Page 106 of A Tempest of Shadows

“How is your mother?” he inquired.

A shiver ran through me, and I almost yanked the curtain over the window again. It would be the completely wrong move to make. “She doesn’t know about me and Ryker.”

When he released the curtain, it swayed as it settled into place. “Really? I assumed she was angling to find a very successful match for her daughter.”

I couldn’t stop myself from gulping. Maybe she’d arranged for me to help Ryker, but she didn’t do it to play matchmaker. Some mothers would do that, but not mine.

She wasn’t looking to get ahead in this realm, and she’d know how much the duke would stand against such a relationship. Yes, she was hoping for the reward money, but she wasn’t angling for a son-in-law.

“She’s not trying to marry me off,” I told him.

“Then she’d probably be disappointed to learn what a whore she has for a daughter.”

My fingers twitched in my lap, but I didn’t respond to his baiting. He was looking to goad me into doing something foolish, and I refused to give him that. Besides, I did get caught in his son’s bed, in his home, and I was wrong for that.

“You care for your mother,” he stated.

I gulped as I glanced at the door. I almost told him that, of course, I cared for her, but I knew this man’s relationship with his son, and love wasn’t always so obvious between a parent and a child. He couldn’t understand my love for my mother and hers for me.

He’d torn his child away from his mother. This man would have no qualms about doing the same or worse to me.

“You’re to stay away from my son,” he stated. “And since he’s a stubborn fool who doesn’t like to hear the word no, you’re going to make it clear you don’t want him.”

My shoulders hunched forward a little as a knife plunged into my heart. I couldn’t hurt Ryker in that way, but who was I kidding? This is exactly where our relationship had been heading the whole time; if the duke didn’t tear us apart, then the Hooded Robber would.

“I’m going to make this very clear,” the duke continued. “If you tell him I was here or that I spoke to you at all, I’ll have your mother pulled out of here, wrapped in chains, and thrown into a dungeon where she’ll rot for an eternity; do you understand me?”

My head spun as he leaned close to me. His overwhelming, musky scent assailed me as the warmth of the carriage became cloying in its intensity. I resisted tugging at the collar of my dress as his hate-filled eyes narrowed on me.

But I realized that while he found me repulsive, his hatred wasn’t for me… it was for his son. He wanted me to hurt Ryker because he couldn’t anymore, and he loathed having no control over a son who was more powerful than him.

“And if you think about telling my son, just know there’s nothing he can do to stop me. He may be a lightning bearer, but what good will that power do him if he’s locked in my dungeon… or dead?”

CHAPTER EIGHTY-NINE

Ellery

My blood ran cold, and something must have shown on my face as a cruel smile twisted the duke’s mouth. Ryker had already survived the ophidians; he couldn’t be locked away again, and I had no doubt this man would do it.

He would imprison his son if that was what it took to finally control him.

My gaze darted to the curtain. It may have been centuries since the duke had beaten and locked Ryker away, but I had no doubt he would do so again if he could.

For now, he allowed Ryker to remain free because he did have some control over him in this realm. I didn’t know what would happen if that changed, but I was sure Ryker did. He’d never let his guard down around this man.

My stomach rolled as a clammy sweat broke out on my nape. In the uncomfortable silence, a bead of it slid down my back.

“Do you understand me?” the duke finally asked.

I still couldn’t form words. I didn’t understand how someone could be so cruel, but this man excelled in it.

“My son can’t stop me, you know.” The duke sat back in his seat and stretched his legs before him. “And you do know that. He’s a lightning bearer, but I possess the real power in this realm; he can’t even leave it.”

Breathing inside the shrinking space of the once roomy carriage was becoming increasingly difficult. This man started hating his son at six because that’s when it became known that Ryker was a lightning bearer with more magical abilities than him.

Ryker could strike him dead, and so could I, but if I killed him, my mother would be slaughtered or forced into the woods, and I’d still lose Ryker. The duke didn’t know that; I suspected things would be different if he did, and he might have killed me outright or locked me away instead of threatening me.

And I’d make sure he never learned the truth about me. Ryker hated this man, but I wasn’t about to kill his father… unless he went after my mother.