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“You could say she did you a favor.”
My eyes found his, immediately flushed in anger.
“If she hadn’t, do you think Larisa would have turned willingly?”
That was an answer I would never have. “She’s always wanted children.” If we could have them as vampires, there probably would have been far less resistance.
“Like most women. They are a blessing. There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing your boy become a man, become your equal. The pride is worth the long nights and the tantrums and the discipline.”
Now I felt guilty for taking it away.
“Do you have any regrets?”
I held his stare, my throat empty of words.
“Would you do it differently if you could?”
My eyebrows narrowed as he pressed the conversation.
“I know how to change it—if that’s what you wish.”
If I’d had a heart, it would have dropped into my stomach. I felt a jolt of terror that rushed to every extremity of my body, a tightness that seized all my muscles. I swallowed even though my mouth was dry. “I don’t understand…”
“Many years ago, I captured a witch in my lands. After months of torture, I discovered it was her magic that created the werewolves. And I also discovered it’s possible to undo the permanent, to restore the soul to the body.”
Ssscorcery.
My father’s face disappeared from view. Now all I saw was Larisa, her skin golden as she stood in the sun, her eyes like emeralds in the light. Her neck twitched with the small pulse that no one else noticed but me. The taste of her blood suddenly flooded my mouth, exquisite.
My father read the expression written across my face. “Then we’ll keep this between us.”
* * *
Fang lay in a bundle on the floor in front of the fire, his eyes open and on me as I sat in the armchair.
Hours passed, and I remained still, not even reaching for my drink, my eyes focused on the flames.
Fang hadn’t spoken, but his eyes were on me as if he expected me to address what we’d just heard at some point.
I intended to leave in the morning and return to Grayson. Larisa’s dress should be ready, and the wedding would take place shortly after my arrival. While there was no rush, I’d felt an urgency since the moment I asked her to marry me.
You mussst tell her.
My eyes moved to his.
You can’t keep this sssecret.
I looked at the fire again.
Kingsssnake.
When I ignored him for the third time, he pressed on.
She hasss the right to know—and you know it.
I left the chair and walked away, slowly pacing my bedchambers as every ounce of joy left my body. My father and I had finally put the past behind us, after a thousand years of discontent, and now I was hit with this misery. “You want her to be human? Is that what you want? For her to die in sixty years?”
No. But that’sss her decisssion to make.
