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CHAPTER TWELVE

Ryker

Sitting at a table that could seat forty with my father and his fiancée was about as much fun as shoving hot pokers under my nails. However, after he dropped the bombshell news that he’d already convinced this woman to marry him, I couldn’t walk away.

I wasn’t the only one who’d kept secrets and snuck around. I had to see this uncomfortable shit show through to the end.

It was rare when I sat at a table with my father without it being a large event. Once I was old enough to escape him, I never dined with him again.

As a child, he would sometimes have me join him when he was bored and looking to tear me apart in some new way that didn’t involve slicing my flesh from me. Throughout the evening, I would sit stiffly while trying to do everything right.

I couldn’t do anything right, as he picked apart how I held my silverware, how I sat, making too much noise, breathing too loudly, or any other infractions he couldn’t tolerate. I hated every second of those dinners.

This one was no different, except he wasn’t nitpicking my every move and was instead fawning over his newest victim. Brianna batted her lashes, caressed his hand, and smiled as their heads bent close together.

They behaved like a couple in love, but something about their bodies belied their act. While I knew nothing about Brianna or her smile, it didn’t reach her eyes.

They didn’t soften the way Ellery’s did when she gazed at me… when she wasn’t pissed off at me, at least. But Brianna wasn’t Ellery; maybe this was just how she was.

While she had her father’s eyes, they didn’t have the twinkle Leo’s always had. Instead, there was something distant and detached about them; it was as if she was here, playing her role, but her mind was elsewhere.

I wasn’t sure she was buying my father’s act as much as he believed, but why would she agree to marry him?

My eyes traveled over the massive room with its rich tapestries on the wall, priceless artwork on pedestals in the corners, and golden goblets as my father’s words returned to me… “What woman would turn down all this wealth, a palace, and power, especially when she has nothing?”

Was that why Brianna agreed to be his bride? I couldn’t imagine choosing to bind myself to anyone I didn’t love for eternity, but I didn’t know her life.

The growing colors spreading across the swirling gray and white marble floor as the sunset drew my attention to the reddening sky. While I was interested in their show, I had to leave to meet Ellery soon. Unfortunately, my father had decided tonight would be a ten-course extravaganza.

“So, Brianna.” I pushed my plate away, lifted my goblet, and sipped the cartha within. “You’re from the Gloaming.”

When her attention shifted to me, she straightened away from my father and smiled. “I am, and please, call me Bria. We are to be family.”

I bit back a laugh. “So I’m told.”

My father kissed her knuckles, and they smiled at each other again. I barely kept myself from sneering as I set my goblet down.

“I’m sorry to hear about the damage the Gloaming sustained from the Lord and his dragons.”

She bowed her head a little. “It was a great loss, but King Colburn is rebuilding the realm, so many dark fae are starting to return, and under our queen’s rule, we don’t have to fear the dragons. It will take time, but I’m sure the Gloaming will be more beautiful than before.”

“Do you plan to return to the Gloaming?”