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Thalia grins. “Oh, I like her already.”
My daughter listens attentively as I tell her everything, including that I’m fucking the human. Although I don’t say it in such crude terms, I don’t sugarcoat it either. It’s enough that she knows Nyssa sleeps in my bed.
“I like her,” Thalia says after I finish. “I mean… I’ve only observed her beg you for mercy for someone who didn’t deserve it. Speaks a lot to her nature and is at odds with the fact she killed someone so brutally.”
“She had a rough life.” I’ll never divulge the details I learned through the crystal Zora gave me. “She definitely doesn’t deserve a one-way ticket to the Crimson River.”
“So reincarnate her,” she says. “You know that’s the right thing to do.”
I don’t respond, rather pick up my goblet and swallow what’s left of my wine.
“Ahh,” she drawls, and I glare at her. “You don’t want to give her up.”
“She’s a great fuck,” I growl, intentionally trying to be crude so Thalia doesn’t pick away at my feelings by using reverse psychology on me.
She takes a delicate sip, waiting for me to say something else that is more conducive to honest communication.
“Fine,” I mutter, slamming the empty goblet on the table and slouching back into the couch. “I want to keep her. I like her. If I reincarnate her, I lose her. Is that what you want to hear?”
“Is it the truth?”
“You know it is,” I say, my eyes locked on hers.
“Then keep her. It’s as simple as that.”
“And what… dress her in finery and let her rule at my side?”
Thalia shakes her head, holding out her arms. “Whoa, that’s above my pay grade. I can’t tell you how far to take this thing you have with Nyssa. You’re going to have to figure that out on your own.”
“Gee, thanks, kiddo,” I drawl sarcastically, yielding a grin from Thalia. “You’re my favorite child.”
“I’m your only child.” She stands and sets her cup on the table. “Now, I’m going to head home while you figure out your stuff. I’ll come back to visit when I can.”
Thalia steps into my arms, and I hug her.
“I love you,” she says, and my body tenses. It’s the first time anyone has said those words to me.
And for the first time in my immortal life, I give them to someone. “I love you too, Daughter.”
CHAPTER 18
Nyssa
Pacing the livingarea of Amell’s suite, I try to guess what type of mood he’ll be in.
So far this morning, I’ve felt humor and tenderness in bed, only to have him dismiss me without a backward glance, followed by fear over the fury that rolled off him when he saw my bruise, then confusion that he would even care that I was bruised, and…
Well, the last one is just very confounding.
He introduced me to his daughter, and that’s the thing I’m struggling to understand most.
The porridge I ate for breakfast sits like a lump in my stomach, and it makes me long for the days when my belly was so empty I’d go dumpster diving without a second thought just for some cold, cast-off french fries.
I’m expecting Amell to pop in at any moment, so when the door to his suite slowly opens, I’m not as startled as I’d wound myself up to be. Amell walks in and looks every bit the king of the Dark Fae. When he dressed this morning, he chose all black, including a fitted leather vest and wrist guards. It’s not so much the clothing, though, or the massive wings that set him apart from all other fae. It’s his bearing.
Regal, confident, and so powerful, he could crush a mountain of enemies if he wanted.
A slight tremor of fear—or maybe excitement—slips through me.
