The man couldn’t keep the slight tremor from his voice. We both knew what would happen if I refused him.
If my father had come out to state this, I would have told him to fuck off, and he knew it. I couldn’t tell the servant this; he would only experience my father’s wrath if I did.
And I knew better than anyone how vicious that wrath could be. My father saw this empathy for others as a weakness he’d tried to carve out of me with his whip, but all he’d succeeded in doing was solidifying my hatred for him.
I detoured into my father’s solar, and the servant closed the door behind me. It was nearly midnight, but my father sat in his plush chair with a glass of cartha on the table beside him.
Cartha came from the mountainous village of Carthaway. The delicious red liquid was a delicacy much sought after by the aristocrats but sometimes made its way into the lower levels of society.
My father’s gaze raked over my rumpled clothes, dirty boots, unshaven face, and disordered hair. The magical fire in the massive, gray stone fireplace ten feet to his left played across his features and created a swirl of color in his hair.
His lips curled in disdain. “Are you fighting another war?”
I didn’t bother to respond as I removed a glass from the rack hanging over the wall-length bar in the corner. I walked over to his decanter and poured some cartha into my glass.
My father scowled at me before suppressing it. I smiled as I lifted the drink to him before settling into the armchair across from him.
I leaned back into the plush cushions while sipping my drink. With the crackling fire that gave off no warmth, the sweet taste of cartha on my tongue, and the comfy chair, this could almost be a pleasant experience. It wasn’t.
I’d abhorred this man my whole life, and nothing would change that, but it wasn’t like he wanted it to be any different. I didn’t speak as we stared at each other. He was the one who demanded this meeting; he would be the first to talk.
“Where have you been?” he inquired.
“Hunting the man who robbed me.”
“And youstillhaven’t found him?”
“Not if I’m still hunting him.”
“I thought you were the Scourge of the Ghouls, yet thissimpleman evades you.”
I shrugged while smiling. “Some amsirah are luckier than others. But he knows I’m after him; that’s why the robberies have stopped and he’s gone into hiding.”
“Then perhaps it’s time to give up your quest.”
“And do what? Lie around this castle and do nothing all day? I don’t want your life, Father.”
This time, he couldn’t keep his ire subdued as he glowered at me. “I’m an integral part of keeping this realm running.”
I set my drink on the dark wood table beside my chair. Everything in this room was brown or red. It created a somber yet somehow comfortable air meant to make others relax and stay a while. I could never relax around this man.
“Running this realm isn’t difficult now that you’ve helped shut Tempest off from all the others,” I replied.
“Someone must keep Ivan in check.”
CHAPTERFIFTY-FOUR
Ryker
I couldn’t denythat his statement piqued my curiosity, but I refused to let him know.
“Are you spending all your time in the Revenant Woods?” he inquired.
“Of course not,” I scoffed. “There are many fine establishments I thoroughly enjoy visiting throughout the week.”
I’d still been visiting them since I started training Ellery. I had to keep showing my face in case my father decided to check up on me, but whereas the women had little appeal to me before, they had less now.
I had no intention of fucking Ellery again. That night in the woods had been a brief… well, rather long lapse in judgment, but it wouldn’t happen again. The idea of touching another woman made my skin crawl and my dick shrink.
