“Dacia, Minx, don’t cry. He’ll help.” The sight of her tears tore him apart. “I’ll be fine.”
He tried to collect his thoughts, but all he could recall was sucking the fire into himself to limit the damage… then nothing.
Dacia looked over briefly. “Why were you there?” Her attention switched to the exit she pulled onto.
His sigh sounded airy. “We went to Dane’s to see if Remus had contacted him. Didn’t expect to find him there. He blew the place up. Please tell me Robert got your brother out of there and he’s okay?”
She nodded. “Seems to be. I was more concerned with you. It took me a minute to figure out what happened.”
“Please explain, because I’m not sure what transpired after I tried to control the damage.”
“Your body is split up into whatever particles make smoke. I trapped you in a shield so I could get you to someone who can help you find your shape again. The first time can be hard—first few times even. But the first time is the worst.”
“This happened to you?” He wasn’t sure if that was comforting or not.
She nodded. “Air is different. Can’t see all the bits, so unless the person helping is experienced, some air fae never find themselves again. At least my father taught me one useful thing.” She snorted. “I can’t believe he tried to kill you, and my brother. I want to flay him alive with those damned daggers he had me enchant.”
Preston couldn’t help laughing but it sounded wrong. “I’ll gladly help you, Minx.”
Her smile turned evil. “I may need it.” Her eyes slid over for a moment before she pulled the car to a stop on the side of the road. “Is there a reason I shouldn’t tell Toryn you’re his son?”
“Honestly? I’m not sure anymore. My mother made it so I couldn’t tell anyone, but she released me from that spell yesterday. She didn’t tell me the whole story, but I believe most of her concerns are no longer a problem.”
“To sort this out, he may need to know.”
“I’m not sure how he’ll take it.”
Shutting down her car, she grabbed the barrier he was in. “We’re here. He better help or I may go ballistic. I can’t lose you, Preston.”
He wanted to smile at her fierce attitude, but couldn’t. There were stories about fire fae bursting into smoke. He knew some burned up and died. But this seemed different, whatever it was.
* * * *
Toryn looked out the window as a shiny new silver Aventador LP 700-4 Roadster pulled up and parked. No one got out. It was a car he admired, but had never seen in person.
Isa came up beside him. “It’s Preston and Dacia. But Preston was here yesterday.” She shook her head, staring out the window.
“Why do you think Preston is with her? He drives the same car I do, and I don’t see another person with Dacia.”
She swallowed hard and turned toward him. “Um, is there any chance you were ever with a mage? I mean… it’s the only thing I can think of.”
“Sure, but why?”
“Remember how I feel family members nearby?”
He nodded slowly.
“Well, every time Preston comes near, I feel his presence. Sort of like when I feel your mother. It’s faint, like her, but the only explanation I have is I’m feeling your relatives through our bond.”
He pushed his fingers through his hair as he squinched his eyes shut. “That was ninety… shit… oh shit.” His eyes rounded. “How could I not realize?”
“Hell if I know. I kept wondering when he showed up last night. He could be your brother.”
Toryn looked outside. He watched Dacia climb out of the car with a ball of swirling black smoke. “Shit… Isa, I didn’t know… Priscilla never told me.”
She caressed his face, pulling his gaze to hers. “What would have happened to a mage who was half-fae in the Silver Council?”
“He wouldn’t have been Silver Council. They would never have trusted him enough to let him stay.”
“Maybe she was protecting him.”
“You aren’t upset I may have a… a kid?”
She laughed softly and gave him a quick kiss. “Reliable contraception hasn’t been around for very long. It wouldn’t surprise me if there were more. At least this one is well past diapers.”
She walked to the door while Toryn tried to sort out his thoughts.
* * * *
Dacia’s heart pounded in her chest as she walked up the path to the front door. She didn’t know what to expect.
Toryn and Isa seemed to be genuinely good people, and she was only starting to appreciate that quality though she’d been around a lot of it in Edenton. Between her mother’s questionable choice in men and her father’s jacked up views on everything, she had come to the conclusion she wanted to be better than both of them.
Isa opened the door wide with a shaky smile. “Come in.”
“Thank you,” Dacia offered weakly. “I hate bothering you without warning, but I wasn’t sure where else to go.”
Looking at the spell shield in Dacia’s hands, Isa’s brow arched. “Why is Preston trapped in a sphere of smoke?”
“That’s the problem. He’s never dispersed before, and I didn’t know what to do or who to bring him to. Fire is different than air. I wasn’t sure if what helps me would help him.”
Turning to Toryn, she found real concern etched into his features, his eyes locked on the orb.
Swallowing down the lump of fear, she blurted out, “He’s your son. His mother didn’t want anyone to know. I get that. It’s why hardly anyone knew who my father was, until recently.”
Toryn stepped forward, reaching a hand out, pointing at the sphere. “Why is he in there?”
She swallowed hard, hoping her logic made sense. “He didn’t know what to do. Was disoriented. I needed to drive, so I… uh… gathered him up and did this to keep track of all of him.” She winced at how that sounded, but it was all she had. “Yeah, it probably wasn’t the best idea, but I liked the thought of trapping him in a soul prison even less. I wanted to be able to talk to him if he responded.”
Toryn paled and his chest heaved with a heavy breath. “Has he?”
She nodded. “Yes. Can you help him? Please. I can’t… really can’t lose him. He’s—he’s my mate.” She let out a tight laugh and rambled on, “Happened after the party, but he finally convinced me his interest was sincere. I’m not sure I’m good enough for him, but I’m going to do everything I can to be.”
Toryn caught her face in his hands and dried her tears with his thumbs. He gave her a sad smile. “I’ll help. You need to release him. Okay?”
Dacia spread her hands and whispered the spell to remove the shield.
A gasp and a curse filled the air as smoke swirled around the room, expanding to fill the space. Dacia could feel Preston’s panic.
“Shh, calm yourself,” she whispered. “You’ll be fine if you listen to Toryn’s directions.”
Toryn stepped back and took a breath. He calmly instructed, “Preston, I need you to center yourself in front of Dacia. Simply imagine you’re standing in front of her.”
“Okay,” his voice filled the air, his nervousness clear.
The smoke swirled into a column directly in front of her.
“You can do this,” she encouraged.
The smoke started to take the shape of a man, not solid, but he would get there if he kept focus.
“There you go,” Toryn praised. “Now concentrate on your body. The way it feels in your skin.”
After a moment and a frustrated growl, Preston all but demanded, “How?”
“Hmm, imagine the way it feels to reach out and touch Dacia’s cheek, the feel of her body against yours. Think about the way she feels in your arms, and that will help you find your form.”
There was an intake of breath, and then the smoke started to solidify, forming the man she was quickly falling for. He reached out to caress her face, closing the distance as he took his shape.
“Thank you,
” Preston whispered against her ear. “I needed to feel you.” He pressed a kiss to her temple before turning to his father. “Thank you.”
“C-can we talk?” Toryn asked, seemingly torn.
* * * *
Preston stared into his father’s eyes. The secret was finally out, and he wasn’t sure what Toryn’s expression meant. “Of course.”
Toryn opened his mouth, but paused as his eyes closed a second. “How long have you known?”
Preston scrubbed a hand through his hair. “Since my awakening at sixteen, but…”
“She made it so you couldn’t tell anyone, didn’t she?” The knowledge seemed to hurt Toryn.
Preston nodded. “I’m sorry. I wish things were different, but she never told me the whole story. My awakening provided glimpses of you and her together, and only snippets of your life. I can’t access it all like a full fae.”
He half-laughed. “Your mother is a very brave woman, and strong. She was a legendary Silver Council Enforcer when I knew her. And she helped me save a friend. Without her, I’m not sure Lisanna would have lived.”
Preston couldn’t contain his shock as he blinked.
“Your mother tricked that sick fuck—” his attention shifted to Dacia with a dip of his head, “Sorry, but it’s true.”
Holding up her hand, Dacia nodded grimly. “No need to hold back on my account. I wish with everything I am I had a different father, but I can’t change what is.”
Toryn nodded and continued, “He learned the mage who had been raising questions about his character, and stirring up trouble, was in a cell. Priscilla somehow had managed to keep her iron spikes on her. She drove them through his body, pinning him to the rack, preventing him from dispersing to get away. He was bleeding out when I found him. I wish I’d ended him instead of letting him suffer.”
Preston pressed his hands over his eyes. “Don’t blame you, but really don’t want to think about what she endured.”
“Your mother was still untouched. I cut her free from her bonds, because her magic wouldn’t work while shackled, and magic prevented the locks from being picked. We freed Lisanna after that. I snuck them out of the dungeons, and smuggled them across fae lands. We parted ways once they crossed over to Earth. We were together over the course of our travels.”
“Trust me, I know my mother—her love of men.” Preston shuddered. “Again, I’d rather not think about that in depth. She enjoys sex, but she’s still my mom.”
Toryn grinned. “Sorry. I promise, no details.” He ducked his head toward Isa, but she appeared to be amused by the whole conversation.
She glanced first to Toryn, then Preston with a laugh. “Should I feel weird about the fact my lover’s son is three times my age? Or the fact that his woman is older than me too?”
Preston shook his head, trying to hold back his chuckle. “Yeah, I’m not going to think about that in much detail either.”
Toryn pulled Isa to his side and kissed her temple. “After a while, age is simply a number. What we have is real.”
“Agreed. I was teasing anyway.” Looking up at Toryn, she asked, “How long were you two together?”
He shrugged. “We travelled for two, maybe three, weeks. At first we were too busy taking care of Lisanna, who I was afraid to help the way I normally would after everything Remus did.” Toryn’s gaze shifted away.
Isa winced, and Preston chose not to ask. He knew Lisanna was a nymph, and he knew plenty about how they healed. Considering what Remus was wanted for, Preston could only imagine the amount of abuse she withstood in a fae dungeon.
“Priscilla was a Silver Council Enforcer. I never saw her again. I didn’t know about you. If I had, I would have been there for you as much as I could.” Toryn took in a breath and shrugged. “I’m sorry.”
“Mom had valid worries. She thought you might take me back to Faerie. Or that the Council would find out and I would be kicked out of the enforcer program. By the time I learned, I was already on the path. She had a point. If anyone finds out, they’re still likely to kick me out and Mom and I both become outcasts. They’ll watch us like we’re criminals. It was bad enough when they thought my father was mortal.”
“I never would have taken you away from her. Faerie would have been no different for you. There are ways around people finding out who your father is. Ninety years, and I never had a clue. I wish things were different.”
“It’s not your fault. I don’t blame you. And I wanted to find you when I learned, but my mother made sure I couldn’t tell anyone.”
“The party must have been awkward.” Toryn snorted. He turned to Isa with an arched brow. “But you suspected, didn’t you?”
She nodded. “Besides his tattoos and your eyes, you’re practically twins. How has no one else noticed?”
“Mages and fae don’t tend to mingle much. Too many old grudges.”
Preston nodded. “We tried to wipe out your kind centuries ago… our kind.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “You’ll have to forgive me. Until yesterday morning, I mostly saw myself as mage. Everything has shifted in the last two days.”
Dacia smiled, grabbing his chin to pull his attention to her. “Mating me. Looking for my father. Saving my brother—”
“That last was Robert,” he pointed out.
She shook her head. “Robert may have gotten him out of there, but had you not put a stop to whatever he was doing, that fire could have spread quickly. You saved them. I could kill my father. He’s only concerned with himself. I was like that once.”
“Don’t ever compare yourself. You may have been self-centered but you don’t get off on torturing people. I never want to hear you say that again.”
“Whatever you think, I want him to pay for his crimes,” she answered softly. “I mean it. Every last one of them. He’s done truly horrendous things, and I never want to learn all the details. He’s evil and needs to die.”
Preston took her face in his hands, caressing her cheeks with his thumbs. “He will. Especially for whatever he did to you.”
She shook her head. “Never me, not that. He was cruel, the things he said… but he never touched me like that. My mother would have killed him if she suspected.”
“That he didn’t treat you with the respect and love you deserve earns him extra punishment.”
A smile pulled at her lips. “Remember yesterday morning?”
He grinned. “I do.”
“How you said you weren’t the man I’d choose?”
He nodded, the light dimming in his eyes.
“You are the one.”
His lips grazed over hers. “You’re stuck with me, Minx.”
“No one I want more,” she murmured against his lips.
Isa cleared her throat. “Okay. Now that we have you back, Preston, and we know the truth, what’s the plan?”
Toryn chuckled, shaking his head.
Preston turned back to them. “You stay here, or whatever you need to do. I need to track down Remus. And I honestly don’t believe either of you going after him is a wise move.”
“Preston’s right. My father would expect that,” Dacia told them.
Isa nodded with a thoughtful look in Toryn’s direction. “Agreed, and we’ll stay out of it unless you run into trouble or need help. We have our own family difficulties to deal with right now.”
Toryn slid his hands into his pockets, as he nodded slowly. “You’re right, Isa. Though I truly want to tear the man to shreds.” He gave Dacia an uncomfortable look.
She smiled back, somewhat viciously. “He’s going to pay for trying to take my brother and mate from me.”
Nodding, Toryn promised, “He will.”
“Thank you, Toryn, for helping Preston. I’m not sure what I would have done if I’d lost him.”
Preston rubbed his hand over her arm. “Thank you, Toryn, Isa. I’ll keep you posted.”
“Soon, if it’s not too weird…” Toryn started.
Isa grinned. “Yes. Soon you should both c
ome over. We can all get better acquainted, once everything finally settles down.”
“I’d like that,” Toryn agreed.
Preston smiled. “I would too. Thank you.”
Toryn hugged him, and Isa squeezed his arm. When Toryn pulled back, he said, “Go on. Call me if there is anything you need from us.”
Chapter 13
Back in Dacia’s Lamborghini, Preston turned to her. “I like your taste in cars.” He gave her a grin as his hand traced a line up and down her thigh. “The more I learn about you, the more I want you.”
She gave him a tight smile. “I can say the same for you, but you’re still in deep shit. You scared the fuck out of me. I thought—I thought I’d lost you, and I realized that I definitely do feel something already.”
“I’m sorry. I was trying to keep everyone safe. I’ve never had a problem with fire, but what happened today was different than anything I’ve ever done. It scared me too.”
“At least I still have you. And now, I don’t want to fight what we share.” Her eyes slid closed as she laid her head back against the seat. “I’m still scared to define it.”
“If you can tell me I’m the only one you want, I’ll be happy.”
Her hand closed over his. “You are the only one I want, Preston. My father’s not going to stop though. He’s going to try to split us up.”
A frown pulled at his lips as she looked over. He sighed heavily, pushing his free hand through his hair. “Does he get a say?”
Shaking her head, she squeezed his hand then traced his fingers. “Most certainly not. He doesn’t dictate my life. I refuse to let him destroy the one thing that puts a smile on my face lately.”
“Dacia, I want to give you all the reasons in the world to smile. I want to see the feisty, confident woman hiding under layers of hurt. My goal is to wipe away all the painful memories and replace them with amazing ones.”
Mending Scars Page 10