Chapter 18
Chapter
Eighteen
To add insult to injury, my father showed up half an hour later, as if he knew what had just happened. He didn’t bother knocking this time but did me the favor of warning me by sending the scent of wild magic through my kitchen before appearing on my couch.
I was holding the coffee pot when he appeared and debated chucking the thing at his head.
“I wouldn’t,” he said mildly.
He was dressed in the guise of a thirty-something athletic human male. White t-shirt, dark joggers, athletic shoes with ankle socks.
“You remembered the shoes today.” I poured us both a mug of coffee and brought it over.
He frowned at his feet. “Shoes are the most foolish invention humans have ever come up with. Our feet are meant to touch bare earth. Such keeps our hearts rooted to the world.”
“Pollution and litter have sort of ruined that for us.”
Dad picked up his coffee and was about to sip it when he paused and held the mug closer to his nose to take a sniff.
“Irish cream,” I answered the question in his eyes. “A healthy dose.”
“Rough day?” He sipped and made a curious noise. “This is interesting.”
“It’s delicious,” I corrected.
Dad’s lips quirked in a smile. “I heard you visited your mother.”
I sighed. “When are you going to stop spying on me?”
He lifted a shoulder. “I cannot help when my people spot you outside of your home.”
“And report back to you everything I said and did?”
“Your mother has more than adequate privacy around her home to prevent that.”
“Serves you right,” I muttered. “Why are you here?”
“Can’t a father see his daughter without such questions?”
My eyebrows went up.
“Honestly, Evie. Have you always been this…ornery?”
“Caelan just stomped out of here. You should ask him.”
His eyes flashed. “Your Lord is angry?”
“You know the answer to that since you’re the one who threw that brunette homewrecker in his path.”
My father set his mug down. “Are you so sure I’m guilty of such?”
There was an odd note in his voice. “Are you saying you aren’t the one who sent Rachel to him?”
“I’m not saying anything. While I might not approve of your Lord, I do want the best for you.”
“Which is not him.”
A thin smile. “I’m here to continue your training. Regardless of whether you’re angry with me, you are still my daughter and my heir.”
When I opened my mouth to protest, Cernunnos raised his hand.
“On top of that, you deserve to know the depths of your power. There are rumblings around the world about your heritage. Word is getting out about who you are. You will need to know the scope of what you can do so you can field…challengers off.”
I took a long sip of my coffee. “Challengers?” I echoed.
“Our kind are bloodthirsty, Evie. I’m surprised you haven’t already had issues.”
“Nothing more than normal.” I eyed him. “Though I hear you’re the one responsible for curbing the inordinate number of suitors I’ve had lately.”
“None of those men could have held the crown alongside you.”
The words were said so casually, but his eyes held a deadly gleam.
“Just like Caelan could not.”
He lifted a shoulder. “You need someone who will always have your back.”
I snorted. “I knew you were spying! No one has timing that immaculate!”
He laughed. “I wasn’t spying. I just happened to venture onto your land and overheard the fallout.” His eyes twinkled. “You really tossed the woman off your land?”
“Yes,” I grumbled. “She deserved it.”
“I’m sure she did.” He drained the rest of his coffee and sat the mug down. “Though I’m curious about Caelan’s opinion about your temper. Do you feel the Lord is right?”
I rolled my eyes. “Of course not. I’m not saying I don’t have a temper. I’m merely saying it only comes out when someone pushes me too far.”
“Like Caelan?”
A begrudging smile tilted my lips. The first time Caelan really pissed me off, I embarrassed him at one of his parties with an automaton I made that taunted him with the story of a wolf being outsmarted by a fox.
He was livid and destroyed my shop.
To be honest, that was the most fun I’d ever had in my life.
“To be fair, he deserved it, too.”
“Then you have your answer.” He leaned forward.
“You do not go out looking for fights, Evie. That’s the most important part of being a leader.
But when a fight comes to you, you do not hesitate.
You are decisive, sometimes vicious, and you never regret how you chose to respond. Those are the traits of a queen.”
I still hadn’t decided whether I planned to take up my crown. My life here was a good one, even with my sometimes-rocky relationship with Caelan. Moira, Ash, and Tess were my family, and I couldn’t imagine leaving them to rule over a people I had little experience with.
I changed the subject. “Have you seen Tess?”
My father’s eyebrows rose. “Your banshee? I do not speak with her one-on-one. Is she missing?”
I told him where she was.
My father looked disturbed. “Strange place for a banshee to visit. Are you planning to retrieve her?”
“If she’s there of her own volition, I don’t want her to think I don’t trust her. But I don’t know if she is, so I plan to find her.”
“I’m also here about Lugh.”
I groaned. “He asked for five days.”
“You should have sent him home the second he fell through whatever portal your vampire friend opened.”
“We’re well aware of that now.”
“You don’t think it’s curious your banshee friend disappeared when Lugh appeared?”
“It’s very curious,” I agreed. “But I have it on good authority that Lugh isn’t stashing her where he’s staying. Nor has he ever held her there.” I slid a glance his way. “Are you keeping something from me about her?”
“Banshees are not meant to be in those lands. You must retrieve her soon.”
“Cryptic,” I said, my brow furrowing. “Can you elaborate?”
He gave me a thin smile and rose. “Come. Let us go outside and test your mettle. Perhaps you can burn off a little of that temper.”
I chucked a paper coaster at his head, but my father blinked from the couch to the door, grinning at me before he stepped out.