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“Do you understand me, Alexei? Or is your loyalty in question, my son?”
I swallowed a curse as I surveyed the damage, the lacerations on my hands mending almost immediately. “Yes. I understand you,” I said roughly, my jaw clicking.
“Good,” he intoned. “Consider your exile officially complete. After you ensure Trystan has not spread tales of your inferiority to any in his Court, reclaim the talismans. We’ll discuss damages and your future as my heir once you’re back home with Dubois in tow.”
After he hung up, I sent my phone flying into the wall, shattering it to pieces.
“That good?”
My fists clenched at my sides. “Fuck off, Henry.”
He leaned against the door, watching me struggle with my rage with a chiding look. “You need to feed, my friend. Bagged blood cannot sustain you completely, and your instincts are close to the surface. If not your witch, do you require a donor? There are several in Boston I use. I can make a quick call.”
As if I would ever take from a warmblood with Jade in my life. Though, after last night, she may refuse to even see me.
“I’m fine.”
“Clearly,” he drawled, his voice dripping with a hefty dose of sarcasm. “I’m sure your witch wouldn’t mind you feeding. If not on her, then on another. Either you have not informed her of the effects abstaining from blood will cause, or she is unworthy of being your mate.”
“Don’t call her that,” I snarled, frustration building inside me until I felt like a caged animal, prowling and ready to attack.If my father ever discovered what she was to me… “Just leave it.”
He crossed the room, his eyes flaring from their usual calm depths into something twisted and full of pent-up fury. “Perhaps you’ve fucked up with her as colossally as you have with your father? Or the Staff of Borislav? Or Trystan? Truly, the list of your failures is endless, my friend.”
“I saidto leave it.” My hand crushed his windpipe in a punishing grip, my rage closer to the surface than it had been in decades.
His face showed no pain or surprise, only grim determination.“You think I do not know? Anyone who sees how you behave around the witch will know what she is to you.” He narrowed his black eyes to slits. “Especially Alistair. What were you thinking, bringing Jade into this mess?”
I dropped my hand and put more distance between us, wishing I could put even more distance between myself and the truth. Jade may be mine, but I would never truly have her.
Thibault was right. Iwasgrowing soft.
One word from Jade could break me into a thousand pieces when I had survived over a century of battles and bloodshed. After I claimed her, there would be no going back for me. Which was why I had to find a way to defeat my father once and for all. A task that seemed impossible.
“Alexei.” Henry shook his head with a sigh. “You can be just like your father. Rash, violent, and unfeeling. For a male who claims to hate your sire, you certainly take on many of his unadmirable qualities when it suits your needs.”
All the fire drained from me, and I sunk into a seat, folding my head into my hands. “I don’t know how to proceed here. How can I stop my father’s wrath when I can’t even handle Trystan Dubois?”
“You start by ceasing your pathetic moping and dealing with the vampire once and for all,” he offered lightly. “And then you apologize and atone for your mistakes. Whatever happened with Jade, make it right, no matter the cost. Once you lose your mate, you can never recover them again.”
He turned his face away from me, but not before I caught the searing pain etched there.
I took a deep breath and stood, draping a hand on his shoulder. “Forgive me, Henry. It seems my selfishness knows no bounds. I hadn’t considered how this situation must dredge memories of Nathaniel back to the surface.”
“It’s not the memories of him that hurt, so much as the regret.” He stepped away from my touch and moved back towards the door, his shoulders drooping under the heavy weight of grief. “Assuage Alistair and keep your female safe. Any heartbreak you cause is nothing compared to the torture Alistair will rain upon her if he were to discover the truth.”
“You’re right,” I managed around the gaping hole piercing throughmy chest. “Maybe if I find the staff, I can truly end my father’s horrific rule. Like I should have tried to do from the very beginning.”
My confession fell on Henry like a quiet mist.
As the implication of my words finally registered, he wobbled on weak legs, his face deathly pale. “You can’t mean to—”
“I don’t see how any other path forward can exist for me now. Never can I allow my father to harm Jade, nor am I willing to give her up.” I shook my head, finally allowing myself to remember the Bled witches. For decades I had sequestered their faces, their smiles, their acceptance of me in a box inside my soul, never allowing them to see the light of day, but it was time to stop hiding in my cowardice.
Vera, Blanca, and every other witch that came into my father’s line of fire deserved vengeance. Alistair had to be stopped.
Looking up at Henry, his eyes softened into something proudly tender before he inhaled a tired breath. “I vowed to remain in my corner of the world until death found me and I could rejoin my beloved, but for you—for him—I will stand with you until the end, Alexei.”
“Thank you,” I breathed with crushing relief.
