“Alaric,” Dad said with a cold smile. “So pleased you could finally bless us with your presence. I know your mother has missed you.”
The reference to my mother made me freeze one step into the room, and shame coated my tongue in bile as I realized I’d barely thought about her these last few days. Not since we arrived on Sitkavus.
“You better not have hurt her!” I cursed myself yet again the moment the words fell from my mouth. Dad smiled with delight at the realization he’d wounded me.
“Son, as if I could hurt your poor, sweet mother.” The way he winked made me want to stab him with the nearest sharp implement. If not for the protective charm he wore, I’d have blasted the fucker into the hell realm many years ago.
I sucked in a calming breath, grateful for the cleaner air inside his study, and exhaled slowly. Dad lived to provoke a reaction, so the best way to manage him was to feign nonchalance.
“Your mother’s well-being is not why I called you home, Alaric,” he said when he grew bored with waiting for me to lose my temper.
“Oh?”
“Aside from the dinner party tonight, where your presence is mandatory, I need to discuss a ratherdelicatematter with you.”
My gaze drifted across to the photo of Brianna he kept on his bookcase, taken on the day of their bonding ceremony. What a fucking joke.
“Delicate matter?”
“Yes.” I waited for Dad to elaborate while praying this dinner party didn’t last for hours. Uncle Adam had promised me he’d arrive atStarfall before midnight, and I wanted to be there when he showed up.
“My seer received a vision.” My interest sharpened. “She claims there’s a witch gifted with necromancy.”
“A necromancer?” I nearly choked. The last necromancer, born of a cursed union between a powerful witch and a demon, died a century ago.
A necromancer had the power to raise the dead, which meant they could unleash an army of reanimated soldiers on their enemies.
The witch, whose name the vamps erased from the history books, had attempted to overthrow the vampire coven leaders. The vampire royals had barely survived, but with the aid of the fae, they eventually took the witch and her followers down.
After her death, the vampires placed her salted remains inside an enchanted box and buried it somewhere only they knew about.
“Yes, another necromancer is out there somewhere, and I need to find her.”
“Hoping to reanimate Brianna when she finally rots away?”
Dad’s eyes flared in rage and fire exploded up the chimney as his magic reacted to his temper. “Do not disrespect my wife, Alaric. Your mother won’t like it if you upset me.”
The clock on the sideboard in the drawing room ticked oh-so-slowly. Time had slowed down to an inexorable crawl, taunting me each time my gaze slid past Petronella toward the gold clockface.
Petronella’s voice grated like claws on a chalkboard. Every time she opened her mouth to utter some banal shit, I tried not to wince. Thewitch had literally nothing of interest to say, even though she attended one of the elite boarding schools in Europe, where witches enjoyed the best education money could buy.
While Starfall was the most prestigious school on this continent, some of the older witch families preferred to send their little darlings to Phoenix Academy, a witch-only school.
“I do so admire your mother, Alaric,” Petronella was saying when I tuned back in.
“Oh?” Stifling a yawn, I took a huge sip of my wine. Brianna must have caught the mention of herself because she half turned.
“Oh yes. She’s such an inspiration to me. To all witches, in fact.” Petronella’s eyes grew shiny with unshed tears. “How she stepped up and took control of the Nightshade Coven after… after what happened. Such leadership.”
Brianna’s lips curled up in a smile while I fought against my magic. And failed. Outside, thunder rumbled and a flash of lightning illuminated the trees beyond the lawn.
When I didn’t immediately start gushing about how amazing my mother was, Petronella frowned.Not my mother,I corrected automatically. That bitch couldn’t even call herself my stepmother. She had no maternal instincts whatsoever.
The clock chimed.
Dad’s laughter boomed loudly across the room as one of his cronies told a not-funny story about the recent arrest of a prominent fox-shifter-rights activist.
“Aren’t you proud of her work on behalf of the covens?” Petronella prodded.
