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Fiona looked between us and saw the reality of my angry discomfort. She stepped in front of her father to halt his advance. I’d never practiced aggressive magick in front of my daughter because her power hadn’t bloomed fully when I last lived with her full-time. I hadn’t wanted her to feel less powerful because of what I could do, but Jack was pushing me beyond all those noble promises I’d made to myself.

Judging from the determination in Jack’s eyes, a confrontation was going to be unavoidable. Despite the boundaries I set about our child, he was mistaken if he thought I wouldn’t retaliate against his high-handedness. I had far fewer scruples these days.

I stared at my ex-husband. “What do ya want, Jack? Why are ya here?”

“I’m here to relieve Rasmus of his shadowing responsibilities. I came to help you find the portal.”

I looked at my daughter. “Yer father and I are about to have an adult discussion about what the wordnomeans. Are ya wanting to be part of it? Or would ya prefer to drive yer grandmother back to her hotel and swim in the pool there for the rest of the day? I’ll catch up with ya both later.”

Fiona turned and attacked me with a hug. “I love you, Mom. Please don’t hurt Daddy.” She patted her father’s shoulder. “You look better without all that gray hair. Don’t forget to thank Mom for fixing you. Bye, Daddy. I told you it was too soon.”

“Fiona, stay. No one’s going to be fighting. Your mother and I are going to talk. That’s all,” Jack called out behind her.

I snorted in disgust. “Divorced couples aren’t supposed to talk to each other, Jack. That’s the point of getting a divorce.”

“I’m packing a bag and staying with Gigi until Mom gets done with her task. Love you!” Fiona turned a bright smile in her grandmother’s direction. “Come on, Gigi. We need to swing by the house so I can pick up my swimsuit.”

But Bridget O’Malley wasn’t leaving just yet. Oh no, she was fuming and waiting for her chance to give Jack a long-overdue piece of her mind.

I held up my hand and shook my head to discourage her, but I knew that would not help matters. She wasn’t only mad at him for what he did to me. She was mad at him because he betrayed Da, who had once liked him.

Ma leaned as close to Jack as she could get. “If ya even so much astryto touch my daughter after being with all those skanks ya replaced her with, I’m going to send the vilest creature I can call from the Underdark to chew off yer arms all the way to the elbows. Ya’re the worst husband a woman could ever have chosen and Aran is well shed of ya. Be grateful for Fiona because she’s yer one saving grace.”

Fiona grabbed her Gigi’s arm and tugged. “Come on, Gigi. Mom will deal with this in her own way. It’s between them.”

Ma let Fiona lead her off, but she was grumbling something about a curse under her breath. I blew out a breath of my own when Ma and Fiona disappeared. The dining room was filling up with normal folks, so I walked back to the table where my now cold breakfast sat congealing.

Before I could sit, though, I saw the check for my meal and Rasmus’s was already signed. I looked up at him. “Ya knew Jack was coming this morning, didn’t ya?”

Rasmus shrugged and looked at Jack who was standing behind me. They gave me no choice except to deal with their duplicity.

“Do ya remember what I said, Rasmus? Do you remember my threat about what I would do if ya betrayed me?”

“Rasmus is not in charge, Aran.I am,” Jack declared from behind me.

I turned and looked at Jack. “Even yer voice irritates me, Jack. Next time ya speak to me, oink like the pig ya are. Ya don’t deserve to talk like a human.”

Jack laughed at my statement. Then he opened his mouth.“Oink, oink, oink, oink, oink...”He grabbed his throat with one hand and made a grab for me with the other.

I stepped out of his reach and glared at him. “Oh, no. Stay where ya are, deceiver.”

“Oink, oink. Oink, oink, oink, oink...”Jack said more quietly, trying to walk toward me and finding he couldn’t.

“Stop throwing your power around. You’re being childish,” Rasmus said.

My gaze narrowed on my most recent betrayer. “Would ya rather I turn Jack into an actual rutting animal? Even his daughter knows that’s what he is.”

“Undo what you did to Jack.”

“Or what, traitor? What will ya do to me for resisting yer manipulative ways?” I asked, crossing my arms while I waited to hear.

Acting true to what I was coming to think of as his default setting, Rasmus pulled a stun gun into his lap and pointed it at me. The table barely hid it. My arms unwound to drop listlessly at my sides. I was so tired of dealing with this crap.

“I should have guessed it would come to this. The two of ya have manipulated everything to get yer way.” I pointed at Jack while staring at Rasmus. “I’m not going anywhere with that man and ya can’t make me. Yer kind needs to deal with that fact before I get really mad and do something to the whole lying lot of ya.”

“And you need to calm down and listen for once instead of ranting simply because you’re not in control.”

Glancing around to make sure no one was watching too closely, Rasmus lifted his gun and pulled the trigger. Instead of the electrical wire he expected it to shoot out and take me down, the barrel released a small burst of purple smoke.