AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Talon paused at the sliding door and waited. For her, she realized. Would he allow her to run if she wanted? To hide in the shadows for the rest of her existence? She doubted it. Arianna clenched her trembling hands then slid the door open for him.
A fire crackled in that old, familiar hearth, and candles burned around the room, giving it a soft glow in the dimming light. Her father had the side sliding door open, telling her this particular meeting wasn’t of too much importance.
But seven council members sat at his table, looking at those who’d intruded with a scornful expression. It shifted in seconds and their gazes shot toward their High Lord. She couldn’t bring herself to look at him.
Talon took a single step forward and knelt before her father and his council. “I’ve brought your daughter home.” Silence, then her father waved his hand and six chairs scooted across the wooden floor. Arianna held her breath as they passed. She imagined them examining her as if she were from another world. Though, upon catching her scent, the way their shoulders stiffened was anything but imaginary. They knew. They all knew.
The last one out slid the door shut and her father circled the table until he stood before her. Arianna’s body trembled in his shadow.
“Look at me.” His voice was a command she couldn’t disobey, not when she felt this weak. Her eyes lifted, tears already forming in the corners. Her father’s nostrils flared, and rage flashed across his hard face. But instead of harsh words, Avalon did something she never expected.
Carefully, as if she were a doll who might break, Avalon wrapped his arms around his eldest daughter and pulled her close. “Welcome home, Arianna.” The knot in her chest unraveled, and she leaned into his strong arms, letting the fear she’d been holding in roll down her cheeks.
And her father let her cry. She gripped the back of his tunic, clinging to him like her life depended on it, sobbing as she hadn’t done since she was a small child.
His warmth. His scent. It took her back to a time before she knew war. To a time when two sisters would beg to stay up late and cuddle with their parents before a warm fireplace. To a time before strength mattered.
She sniffled and released her iron grip from her father’s tunic. Arianna wiped her tears away with her sleeve and her father pulled back and looked her over. He nodded toward the table and called for tea and cakes from one of their servants. The woman appeared so fast Arianna wondered if she’d been waiting around the corner with said items already prepared.
Avalon, the High Lord, poured their tea and pushed the cakes toward her. She wrapped her cold fingertips around the intricately decorated cup but avoided the food. Her stomach was in knots already.
Avalon stood to throw another log into the fire and closed the side door, stealing the evening light from the room. She watched the candles flicker and dance. Green eyes appeared in her mind’s eye and Arianna choked back a sob.
Her father sat again and without being told, Talon began recounting her story, or rather, the version her father would want to hear. He wove his words carefully, avoiding direct lies that would condemn her forever. In Talon’s version, Rion was nothing more than a bloodthirsty demon that’d kept her as his plaything.
But that wasn’t Rion at all. She remembered the first brush of his lips. The trembling in his body when she’d placed a hand on his chest. His sobs at the knowledge that someone accepted him for who he was.
“You almost killed him once, yes?” Talon nodded. “Good, then I expect you’ll succeed the second time.” Her father’s voice turned icy. “I want him to suffer. I want him to remember and agonize over every scream that came from my daughter’s mouth.”
“No,” her voice cracked from misuse and tears fell from her face anew. She couldn’t let them believe those things about Rion, no matter how much it might tarnish her reputation. “He never hurt me.”
Silence, then Avalon rested one calloused hand on top of hers. “You don’t have to be afraid anymore. I’ll protect you. The horrors you suffered will not go unpunished.”
Her body shook. “I didn’t suffer,” she whispered. “Not with Rion. He didn’t—he didn’t do those things to me. He never forced—”
“Rion?” her father spat, his voice instantly shifting back to that High Lord tone. He slammed his hands on the table and stood, his chair flying back. Arianna flinched. “Are you telling me youletthat demon touch you?”
She was a child again, too weak to take over as the family head. She was the constant disappointment, the failure of test after test to display her powers and strength. But still, she couldn’t back down from this. “He’s not a demon.”
Her small voice made her father fall silent. A deadly calm before the storm. He turned that storm on Talon. “Did you know about this?”
Talon opened his mouth, but she interrupted. “He didn’t.” She wouldn’t let Talon take the fall. Her father would demote him for withholding information from his High Lord. The council might even move to jail him, but Arianna needed him too much.
Avalon clenched his fists, and his body visibly shook. Rage poured from him in a current and the room suddenly felt too small. “First, he takes my mate, now he tries to take my daughter.”
She looked up at him. Mate? Her mother? But—
Avalon opened his eyes, but instead of brutal rage, Arianna saw sorrow. Deep, unrelenting sorrow. His voice softened. “I don’t know what he promised you. I don’t know what lies he weaved, but that creature. That monster,” he spat. “Took your mother from us.” He paused, letting the words sink in. “Do you understand what I’m telling you, Arianna?”
“No.” He couldn’t have. Her mother had died ten years ago of an incurable illness. She remembered the day her father had come in—and Arianna also remembered never seeing the body. Those responsible had fashioned the casket from the finest trees to the north and had carved elegant details over the lid. And it’d been closed.
Was she maimed beyond recognition? She’d seen Rion tear the flesh from his victims, leaving them unrecognizable.
“What do you think started the war?”
Arianna stood, anger flaring through her for the first time in days. It tingled beneath her skin, bringing her to life. “Why didn’t I know?”
“Because I didn’t want my daughters terrified the monster would come for them next. I didn’t want you to grow up fearful. I wanted you strong.”
