Page 37 of My Demon Desire

Thorne cuts his gaze to Reis who nods.

"Shit. I'm never doing that again," Kaden groans. "A nuclear bomb exploding inside me would be more fun."

"What happened?" I frown, tightness spreading across my chest.

Reis clears his throat. "The ritual worked, in part."

I frown, glancing at each of them in turn. "What do you mean?" I hate that I don't have any answers yet and there's some secret communication going on between the three of them. Something I can sense, but not grasp. "Stop stalling and just tell me."

"You're fae," Thorne says.

My stomach drops into my feet. "And?" I press. “Do I have royal blood?” Not that I should care, right? I mean, I'm just here to find my father and get the hell home.

Reis swallows, but nods. "You do have royal blood."

"But?" I can't help to ask because it feels like the tension in the room increased three-fold.

"We can't tell how much," Kaden says.

I shake my head. "I don't understand. What does that mean?"

"There's a barrier... an ancient magic in your blood that is preventing us from finding out if you are the queen's granddaughter or..."

"Or what?" I grit my teeth, feeling like I'm having to pull out every answer from them. "Come on, spit it out."

"Or just an off-shoot." Kaden scratches his horn.

I throw my hands up. "What the hell does that mean?"

"It means," Reis replies, "that you can either be a direct descendant of the queen through your father or a descendent of another fae family."

"Does that happen often?"

"More often than you humans think." Kaden smirks.

I close my eyes and pinch the bridge of my nose for a moment. Then I open my eyes. "Okay, so what do we do now? I mean, my father could be hurt or something. We have to find him." I already feel like I've wasted so much time being here with these three. That they're a distraction from doing what I need to do.

"It's pitch-black outside." Thorne frowns, shaking his head.

"You promised." Tears sting my eyes and I feel like I've been betrayed. That they told me they'd help me and now that they've had a drop of my blood, they'll make some other excuse to keep me here.

"Annalise." Reis stands and offers me his hand. "Come with me, I need to tell you something I should have as soon as I discovered it.”

A lump forms in my throat and I look back to Thorne who nods. My breath catches, but I take Reis' hand and allow him to pull me up.

He doesn't say anything, but leads me to his bedroom and closes the door behind us.

"What is it?" I pull my hand from his, wrapping my arms around my stomach.

"I know where your father is."

My heart stops and I feel like my lungs will explode from lack of air. I can't believe what I'm hearing. "You what?"

"It's not safe for you to know all of it right now, but I can tell you that he is alive."

Reis steps closer and takes my hands in his.

"I can take you there. And I can help you get him back."