Page 7

Nika

T he gleam of sun-yellow hair greeted us when we arrived in the field where my father and Dugan met. Dugan’s familiar figure was outlined by radiant light, his front turned toward the bright sun with thousands of flowers sprouting from the earth until they disappeared along the horizon.

This was their special place. I recognized it immediately when Silas gave me the coordinates. Asking me to come to this place was a powerful statement. Dugan’s love for my father hadn’t faded. He hadn’t betrayed him. He still cherished the love they had.

My throat was tight with emotion and tears threatened to fall if I wasn’t careful.

It wasn’t immediately clear what Dugan already knew. Was he aware my father was dead? Had Father told him everything beforehand? Silas said he mentioned that I was a Soul Collector and I’d found my grandmother’s soul, so what else did Dugan know?

After collecting my father’s soul, I didn’t question whether there was a reason Father had involved him, or why he and Silas were already connected.

My parents had gone through great lengths to prepare.

They couldn’t stop fate, but they’d done what they could to give me the best chance at facing mine. Dugan was just another piece of that.

I paused when the man my father loved turned our direction, his soft brown eyes lighting up with relief and happiness at the sight of me. He let loose a breath and brushed back his golden hair so it wasn’t falling into his eyes, then he walked the short distance between us.

“Nika, darling. I’m…” His mouth quivered. “I’m so happy to see you again. I thought the worst when—” He cleared his throat and grabbed hold of my hands. “Well, it doesn’t matter, does it? What matters is that you’re here.”

Next to my father, who’d always reminded me of a dark forest, Dugan was a sunlit field of flowers. Maybe that was the reason this place where the two met was a perfect embodiment of their love. And like many times in the last half year, it felt as if another piece of fate had clicked into place.

Silas stiffened, but he didn’t stop Dugan from touching me. And while he grumbled under his breath about me being so touchy-feely with “unworthy wankers” when I cradled Dugan’s cheek and smiled at him, he didn’t stop that either.

“I’m glad you’re okay too, Dugan.” His pretty smile beamed back at me. It was the most Dugan thing he could ever do. “Or should I call you Trevion?” I teased, and his smile faded. “Which name is the real one?”

“Sassy,” he grumbled. “Dugan, of course. Trevion…well, that was only an identity I assumed with—well, you know.”

“Me?” Silas supplied, sneering.

I ignored the annoyed oaf next to me. “It’s been a while.”

“It has,” he whispered, covering my hand with his. “Much too long, darling.”

It’d been nearly a year since I last saw him. The longest we’d ever gone. He was a Light Fae, so Father met him outside of the Dark Fae Society, but he always found a way to visit. And when my schedule permitted, I’d go along with my father, but it’d been chaotic since we’d last seen each other.

Dugan might look my age, but he was several hundred years old, and he was much thinner than he had been when last I saw him. He used to fill out his clothes better, but now they hung off him, practically swallowing his thinner frame.

“I can’t imagine what you must’ve thought when I didn’t come for you.

When those vile creatures tortured you for information.

You must’ve felt so alone.” He visibly swallowed, closing his eyes.

“When your father sent me that letter before the attack, I thought he’d gone absolutely insane.

I never thought…it’s all a bit surreal, if I’m honest. I never imagined that everything would take place the exact way he’d written it. ”

I giggled, finally dropping my hand. “Imagine how I feel.”

Amusement swam in his gorgeous brown eyes. “At least you haven’t lost your spark. I’d been worried the harsh world might take it from you.” He stole a look at Silas, whose arm had wound around my waist and tucked me in close. “But it seems a few things have changed since last we spoke.”

I glared at Silas, but the brute didn’t step away. He was determined to make a statement. It wasn’t a fight worth having, so I offered Dugan a one-shoulder shrug and moved on. “What was it that Father gave you?”

Dugan seemed to come out of his head and sunk a hand into the messenger bag he’d brought with him.

Pulling out a little worn leather-bound journal from inside, he handed it to me.

“He said you’d understand what was inside.

I’ve never seen a language like it, so I couldn’t possibly know what it all means. Hopefully you do.”

I took the journal and flipped through a few pages. It was in our code, but it wasn’t written by Father. It was written by someone else. And after flipping from front to back and quickly scanning the content, its importance was made perfectly clear.

This journal was authored by both my grandmother and mother, and everything inside of it was meant for me, and me alone.

Several entries spoke directly to me, and I wasn’t sure how.

Not when Grandmother was meant to have died before I was born and never knew my name or face.

I’d seen her handwriting before, so I knew it was hers.

Which begged the question, how had she known that one day I’d need this journal?

My mother’s clairvoyance was this powerful?

Without reading it, I hadn’t any hope of understanding. I’d need to carefully review each page, and I had to rein in my curiosity so I could address the man watching me with the same level of intrigue.

Clutching the journal to my chest, I stared at Dugan. “He gave you this before he attacked the Council? So what do you know? Why were you and Silas already acquainted? Was it all on purpose or by accident?”

The arm around me tightened, his distrust of my father’s lover in the hold, but he didn’t know Dugan like I did.

Dugan’s smile was apologetic. “You might not believe me, but even now, what I know is very little. I only know what he wrote in the letter he sent and what I’ve overheard in the last half year since your escape.”

He wet his mouth and stared back at the field of flowers, grief reaching his eyes.

His smile lost its usual brilliance. He was mourning my father.

It was in the tired lines of his face and sad stare he cast at their special field.

“I loved your father, Nika. I fell in love with him knowing that he had secrets, and many of them he feared telling anyone. It might not make much sense to you, but I trusted him in spite of the secrets he kept.”

A tear trailed down his cheek before he wiped it away and gave me a small smile.

My heart broke for him. Dugan loved my father despite knowing he still loved my mother and kept secrets. Despite knowing he could only give him pieces of his heart. And yet, Dugan loved him with everything he was and stood by my father to the very end.

That was why I trusted every word he said.

“Bane and I had always talked about changing the world together, and whatever he asked, I did. So my meeting Silas, while apparently intentional from his end, was something I didn’t connect until after all of this was said and done.

I never anticipated it would be Silas you’d choose.

When I first heard it was him who you’d contracted to help you, I couldn’t believe it. ”

Silas caught my eye, waggling his eyebrows. “Guess I’d called the wrong bloke in worship, little rebel.”

“Pardon?” Dugan asked, confused.

I elbowed Silas and smiled at Dugan. “Ignore him. I’m sure you’re plenty aware of what an idiot he can be.”

Laughing, Dugan nodded. “Rather perplexing, isn’t it? How could this shameless brute be one of the most fearsome mercenaries in the business? Doesn’t make much sense, does it?”

“Oi, you smiley cloak-and-dagger wanker,” Silas barked. “That’s part of my charm.”

“Sure it is,” I teased. “So you didn’t know much before he attacked the Council? Do you know what happened after?”

Anguish crept into Dugan’s expression. “Very little, darling. I’ve been careful to stay hidden.

Your father made all the arrangements, and he only told me what he did the night before he attacked the Council.

I know he was killed. I know you’d escaped with Silas.

I heard about the attack on the Dark Fae Society and Yuma’s demise.

Your father mentioned your powers and that you’d collect your grandmother’s soul, so I imagine that was somehow connected with the attack, yes?

But outside of what I needed to do and what it could mean should I not, not much else.

I was told to wait for Silas to talk to me as Dugan, not Trevion, and I’ve been waiting for him to reach out ever since. ”

“What it could mean should you not…what?” I clung to that one statement.

Dugan bent down and pressed a gentle kiss to my forehead. “It isn’t important, darling. You have it.”

I opened my mouth, but Silas cut through quickly, “Did you know who I really was after we met?”

“That you’re Silver and worked for the Brotherhood at one point in time? I mean, I’d be a bad friend if I didn’t know at least that much after eight years. We were all meant to be morally-challenged mercenaries, after all.”

Silver, not the Shimmering Assassin?

My brow furrowed in confusion. “Silver?”

“Doesn’t matter.” Silas finally let me go and turned to look at me. “We should go, love. I don’t like to stay out in one place too long, and dusk will be here in a few hours. I’d rather not lose daylight for our drive.”

I peered down at the journal. “You should come with us,” I said to Dugan. “I like to think we’re family, all things considered.”

Silas stiffened. “Nika—”

Dugan took several steps back and readjusted his messenger bag as tears tracked down his cheeks. The smile that overtook his face was one of rejection. Why was it that the most beautiful things in my life were also the most painful?

With a hand over his chest, Dugan let the tears fall and didn’t make any attempt to stop them. “We are, Nika. You’ll always be my daughter, and nothing will change that. If I could come with you, I would, but I’m afraid that’s not my destiny. And it’s not yours.”

Silas peered over at him, a sudden wind blowing his hair all over the place. Leaves took flight and petals danced across the sky. But it was the man in front of me who stole the show. I’d missed him, and I hated that I couldn’t keep him.

I couldn’t keep any of them.

Biting my lower lip, I nodded.

Dugan’s smile grew, then he removed a little pouch from his jacket and held it out to Silas.

I was worried he’d leave Dugan hanging, but he took it without argument.

Peering down at the pouch with caution, Silas seemed to miss the way Dugan’s smile faded and his eyes dropped out of sight.

But I didn’t. Something about him was off, like he was here on borrowed time, and my gut twisted at the thought.

I tried to take a step toward him, but he rejected me with a shake of his head.

“I’m very glad to have known you both. I’m so very glad, Nika, that you came here and trusted me.

I know whatever the future holds, you’ll take it on in that brilliant way of yours.

Because nothing in this world is stronger than the love you give, darling. Nothing .”

Then he was gone. He disappeared from sight and left me staring at a field of flowers.