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“She’s not the reason for your visit. We both have a vested interest in stopping the Order before they cost our people more.”
“I flew this far, no?” She glared at him as if he’d somehow broken protocol when she’d been the one to turn up on his doorstep tonight uninvited and unannounced.
“Where are your guards?” He hadn’t seen anyone in the sleek Mercedes she’d arrived in, and Yulia didn’t travel without a small squadron of hand-selected soldiers.
“At the hotel watching over Tai,” she said.
“You brought your son?” He hadn’t expected her to take the boy out of school or let him leave the safety of her father’s kingdom. The impact of why she might’ve done so hit him although Yulia would never admit fear. “More problems with your ex?”
“He wants my son, and he can’t have him.”
“But the boy belongs to him too.” Alexei couldn’t relate. His parents still loved each other, true loves since they first met who had given up so much to stay together, to make sure he had a dynasty to inherit, to be granted two adopted girls to adore despite the costs. “Why wouldn’t you want Tai to see his father?”
“Because Sergei—my scum of an ex—doesn’t love his son. No, he views him as a pawn on a chessboard to be moved only when it serves Sergei’s purpose. Dating that megalomaniac might’ve been the worst mistake of my life except I have Tai.” The way she said her son’s name with a mother’s absolute affection? It settled some of Alexei’s anger over her abrupt arrival.
“You should’ve let Tai come with you tonight. I like him.”
“You enjoy listening to him prattle about science because he reminds you of Alys.” Yulia’s voice didn’t hold any animosity. “I look forward to talking with her about her research.”
“Which still doesn’t explain why you came here tonight. You know she doesn’t live here.”
“I wanted to make sure this visit would be exactly what you described, nothing more. I’m not looking for a war. Our people can’t afford to suffer the way your city has with its riots, and we don’t fear a few humans. If the Order returns to our lands, we’ll wipe them out. Simple solution for a complicated problem instead of allowing it to fester.”
“They’re not a disease. Innocent humans lost their homes and lives the same as the guilty ones.”
“Why not let the witches handle the Order?” Yulia’s tone left no doubt how little she thought ofwitches. She said the word much as she’d saidhumans.
Because the Order had hurt his mate. Not that he could admit as much. He couldn’t even claim Joelle as she hadn’t expressed the same interest in him. He’d been so close to telling her why they shouldn’t be together, to abandoning common sense and asking her to try anyway. Thank the gods that Yulia had shown up when she did. He settled on the safest answer to the woman’s question. “The Order kidnapped a human under my care—the widow of a fallen soldier, the mother of a demon hybrid.”
“Sounds like your kingdom’s problem, not mine.” She held up a hand. “I’ll hear you out tomorrow, but I won’t risk my people to save humans under your care. You would say the same as the responsible leader who puts your subjects first. You’ve already worked with the witches to save your city. Look for the human you lost. No one would expect you to do more. I don’t question your people’s allegiance, but perhaps she chose her own kind in the end. It wouldn’t be the first time. Even for those blood sworn to our hordes.”
Alexei swallowed his rage, biting back his temper at the gut instinct that Yulia had guessed wrong. When she’d sounded so reasonable, showing any emotion would only end her visit early and crush any hopes of a united front against the Order. “Dinner tomorrow? Or would you like to meet sooner?”
“Tai had hoped to visit Alys in her laboratory. I understand you’ll have privacy and security concerns, but we wouldn’t be touring for purposes of political gain. He’s simply curious, and he has so many questions…”
For the first time, he noticed the tightness around Yulia’s mouth, the worry lines bracketing her eyes, the fatigue in her posture. “Questions without easy answers. I understand having a genius in the family. Alys’s mind never stops. She would be happy to meet with Tai. We’re both exceptionally fond of your kid.” His mother? Not so much. Sergei, the boy’s father? Not at all. But the ten-year-old prodigy could enchant anyone. “How are you dealing with his powers?”
She blew out a breath. “His telekinesis has become hard to handle. Last year, he moved toys around his room. Now, he can throw a tantrum that has furniture slamming into walls.”
“That doesn’t sound like Tai. He’s so calm and controlled when I see him.” So much so that he reminded Alexei of himself as a child, bottling up powers that manifested too young.
“Sergei sets him off. When his father takes him for a visit, he makes Tai feel as though he’s inferior for using his mind rather than his muscles.”
Alexei wanted to shake the kid’s dad. Or better yet, fly the guy up to the top of a building and hang him over the side by his ankles until he pissed himself. “Tai’s a kid. His physical strength will come. He’s bound to be powerful given he’s yours. Add his brains and his magic? Sergei had better watch himself.”
“Thanks.” She shook her head. “I worry because Tai won’t stay my little boy forever. Demon politics will be tough on him as the heir apparent. He doesn’t need his father getting in his head to create more problems. I’m already unsure of how to help him control his powers since they’re so rare. Apparently my great-grandfather could crumble buildings with his mind.”
“Any telekinetics in your kingdom?”
“None living.”
A plan sparked within him. The common ground would be small, yet he’d built alliances on less. “The demon hybrid whose human mother was kidnapped by the Order?”
“Yeah.” She seemed suspicious of the change in subjects.She should be.
“He’s telekinetic. I’ll arrange for him to meet us after Tai has toured Alys’s lab tomorrow.”
The distrust in her gaze wavered toward wary hope. “In exchange for?”
