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He shook his head.“We’re in this together now.First, we find my father so you have the third stone.”
Time to confess.She’d run away from everything for so long that running was her default mode.Except with Perry.“He’s hiding out at a local bookshop.”
“You know this how?”
“Fight club.”His father had shown up at one of her roommate’s fights a week ago, and she’d followed the man.
Perry stared at her as though his stolen power was lie detection.“While a bookshop sounds like my dad’s ideal hideout, it’s not the smartest move for a Senate-banished exile.”
“It’s a magical bookstore.The owner—she’s a demon hybrid.”
“Of course she is.”
“Whatever with your species hating.The owner left your dad in charge while she’s out of realm this month.We could arrange a meeting there without compromising your location here.”
He gave her a do-we-have-to look.“Can’t we just send someone to collect the amethyst from him?”
“He’s your father.Don’t you want to see him before we leave?”
“No.He gave up any rights when he walked out on me.”
The hurt in his voice arrowed straight to her heart.“I understand what it’s like not having your parents there when you need them, but I would’ve done anything for the chance to see my mother one more time.To say good-bye.”
“Why didn’t you?”
Her stomach dropped.In addressing his problems, she’d given the lawyer an opening to ask all about hers.“I couldn’t.”
“Why not?”
Her mouth went dry.If he went with her to Kradnovtl, he’d find out.“My mother and I ran in the middle of the night through hidden passages, trying to get away from guards with iron daggers, but they chased us.At the edge of the woods, she told me to go through the goblin glass, to run and not look back no matter what.So I did.”She clamped a hand over the gold cuff so hard that it dug into her skin.She’d been running ever since.From her past.From her true nature.From her future.
“Didn’t you want to go home?”His question made it sound so simple.
“By the time I found my way back to the glass, it’d closed.Baba moved it before the portal opened again to make sure I swore those blood vows to her.She said she’d already helped the wrong goblin royal.”
“What if you hadn’t promised her anything?”
“I landed in the middle of a frozen Siberian forest.My choices were say yes or become a goblin popsicle, and I didn’t escape death in one realm to die in another.”
“Your parents didn’t come for you?”
“No.”Her mother would’ve moved literal realms to reach her if it were possible.Her father would’ve chased his sole heir to the ends of time and space to drag her back.Neither had happened.Her brain struggled to accept the logical conclusion that her parents were dead.Her heart still beat its denial.
Pity flashed through his eyes.Pity she didn’t want.Pity she didn’t deserve.
She changed the subject.“I’m only saying that if you’re coming with me to Kradnovtl, although we’ll only be gone a few days, you never know what could happen here if the Senate is in shambles.You should see your father.”
The misplaced sympathy he’d shown earlier faded from his expression.“My dad will be fine.Those survival skills that’ve gotten me this far?Where do you think I learned them?He hasn’t missed me before, and he won’t miss me now.I hope you didn’t follow him because you thought he would help convince me to go with you.”
“I didn’t follow him for my sake.Or for his.I did it for you.”
“Why?”He sounded genuinely confused.
“Because I wish someone could have done it for me.”She would give all her fortune and fame for a few minutes with her mother.
“I’m not you.”He snapped each word, the bitterness shattering whatever tenderness she might’ve felt.
“Believe me, I know that.”She hadn’t expected gratitude, but damn.
