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She let her dinner mask fall over her face from the first bite and answered her mama with a pleasant smile. “We’ve been busy, Mama, but we met just a few weeks ago, in the Fae lands.”
“That battle. Such nasty business,” her papa said from the head of the table.
Holly murmured her agreement around another bite of salad.
“And you’re sure you’re mates?” her papa questioned.
She felt Kallan stiffen next to her, so she opened her mouth before he did. There was a way to handle her papa. “Yes, Papa, I’m sure.”
She didn’t elaborate. Any additional details could send her papa down rabbit holes, and she needed him to stay on target. Yes, she was sure they were her mates.
“Have you officially bonded yet?”
Her dinner mask almost cracked at her mama’s question. She hadn’t expected her to ask something so personal at the dinner table. This was not how her parents usually operated.
An uncomfortable silence had fallen over the dinner table—her mates must have been as shocked as Holly was—so Holly quickly answered. “No, Mama.” Her mama hummed and took a sip of her drink, but her papa almost looked… pleased? Before another awkward question could be asked, she changed the subject. “Are there any events coming up, Mama, that you are planning?”
While her mama prattled on about events, Holly took a chance and let out a small tendril of her Empath magic to get a read on her papa. She swallowed hard when she caught a wave of anger coming off him despite his pleasant mask. By the Realm, that wasn’t good. She let that tendril of magic siphon off some of his anger, but only till her stomach rolled. She put her fork down and reached for her glass of water. Kieran gave her a concerned look from across the table, but Holly just gave him a serene smile. He didn’t look convinced, so she dragged her eyes back to her mama.
“How is Claire?” Her papa asked suddenly, interrupting her mama’s account of the last event.
Around her, her mates’ eyebrows went up almost imperceptibly at his lack of a title when referring to Claire, but her papa had known her as Holly’s friend before she was queen, so Holly didn’t think anything of it.
“She’s good,” Holly said. “Recovering well with her Triad.”
“It’s a pity she’s not of pure blood,” her papa said, sipping his drink. “I’m sure Frederick had higher hopes for Desmond and his Triad’s fated match. I had higher hopes for my daughter too, but maybe there’s still a chance.”
Holly’s mask broke as her mouth dropped at her papa’s words. Was he saying that since they weren’t officially bonded there was still a chance he could match her? That was crazy, even for her papa.
“I can assure you your daughter is well matched.” Holly’s eyebrows went up at Kieran’s sharp tone. Kallan and Synora nodded at his statement, their fierce glares boring into her papa. That wasn’t going to win them any points with him.
“We’re fated mates,” Synora said coldly, placing a hand on top of Holly’s. Her papa’s eyes tracked it, and his expression got stonier. “Surely you aren’t saying you know more than the fates?”
The silence that dragged on was answer enough, and Holly’s heart sank. Luca growled from the garden, and Holly sent soothing thoughts. The last thing she needed this evening was him shifting around the garden and destroying her mama’s roses.
She was trying to figure out what to say to her papa’s ludicrous statement. Her mates had all stopped eating and were staring at her papa, irritation and anger tracking across their faces. Synora’s hand was icy on top of Holly’s. Kieran, her usually easygoing mate, was gripping his knife tight enough she could see the whites of his knuckles. On her other side, Kallan had gone so still she wasn’t sure he was still breathing. A million words looked like they were passing behind his eyes, and none of them were going to help the situation. She laid her free hand on his arm and squeezed softly, asking him for his restraint. He barely looked at her, and a twinge of frustration pinged in her gut. She had told them her papa would be difficult. Why were they rising to his baiting?
“Papa, please,” she said softly, but her papa ignored her.
Her mama laid a hand on her papa’s arm, but he shrugged it off and took another bite, transferring his glare to Holly. She knew what that look meant. He wanted her to manage the situation, or, more specifically, manage her mates’ emotions so the dinner would go her papa’s way. But she wouldn’t do that, because she couldn’t. And telling him that her mates were immune to her Empath magic was definitely off the table, but she could managehisemotions. Or try to, at least. This was not how she’d imagined the dinner going. She knew her papa would be cold and had warned her mates, but they were a few comments away from an outright fight.
Holly scooped another mouthful of tasteless food in her mouth, even as she reached out to her papa again, trying to manage his emotions since she couldn’t feel her mates. The sheer amount of anger around her papa thwarted her efforts, though, if she wanted what she was attempting to do to remain a secret. She tried again, but her Empath magic refused to work with her, almost like it was pouting. Even though she couldn’t feel them, Holly pushed her Empath magic to take some negative emotions from her mates, even as she had to stop eating because of the nausea. She cut her food up into tiny bites and pushed it around her plate, hoping no one would notice.
Holly was so distracted by the nausea from her attempts that she didn’t notice her papa had finished eating until he stood up and pushed away from the table.
“I wish I could say it was a pleasure…” Holly winced, her mask breaking.
Apparently, Holly’s wince was too much for Luca, who gathered himself up and roared at her papa as if he had physically struck her. Luca’s tail whipped around, heading toward her papa.
“Luca, no!” Holly shouted.
Her papa whirled around, magic flying from his hands toward her mate, and Holly reacted instinctively, throwing her earth magic over Luca as her papa’s splashed into the barrier. It had been a long time since she had sparred with her papa, and she winced as his magic crashed into hers.
“He didn’t mean it, Papa,” she pleaded, barely holding her dinner down when her papa turned to shoot her a glare.
“Get control of your beast before I do it for you,” her papa warned, then stalked into the house and slammed the door behind him. Her mama shot her a worried look before following. Luca roared again, and Holly pleaded with him in her mind to leave it alone. Apparently, Luca thought she meant literally, as he launched himself up from the garden, almost flattening the rose bushes as he rose into the inky blackness of the night.
Kallan turned to her, anger all over his usually expressionless face. “We need to talk. Now.”
