Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

Ryker

I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the woman my father had called Brianna. How is she Leo’s daughter? What is going on here?

I didn’t have answers to those questions, but I suspected I’d get some of them and have a lot more questions before the night ended. The problem was I didn’t have time for this bullshit.

I had enough shit going on and had to see Ellery soon so I could talk to her. I had no idea what was going through her head since she’d woken to discover me gone; I suspected none of it was good.

Time felt like it was rapidly slipping past, but I didn’t know what time it was. It was late morning when I discovered her gone from the tree house, and I’d stayed outside her manor for a while.

It felt like I’d been trapped in my father’s private solar for hours, but it was thirty minutes at most. Every interaction I had with him felt like it took days when it was far shorter.

No windows graced this room, and I couldn’t see the clock behind me. I had to straighten things out with Ellery, but I couldn’t walk away from this .

Finally, I looked from the stunning woman to my father, who stood beside her, smiling in the smug way that always made me itch to smash in his face. Taking the woman’s hand, my father held my gaze as he lifted it to kiss the back of it.

“Brianna, why don’t you return to what you were doing, and we’ll see you at supper,” my father said. “I have some things to discuss with my son.”

Brianna bowed her head before her brown eyes met mine from under her black, curling lashes. She smiled coyly before turning away.

Her rounded hips swayed as she strolled across the room to the door. The navy-colored, silken dress she wore shifted around her ankles, and her black hair tumbled down her shoulders.

Her hair color and how she moved reminded me of the dark fae. I suspected at least part of her blood was one of those creatures. And if my suspicion about her was correct, then at least half her blood was amsirah .

When she slipped from the room, a servant closed the door behind her. I felt my father’s eyes boring into me as he practically salivated while waiting for my response.

I didn’t want to give him the reaction he sought, but I had to say something. Unfortunately, my mind had taken a vacation, and I had no idea how to respond to the gloating bastard across from me.

“She’s a beautiful woman,” I remarked.

When a muscle jumped in his cheek, I knew that wasn’t the response he sought. “She is.”

“Where did you meet her?”

My father clasped his hands behind his back and rocked on his heels. “After the Gloaming was devastated by the dragon attack the Lord unleashed on it, many of the dark fae scattered to other realms. I was fortunate enough to meet her while traveling .”

I gritted my teeth against letting him goad me into the reaction he sought from his words. Instead, I kept my face impassive while inwardly seething over his little reminder that he could freely travel the realms while he’d ensured I remained trapped here with most of the other amsirah.

“How fortunate for you,” I muttered.

And how unfortunate for her.

The feeling that something was wrong about all this tugged at me. An infinite number of realms existed; what were the chances he’d accidentally stumbled across this woman while traveling ?

How could he have known about her existence when I hadn’t? Leo was my king and leader, but he was also a father figure and a man I’d come to consider my best friend.

If he was going to tell anyone about the existence of a daughter, it would have been me . Wouldn’t it?

I hated the question and doubt accompanying it as soon as it crossed my mind. However, Ellery’s deception about the Hooded Robber had taught me that I didn’t always know others as well as I believed.

He might have known about her and not told me. The idea of him keeping something this big from me never would have crossed my mind before meeting this woman, but it was possible. It was also possible he hadn’t known she existed.

“She’s part dark fae,” I murmured.

“Half dark fae and half amsirah royalty .”

My stomach churned at his emphasis on the word royalty. Apparently, he had decided to stop playing games, which was often worse than his manipulation and deceit.

I had no idea what he planned for this woman, but it wasn’t good.