“No one marries for love,” my father finally said. “They marry to advance themselves. You’re a fool if you think the married aristocrats in Tempestloveeach other.”
Perhapstheydidn’t, and maybe others out there had only married to advance their standings in society, but most of the married immortals I knewdidmarry for love. None of them did it for power.
I wasn’t part of the relationships of the nobles in this realm. I had no idea what went on behind closed doors and didn’t care what they did with their lives.
Did some seem miserable with their partners? Yes. Did all of them? No.
My father was a spider weaving a web of lies, manipulations, and schemes. I would not be the fly ensnared in that web.
He was a cynical, evil man who would do whatever it took to one day rule Tempest. I suspected he’d never experienced love; he’d certainly never shown any for me, and I doubted he’d ever find it.
I’d never met his parents, but I did know they’d never married and were dead by the time of my birth. Centuries ago, as the last living members of both their lines, my grandparents got together to consolidate their power and to create one heir—my father—to their combined dukedoms. Afterward, they continued to live apart. My father spent most of his time with his father and occasionally saw his mother.
My grandparents hadn’t loved each other, and given what their child had become, I didn’t think they’d cared for him. He probably did believe the other aristocrats and almostallimmortals who married did so only for power because he had no concept of love.
He’d never seen the love between two immortals like I had. And he’d certainly never experienced it like I had.
My mother had shown me love and allowed me to know of its existence before he destroyed her for it. Because of her, I didn’t become a monster like him, and when Ellery entered my life, I could love her.
He may believe others never married for love, but I knew the truth, and one day I would be one of those immortals. And itwouldbe Ellery who I married.
But while my father was a cynical, hateful man, Leo wasn’t. I couldn’t see him going to my father with such a proposition.
“Leo would never come toyouwith something like this without coming to me first,” I stated.
I wanted to believe this, but doubt crept in. Leo and I had shared so much over the years. We’d laughed, drank, and made our way through countless whore houses together. We’d clashed on battlefields, shed blood, and nearly died together.
I’d followed him into Doomed Valley after the ophidians captured him. I’d endured a lot of torture for him and, in the end, failed to save him, but I would have died for him. Hewouldhave come to me with this.
But a niggling doubt tugged at the back of my mind.
“Wouldn’t he? You’re a lightning bearer, but I’m the one who holds thetruepower in this realm, and everyone in Tempest knows it. He came to me because who would be a better, more powerful option for his daughter than the heir to the last dukedom and the only lightning bearer in the realm? But he knew he would have to get my agreement to the match for it to succeed. Unlike you, Leo wasn’t a fool. But despite that, for some reason, the man liked you. He also saw the writing on the wall.”
I refused to let him goad me into an argument. “And what writing was that?”
“His time was coming to an end.”
CHAPTER SIX
Ryker
My mind flashed backto the night after Leo and I were injured, when he’d made me promise to look after Tempest if something were to happen to him. Had he gone to my father after that night? Or had he suspected his time was running out and gone to my father before then?
I didn’t ask my father those questions. He had no right to any further information about me or Leo.
“What makes you say that?” I asked.
“He didn’t expect to survive the Ghoul War, Ryker. Some men sense when their time is running out, and Leoknewit. He was trying to secure the realm’s safety before his life ended.”
Those words made me think Leohadcome to him after that night. I’d sensed a change in my friend, but I hadn’t realized howbiga shift it was.
“Since Leo’s only living heir was a half blood, he knew he had to pair her with someone the other aristocrats would approve of, and who better than you?” my father inquired. “For some reason, Leo believed you were strong enough to rule this realm.
“When I told him he was wrong, we argued over it, but in the end, I refused to give my support for the marriage, and Leo knew if I told the aristocrats I disapproved of the match and didn’t think you were a capable ruler, they wouldn’t support the two of you ruling Tempest. She may be his daughter, but they’ll distrust a half-breed far more than Ivan.”
Without my father’s support of the marriage, there would be no one to back me if it came to a fight between Ivan and me. Which meant the marriage would have only succeeded in putting his daughter and me in jeopardy.
“Of course, I was right about you, but I’ve always known what a disappointment you are. It’s a good thing Leo didn’t live to see you prove me right; he’d be disgusted by what you’ve become since his death. His great unifier has turned into nothing more than a whore mongering failure. You can’t even catch a simple thief,” my father taunted.
