Chapter 17 #3
His father nodded. “I know it doesn’t make up for anything.
But I thought that, at least, was something I could do.
I couldn’t be there for you, but at least I could try to ensure you had a comfortable life.
That you wouldn’t want for much… well, I hoped not, anyway.
It was such a paltry amount. I’m afraid your mother and I were a little extravagant while we were courting, so I didn’t have much left over.
And as you can imagine, my parents were not willing to provide any more. ”
Max blinked. He would not have called the amount of money his father had left them paltry.
It had certainly been enough to support them his entire childhood and beyond, without either of them ever going wanting, and enough for his mother to start her beauty spa.
But perhaps things were different when you were fae nobility.
“All right,” Max said slowly. “I… I’ve heard your explanation for leaving.” And as little as I want to admit it right now, it all makes sense. “But this… this. That guy over there. Kidnapping me, and trying to harm my mate. What was all that about? And why did you come back now?”
“Ah.” His father nodded again. “That… is a more difficult situation to explain. It has to do with fae politics.”
Max’s head felt like it was spinning. “Fae politics? But what does that have to do with me?”
“Nothing, really,” his father said. “Except for the powers you have – the ones you inherited from me.”
“But I don’t have any –” Max started, then realized how stupid that would sound, given everything that had happened. “Okay. So I do have powers. But I never knew that until today – I could never… walk on ceilings or float people out of windows or attack them with flying axes.”
“Well, I should very much hope not.” His father sounded very stuffy and ruffled all of a sudden, like a very proper gentleman in a period drama.
“Those are not our powers. Telekinesis is the province of an entirely different fae clan – nothing to do with us. I would never have a bar of any of those things. No. Our clan has the power of mind control.”
Max sucked in a sudden, shocked breath. Mind control?
That sounded scary. And suddenly, he recalled how it had felt when he’d been pinning the other fae to the floor with what he now knew had been his massive lion’s paw, all the while feeling such power, such energy flowing through him – as if he could see into the man’s mind, know his every thought.
He could have used that power to scramble his mind, if he’d chosen to.
Feeling uneasy, Max sent a glance at the body still lying on the floor.
The fae wasn’t dead, but had Max… damaged his mind somehow?
He hadn’t meant to, but the thought chilled him all the same.
He might have threatened to cut off Max’s limbs and send them to Poppy, and have tried to do something to Poppy herself, but he didn’t know how he felt about having scrambled some guy’s brains, even if the guy in question was an asshole.
“He… he mentioned something about stealing my powers – well, Poppy’s powers, since he thought she was the half fae,” Max said slowly. “Is that what this has to do with?”
His father looked grave. “Yes. It has everything to do with that. You see, son, each fae clan has its own particular powers. A magic that, during ancient times, they bound to their own clans and houses. They were closely guarded secrets – no fae house could learn another’s particular magic.
But of course this led to conflict – some houses coveted other houses’ magic and powers, and of course, the more powerful the magic, the more powerful the clan.
So we all began competing with each other for more and more power, which led to more and more secrecy.
Until one day, a new spell was invented – one that obviated the need to learn another clan’s magic, in the event they could even break through the wards that protected our artifacts and spellbooks. It allowed a fae to simply steal it.”
“You mean… steal it right out of their heads?” Poppy asked, leaning forward, her eyes wide.
Max glanced at her. She’d been quiet, but she seemed to be listening intently, taking everything in stride – or as much in stride as she could. Maybe it would all sink in later – Max had a feeling that was how it would be for him. But for now, he had to keep himself together in order to listen.
“You are completely correct,” his father said.
“With just a touch, the spell allows a fae to simply suck all the knowledge out of someone else’s head.
Of course, it was made illegal immediately – one of the few crimes fae can still be sentenced to death for.
But of course, some are still willing to risk it. ”
“But… does the knowledge they stole… does it… will I…” Poppy’s voice was trembling, and Max suddenly realized why.
New fury burst through him. If that fae had stolen some of Poppy’s knowledge – her memories, her training, anything that was hers, he was going to turn back into a manticore and tear him to pieces with his teeth and claws.
“No – nothing like that,” his father said quickly. “He might have taken something of your knowledge for himself, but it was not erased from your own mind. The spell isn’t that powerful. It can only copy – it cannot erase.”
As Max watched, Poppy closed her eyes, sagging a little in relief. “That’s good. Because I’m going to need to remember how to use QuickBooks if I ever want to get another job.”
“Well, quite,” his father said after a slight pause. “I’m sure that’s very important. Whatever it is.”
Max would have rolled his eyes, but he was a little distracted at that exact moment – he was suddenly overwhelmed by a feeling of relief.
Of course, he would be feeling relieved at a moment like this – but, strangely enough, he felt as if the relief were coming from somewhere outside of himself, as if – as if –
That’s the mate bond, his manticore, which had been quiet until now, as if it too were listening intently to what his father had to say, interjected suddenly, and Max could virtually hear the unspoken you dullard tacked on to the end of it.
Hey, I’m new at this, he defended himself – and he really was, but the idea of being able to sense Poppy’s strong emotions was something he wasn’t opposed to.
It wasn’t as if he could read her mind or anything like that…
it was more a sense that he was connected to her, that what she felt, he could share in.
Love, happiness, joy, sorrow, sadness – they would experience them all, together.
I wonder if it feels the same way for her, he thought, feeling a little dazed. He didn’t know, but as soon as he had all the answers he thought he deserved and they could get out of this cabin, he couldn’t wait to find out.
She truly was my mate after all. We just didn’t know it. But I already knew that she was the most perfect woman I’d ever met. The only one I’d ever want to spend my life with.
But he knew that he’d have to wait to explore this newfound bond between them until later. Right now, he still needed to finish this conversation with his father.
“All right,” he said a little grudgingly – as little as he liked it, and as long as it would take for him to overcome his mixed feelings of confusion, love and betrayal toward his father, Max guessed ‘the lives of everyone I loved were being threatened by fae nobility’ was a better excuse than ‘I went out to get milk one day and forgot to come home’ in terms of disappearing out of his life.
“But then… why did you appear here? Now? What made you suddenly decide to come back at this moment?”
He suspected he knew the answer, but he didn’t want to make any assumptions. And he wanted to hear his father say it himself.
In the end, his father didn’t hesitate, not even for a moment.
“Because I sensed you were in grave danger,” he said, leaning forward, his eyes intense.
“I had never sensed such a thing before – your powers suddenly awakening in response to fear and danger. I knew I had to come back, no matter how much trouble it may cause me in the fae realm. I knew at once what must have happened, and I was determined you wouldn’t suffer such a thing on my account. ”
“Your account?” Max asked. “What do you have to do with it? With what that man tried to do?”
“Half fae are not exactly rare,” his father explained, looking a little sheepish. “As I said, most fae don’t see humans as anything more than passing amusements. I’m sure you can see what I’m implying here.”
“Yeah,” Poppy broke in, her eyes hard. “You mean there’s a lot of deadbeat fae dads out there with half fae kids they don’t care even a little bit about.”
“The rules have changed now, quite a bit,” Max’s father protested, a little weakly. “Now, we strictly prohibit such things. It was causing far too many problems.”
Max raised an eyebrow. “Problems? You mean problems like me?”
“Oh no, not at all!” His father shook his head vehemently.
“As I said, I wanted to stay with you and your mother. But, looking at it in another way – yes. You have seen some of those problems first-hand today. You see – half fae children do sometimes inherit the magical abilities of their fae parent. This means that those magical abilities can be stolen by unscrupulous fellows such as this one here.” He nodded to the unconscious man in the corner.
“A full fae living in the fae realm could defend themselves from such an attack – and even if they couldn’t, such a crime would be very difficult to cover up.
But a half fae child – or adult – living here, outside of the realm of fae justice… ”
“No one would ever have known – or probably cared – what he’d done to me or Poppy,” Max finished for him. “Unless he used the mind control powers which he shouldn’t have had on another fae.”
“You see the problem perfectly,” his father said, nodding. “The more half fae children around…”