AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My kitsune nods his head emphatically.Yes, little warrior. Do that and I can give you the physical comfort you need as well.
Glance over my shoulder at my dad, and then give a sharp nod.I’m pretty sure I just need to step through the bedroom door to go back to the facility. So I could stand with it open? I just… I’m not sure what he’s going to say.
You aren’t sure you want any of us to hear it, even Kohaku.Ezra finishes my thought. His faded amber eyes run over me, like he’s committing me to memory. And then he nods.Five minutes, Ro, and then we’re activating the tracker spell and reopening the communication spell.
I give him a small smile. Ezra is always going to be the one to take care of me, to give me what I need.I’ll see you soon.
Before anyone else can say anything, I shut off the spell and they disappear from in front of me.
I turn to find my dad watching me carefully, one arm propped on the other, his hand under his chin. “How does that work?”
I don’t have to ask what he means. “It doesn’t. They fight constantly and they weren’t… Most of them weren’t very nice to me from the beginning. The only one who has been perfect is Kohaku, and that’s because he’s…” I cut off my face flaming, because discussing my relationship with six men with my dad seems like a terrible idea.
“Anyway, it doesn’t work and they aren’t… I’m not with most of them.” Me and Kohaku hadn’t really discussed our relationship, beyond that we both wanted to have sex with each other. I shake my head. “I can’t imagine that’s what you wanted to talk about.”
He lifts a shoulder. “Knowing that my daughter is going to be taken care of by six powerful witches… or rather five powerful witches and an umbra demon, is a good thing, ladybug. They all obviously care about you. And having four of the seven heirs of Septem Stellae on your side is only going to help in the long run, especially when you complete the journey you’ve been on.”
Eyeing him distrustfully, I frown. I hate that I don’t trust him, hate that the happy, warm memories of my childhood are now tainted with the memory of blood and pain and fear. I hate that I haven’t seen him in ten years, that he hasn’t tried to reach out to me or mom or Desi. I hate that he stayed in jail by choice rather than return to us.
“What exactly is this path you seem to think I’m on?”
He watches me, his eyes gleaming. “Septem Stellae has taken so much from our family, Rosalind. So much death and destruction only because they couldn’t stand there to be a family of witches out there with more power than them.”
I shake my head. “But they aren’t our family. The Stewarts,theywere your family. Grammie and Papa adopted you, took you in, loved you and me and Desi with everything that they had. This other family they might be blood, but we don’t know them from Adam.”
As I say this, my dad’s eyes grow harder, icy. “The Stewarts may have cared for us, Rosalind, but they weren’t blood. My mother was murdered by Septem Stellae. They deserve everything that’s coming to them.”
I don’t want to be here anymore. I’m at my limit of emotional trauma. So far, I’ve been holding it together pretty well. But having him go all cold on me while talking about the casual demise of an entire fucking coven, a demise that I’m apparently supposed to enact? Yeah, I can’t do this.
I don’t want to be a weapon.
It’s clear now that is what my father turned me into. A weapon to be wielded against the enemies of our supposed family. The family that got rid of him, that never reached out to find him to make sure he was safe.
I heft my bag onto my shoulder and move toward the door. “I’m going to go now.” He doesn’t try to stop me as I move to the door of his hiding space. I pause with my hand on the doorknob, trying to think if there is any other information I need from him. Any unasked questions I want answered.
The only thing I can think to ask is, “do you want me to tell Desi or Mom anything? Any messages for them?”
He stares at me, eyes hard. “Desi is on her own path, and I will see her soon enough. And you aren’t currently speaking to your mother, ladybug.”
My stomach clenches and my heart hurts. “Fine. Anything you want to say to me?” I’m not really sure why I asked. Maybe I came here hoping for a teary reunion with hugs and kisses, and maybe I thought he would stroke my hair like he used to. Maybe I thought he might apologize for what he did all those years ago. Maybe I would have preferred a comatose fucking man compared to what I got.
My dad’s eyes, so like my own, run over me again from my braided hair to my beat up chucks, and he gives a small smile. “When you die, the spells will come back to the grimoire.”
Ah, fuck.That hurts. His last chance to tell me something before I leave. His last chance to give me what I need emotionally, and that’s what he says? I give a jerky nod as tears fill my eyes. Blowing out a breath meant to soothe the ache in my throat, I turn the handle on the door and glance over my shoulder one last time. “Goodbye, daddy.”
Before he has a chance to answer, I step through his portal and emerge back into the facility, recognizing the plush red carpet. The sounds of raised voices reach my ears, and I recognize most of them.
My footsteps fly over hardwood floors and thick rugs, rushing toward the men who, for better or worse, will do what they can to keep me safe.
Chapter 22
When, not if.
It’s not until I’ve talked Hardin and Cohen out of beating the shit out of Garza who refused to tell them where my father’s room was, and we’re in the parking lot of the facility, that it occurs to me. My father had said ‘when you die,’ not if.
Those were his parting words to me, and I have to assume he didn’t mean when I die seventy years from now. No, he must mean sooner. Otherwise, why would it have come up now?
Kohaku’s hand slides up and down my spine, slowly. I’m pressed against his chest, arms wrapped around his waist as he leans against the door of our rental car. My face is buried in his shirt, and I’m taking long inhales of his Christmas scent, letting it soothe my fractured heart.
