Gabe glanced at Syney and Adam, who had yet to say a word to each other the whole ride. He needed Syney to motion for nonroyal and royal joinings. The High Priestess had seen the two around enough—Adam had seen to that—so once the law was abolished, the joining should be announced very quickly. The only thing he worried about was that she wouldn’t get some votes for taking the throne because Adam wasn’t royal. Some of the more uptight council members might not be thrilled with a nonroyal-born king, although it was something Gabe would like to see. Adam had been through more than one person should ever have to, and the kid deserved some good fortune. Although Adam being nonroyal was not as bad as him being half Vampire, and Syney being half Daemon even. But no one needed to know that, not unitl they were able to reunite the great races. And if anyone did find out—that thought worried Gabe.
“You’re thinking too much. Those wrinkles on your forehead are going to become permanent,” Noelle said, her mouth close to his ear.
Gabe laughed. “Not if they haven’t already. I promise.”
She sighed. “Don’t worry about them. She loves him.”
“I’m not worried.”
“Yes, you are.”
“You’re right. I am. But not about them. We need Syney to take the throne. I’ve been coming up with ideas but nothing too solid. Faye says we shouldn’t rely on the council’s votes. They don’t have any loyalties to Mellisandrianna or Syney.”
He felt her stiffen. “Faye says?”
Gabe cringed. This is why he didn’t like to get comfortable with people. Now his secret place with his dead wife wouldn’t be so secret anymore. “Yes.”
“She is dead, you know, right?”
“I do. But I still talk to her.”
“Oh. OK,” she said slowly.
“It’s not what you think.”
“I don’t think anything, really.”
“I’m not crazy.”
“Sure you’re not.”
Gabe stopped the horse and let the others get a bit ahead of them before pulling a large red-jeweled amulet out of his pocket.
“That’s…the Blocadrian head-of-house amulet.”
Gabe nodded. “When they came to kill her and everyone else who was in the estate at the time, she must have known something was happening. She did something to this. When I picked it up, I was on the edge of a lake near the Vampire city of Landanbrough. It was our favorite place to go together. And Faye was there. She knew everything that had happened, even things I didn’t know, which meant it wasn’t my subconscious. Somehow she’s in here.” He ran his thumb over the large red gemstone in the center.
“Can only you go there?”
He frowned. “I don’t know. I’ve never told anyone about this.”
“Maybe we could try together? I’d like to meet her.”
The thought of both women—so different in looks and personality—being together made him smile. “That would be nice. She likes you.”
Noelle laughed. “That’s just weird.”
“Maybe tonight,” he said quietly.
She put her chin on his shoulder. “Maybe. Hey, look, you and I should catch up.”
He nodded and kicked the horse into a quick trot. As much as the idea of the two women he loved meeting each other fascinated him, he wasn’t sure he wanted to give up his secret place with Faye. He thought he had moved on, but now, after talking about this with Noelle, he realized he still wasn’t over his dead wife. That could be a problem.
He hadn’t been this nervous when Amelia had gone into labor. Back then he knew everything would be OK, but it wasn’t. Now he had a feeling everything would turn out badly, and there was nothing he could do about it. The Realm and the people in it had changed so much over the past hundred years. They were both harder and more suspicious. And as much as Gabriel assured him that Syney wasn’t like that, she had a lot to be angry and suspicious about. He had control over his subjects, but some were very upset and hurt about what had happened to them for so many years and had taken matters into their own hands. Unfortunately Syney had been the victim of one of their attacks. That wasn’t something she could just brush away, he knew, but there also wasn’t much he could do about it. Then there was the fact that no one knew about him and Amelia. Sure, Gabriel did, but Hadrian wasn’t sure how much of an advisor he had been to his daughter. She may believe him, and she may not. He just had to be convincing.
Hadrian was most anxious about whether his daughter would like him. It seemed childish, but when your child grows up not knowing you, the innate love they have for their parents, for raising them with love, isn’t there. The thought that his own flesh and blood may not like him was a scary thought. Amelia always told him he got too anxious about things he couldn’t help. God, he missed her. He closed his eyes and pictured her. His anxiety settled down slightly, only to be raised again as Becca walked into the front sitting room. He looked over her tall, thin frame and wondered why a Magic User would be living out in the Human Realm. Gabriel had told him that Becca’s family was one of the first to leave the village after the war started. It made sense for some to leave and Hadrian had accepted the fact. Not for the first time, Hadrian found himself finding Becca’s long, wavy dirty blond hair attractive but he shook off the feeling. It may have been a hundred years since Amelia died but it still felt like only months ago to him.
“They’re almost here,” she said with a smile.
Hadrian nodded and stood up from the flowery couch.
“You seem nervous,” Becca said.
He shook his head. “Not at all,” he lied, smoothing out his black suit. He hoped the black color didn’t bring his black eyes out too much. He preferred to dress in a sophisticated manner and rarely did one find him in anything but custom suits and formal wear. He had lost most of his belongings when the Daemons were put to sleep, but Gabriel held some of them in storage. The man had thought just about everything through; Hadrian had to give him credit for that.
“She’s absolutely lovely. You should be proud of her.”
Hadrian looked at Becca and took some breaths. He didn’t know what to say. He was proud of Syney for even surviving for as long as she had. But what did he really have to do with any of that? He had held her only once after she was born, not by any choice of his own. It was a difficult time, what with the attacks and unexpected deaths. He had to leave so soon after she was born and only was able to see her once more before her mother was killed and before Syney disappeared. Amelia had shared with him a plan to send her away, but there wasn’t a specific spell for something of that magnitude, and as powerful as Amelia was, even Hadrian doubted her ability to create her own spell. He should have known not to doubt her; she always accomplished what she set her mind to.
He opened his mouth but was saved by the front door opening. Gabriel walked in alone and entered the sitting room. He gave Becca a kiss on the cheek and took Hadrian’s outstretched hand.
“How are you?” Gabriel asked.
“Fine. Where is she?”
Gabriel laughed. “Patience, my friend.”
Hadrian stared at him, knowing his almost totally black eyes were extremely unnerving to those on the receiving end of the stare.
Gabriel shook his head. “Don’t try to intimidate me, Had. You know it never works. She’s outside. I wanted to come in first.”
“Why? What’s wrong? This is an earlier time table than we discussed for our first meeting.”
He frowned. “I had to accelerate the plan. Some things came up, and I had to let Syney in on the plan…and her biological connection to you.”
Hadrian felt his temper rise. “We agreed that I would tell her.”
“I know. But like I said, things came up, and it had to be revealed,” Gabriel said in his calming voice. “If I hadn’t told her, she would have cut me out of her life. I couldn’t have that. Not if we’re going to succeed.”
With everything in him, Hadrian pushed back his anger. Gabriel didn’t do anything lightly w
hen it came to the plan to bring the Realm back to its glory. Plus, Hadrian trusted the Vampire. He finally nodded. “All right.”
“Syney’s also a little pissed off, so she might not open up to you right away. We planned to be away from the Village for a few days, so don’t expect to get very far today.”
“Just bring her in,” Hadrian said sternly.
Gabriel rolled his eyes and turned back toward the door. “Maybe some tea, Becca?” he called over his shoulder.
The blond woman nodded and hurried to the back of the house.
Hadrian wasn’t expecting this many people but was able to pick out Syney quickly. It was as if Amelia were there, standing in front of him, only with his grandmother’s wavy auburn hair. She was breathtaking. She was around the same age as Amelia had been when Syney was born, maybe a little younger. Hardrian was full aware for the first time since being back that he hadn’t aged in over a hundred years. He knew this fact, of course, but it felt odd to look only a few years older than his daughter. He wasn’t sure he was a fan of her black leather pants and sleeveless shirt, however. The feelings of a protective father almost made him smile. It felt good to want to tell her go on upstairs and change right now. Amelia always had told him he was going to beat away admirers from his baby girl. “Overprotective Papa,” she had said with a giggle.
He looked at the others who accompanied his daughter. He had met Adam once since being back from exile. They’d talked about olden times over beer in an old pub in Bolchin. He had liked the young man almost instantly. The young wolf gave away his position as Syney’s Protector almost immediately as he scanned the room then gave Hadrian a once-over as well. He was thorough, which pleased Hadrian. He needed his daughter protected, and he couldn’t do it himself. The blond Magic User was interesting, especially as she ran a hand down Gabriel’s arm, intertwining their hands. Hadrian thought his friend never would get over Faye but was glad to see how wrong he was.
Gabe tilted his head, motioning for the others to follow him to the back of the house. The wolf was the last to leave and only did so when Syney gave him a nod of approval. Even then he gave Hadrian one last very hard look as he left the room. Syney slowly walked into the sitting room and sat on one of the winged armchairs. She placed her hands in her lap and avoided looking up at him at all. Hadrian felt his heart break a little. He didn’t expect much, but this was almost painful. He sat on the couch perpendicular to her, not too close but not too far either.
“I would say it’s nice to meet you, but we’ve met before. Just a very long time ago. And you were much, much smaller,” Hadrian said, giving her a smile. Not that she noticed. Her eyes darted everywhere around the room, except to him. “I guess you want to know about your mother.”
“Not really,” she said quietly.
That surprised him. “Are you sure?”
She nodded. “Pretty sure.” She took a deep breath and finally looked at him. “Gabe said you would know how the war started, who started it, who’s to blame, and so on.”
Hadrian sat back. She used her violet eyes just like Amelia had. When his beloved was angry, she could use them as weapons; their innate beauty became unnerving. But not to him. He had grown used to it. He had learned a few things about Magic User women, one being they hid their vulnerability well. Syney was scared, but there was no way she would let him know it. “Maybe.”
She stared at him for a moment. “You’re seriously going to hold out on me?”
“No.”
“Then start talking.”
“Not until we get to know each other.”
She opened her mouth and looked away from him. “I don’t really want to get to know you, if you want to know the truth. You scare the hell out of me, and I’m not so convinced you’re my father. And even if you are,” she paused, “you’d better have a damn good reason for why my mother died and you’re still here.” She looked back at him, tears filling her eyes.
Maybe Gabe was right. She wasn’t a typical Magic User. “Because she wanted it that way,” he said. “I tried to stop her, but she knew that if I were with her, they would kill me too. Your mother was the bravest woman I’d ever met. She died to save you.”
“So I’m the reason she’s dead.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Yes, you did. I guess Daemons don’t listen well, even to themselves,” she spat.
Hadrian sighed. “They were tracking any magic around the Realm. She needed to use magic to find out the truth about what was going on in the Village. She chose to find out anything she could, to help you and the Realm, and give up her position.”
“Why would they kill her? And who are ‘they’ anyway?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Uncomplicate it.”
Hadrian’s temper had been rising more and more as they talked, and he could no longer hold it back. “Would you just stop for a moment and acknowledge the fact that you’re finally meeting your father! There’s more to all this than just the damn war! I want to know you, not some damn Chosen One! Because you’re my daughter, damn it!”
Syney jumped to her feet. “I already have a father, thank you very much! He raised me and taught me right from wrong. He was an amazing dad, and he died because of all this crap! So, no, there isn’t much beyond this damn war, because it’s taken so much from me and the people I love, and I just want to stomp it out!” she yelled before heading out of the room.
After a moment Gabriel walked in and took the seat Syney had abandoned. “She hates me,” Hadrian said, deflated.
“Yes, she does.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Thanks for the encouragement.”
Gabriel laughed. “You’re Hadrian, the Daemon king who seduced Queen Amelia, whom if I’m not mistaken was in love with someone else at the time. You don’t need encouragement.”
“She wasn’t in love with him.”
“Yes, she was.” Gabriel looked at him. “I told you nothing was going to get accomplished today. Let her get some sleep. We’ll try in the morning.”
“I don’t know how to get to her,” Hadrian admitted, although it almost killed him to do so.
“Just tell her what she wants to know. Once she trusts you, she’ll want to know more personal things.”
Hadrian nodded. He looked over as the others walked down the hall, heading for the staircase. He knew he should take Gabriel’s advice and just let things settle, but he needed to prod her a little. He couldn’t let there be any chance that she might not want to talk to him at all. “Syney!” he called out.
She stopped and looked at him.
“Syney was my grandmother’s name,” he said. “I wanted you to have an ‘A’ name, like the rest of your line, but Amelia said she wanted part of me with you, always. So we named you Syney Ashling. ‘Ashling’ means ‘vision,’ like the one she had when she had you.” He was well aware that everyone’s eyes were on him, but he didn’t care. He wanted to give her some proof that she was his.
Syney looked away from him and headed up the stairs.
He felt Gabriel’s hand on his shoulder. “I’ll work on her tonight. Or Noelle will. She’ll listen to her.”
Hadrian nodded. “I hope so.” He gave Gabriel a smirk. “She’s pretty.”
“Looks just like Amelia.”
“I wasn’t talking about Syney.”
Gabriel dropped his hand and looked away with a grin. “Yes, she is. And part Shifter too.”
“Interesting.”
“Yes, she is,” Gabriel said, walking away. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Good night.” Hadrian sighed and headed to the back of the house. He found Becca in the kitchen, pouring herself a cup of tea. “Got anything stronger?”
She laughed and grabbed a bottle of red wine from a shelf. She put it on the table along with a glass. “Girls are temperamental, or at least that’s what my mother always said.”
Hadrian poured a glass and took one large gulp. “I don’t know. I just ho
pe too much time hasn’t passed.”
Becca shook her head. “No, she’s just…unsettled about all this. She’s very open-minded. I wish she had brought her other wolf, though. He helped her sort things through.”
“Sounds like Amelia’s wolf. He was a pain in the ass to everyone but her.”
She laughed and sipped her tea. “Hunter was very possessive. I will say that. Plus he loved her in a way a Protector shouldn’t. I was more than surprised when he didn’t come.”
Hadrian stared at her. “Hunter?”
She nodded and drank her tea.
Hadrian downed the rest of the glass and poured another. Damn wolves. He shook the thought off and grabbed a pad of paper from the table. He asked Becca for a pen and started to write things down. If Syney wanted to know about the damn war, he would give her everything he knew. He wrote for half the night, ending with the highlights of his relationship with Amelia. He was going to force her into her it if he had to.
Adam looked at the open bedroom door behind him before answering Gabe’s question. “I just wasn’t sure I wanted to be stuck with you people for three whole days.”
Deviation: Altera Realm Trilogy Book 2 Page 15