.”
“She’s not ready now,” I retorted, fed up with this familiar argument. “She’s throbbing with power and has no outlet toexpel it. I provided what she needed today, just as I’ll do again tomorrow. However, I’m doing this my way. Because I am the Source Architect.” I added that last bit for his benefit, reminding him yet again of my position of power. “Trust me to handle this.”
“You just threatened a valuable asset,” he said through his teeth. “That makes it difficult to trust you, Zakkai.”
His use of my full name—in addition to his inane statement—had me rolling my eyes. “Dakota isn’t valuable. She’s a power-hungry cunt who will betray us all at the first sign of a higher position.”
He growled at my bluntness. “What the hell has gotten into you?”
“Dakota attacked my mate,” I snapped, stopping outside the door to my room. “I don’t take kindly to that.” How could he not see the problem with her behavior?
“Temporary mate,” he corrected.
“That’s always been your plan,” I drawled, neither confirming nor denying the intention.
He’d forced this bonding.
Then he’d made me alter her memories of me.
That’d only been the beginning of my hellish existence. Each course he’d administered since had been worse than the last. And now he wanted me to graduate to the next level by removing the only piece of goodness left inside me—my link to Aflora.
“If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to run a warm bath for Aflora to help remove the remainder of Dakota’s enchantment.” I used a mental command to open my door, then attempted to shut it in his face, but of course, he followed me inside.
“We’re not done with this conversation.”
“Are you really going to hound me over nearly killing Dakota?” I asked, huffing a laugh. “Because it’s not the first time I’ve almost done that, Father.” I once found her naked in my bed.Rather than celebrate the discovery, I’d made her return to her rooms in the same outfit she’d walked in with—her skin.
For whatever reason, that just made her work harder to win me over.
“We’re so close to our goal,” he pressed, laying his hand on my shoulder, his tone softening. “We’ve done our duty to Aflora’s parents by protecting her. It’s time for us to move on and finish what we started. That’s the only way to truly honor their memory and all the other lives taken at the hands of the Midnight Fae Elders.”
I released a long breath, my muscles relaxing in the process.
“Father, I’ve not changed course from our intentions,” I replied. A little sparring fun with my mate wasn’t going to alter my destined path. “And Aflora’s much more than just a duty. You saw her power today. She’s an asset.”
I gazed down at the still-trembling female in my arms, her blue eyes wide as she listened without speaking. The paralyzing spell had probably rendered her incapable of making a sound, but I suspected it went deeper than that. She seemed genuinely interested in what we were discussing. I couldn’t blame her, given the subject matter.
“Her parents died for our cause,” I added, holding her gaze. “We need to give her a chance to decide if she wants to join our quest in honoring their loss. I can’t expect her to make that decision in a single night, not after everything she’s been through.”
“It’s that or death,” he said.
“Yes,” I agreed, noting the way her pupils dilated at the confirmation. “The Midnight Fae Council was never going to let her live. The only reason they did all those years ago was to use her as bait to find us.” I added the latter for her benefit, wondering if she knew the truth.
The flare of her nostrils suggested she did.
Did Kolstov tell you?I wondered.
