Page 34 of Shadows Ascend (Remnant Archives #2)

I huffed but I could not stop the smile from spreading across my face, tucking her hair back. "As long as I don't start sprouting flowers and urinating glitter, I am okay with that term if only to have that smile on your face permanently."

With good added measure, I pecked a kiss on her cheek where the little bastard Henry had touched her, erasing its scent with mine.

Pulling back, I winked, seeing Jar stoop low to our beckoning daughter at his side. Her mouth and voice were obstructed by her small hand as if she imparted an unknowing secret to him. When Jar’s eyes widened, he glanced towards me with a large smile before turning back to my daughter nodding.

Remnant quirked a brow at me, shaking her head, drawing my attention back to her. "Is the big bad shifter king really worried about a few little gnomes claiming me?"

"I don't underestimate anything when it comes to you, little umbra…it's always the least suspected entity that has the most power."

Feeling Riella suddenly tugging on my arm, I looked down at her. "What is it, my cub?"

"Father, what about him?"

I pulled her to me, resenting the panic in me as I searched for more gnomes. Remnant and Jar exchanged amused looks at my frantic movement.

Riella tugged harder, yanking me forward. "See father, it's the pookah again!"

She pointed to the sudden appearance of a black morphing mass, the familiar shape of a black rabbit taking hold, the same creature that stole Riella's crown.

It's red beady eyes staring at my cub with a deep yearning.

I bared my fangs at it, not liking that look one damned bit, but happy it wasn't the last two remaining gnomes, Anthony and Raymond. "What of it, my cub?" I hissed through my teeth.

Red beady eyes fell in my direction to glare at me and the reminded me far too much of Cronin's kraken. "He says his name is Zaki and he is coming with us," she giggled. "He says he is mine and I am his."

My claws lengthened and I stepped in front of my daughter with a vicious snarl. "Like fucking Sheol he is."

First gnomes and now this goddess damn shit.

The rabbit's ears drooped but its red eyes flared, still staring up at me.

Jar hummed a warning. "It is considered a bad omen to deny the assistance of the pookah Daemon. If this one is claiming to be Riella's then that means he is her spirit guide. They are meant to be, just as—"

My hand sliced through the air, my eyes slashing towards the healer angrily. "I'd be very careful with the next words you speak, Jar."

My soulmate's touch lowered my threatening claws, her lip curled back with irritation and her glare just as strongly directed at the pookah. "I don't like this either, shifter, but if this pookah can provide Riella with even more protection, then I am willing to have the creaturetag along."

The pookah’s eyes shifted slowly to my soulmate before he morphed into a small black gnome, bowing low.

I bared my fangs and hissed, watching its gnome body startle and then mock me, snapping into the damned rabbit again, teeth bared.

Riella hugged my leg and then looked up at me pleadingly, her eyes back to the even swirl of green and gold. "Please, faedere?"

My eyes widened and Remnant’s filled with tears. Faedere meant father in ancient fae, its use one of love and trust. "Where did you learn that word?"

Her lip stuck out and she hesitated, glancing at Jar who nodded to her encouragingly, "The grove, they call Master Jar faedere and I wanted—I…"

“Your clever little cub asked me if it meant father and if she could call you this too.” Jar said softly.

I dropped to my knees in front of her, trying to choke back the burn of emotions leaving me speechless.

Since the moment I knew Riella to be mine I had been overcome by my failure to protect her, the fear that I could never amount to be the father that she deserved and yet—here she was, with big unsure eyes, taking me in as her own, claiming me as her family… her faedere .

Remnant’s hand squeezed my shoulder and I placed mine overtop of it, reaching out to my daughter with my other and sweeping back her hair. Hair so much like her mother’s. “Of course you may call me this, my little cub. As long as you choose to, never because you feel as if you must,” I choked.

Her face instantly switched from weariness to full joy.

Throwing herself into me, her small arms barely wrapped around my wide frame as she rubbed her face into my chest. Happily, I held her tightly, inhaling her sunlit meadow scent that reminded me too damn much of home and of how quickly things could change.

Looking up, I scowled over my cub’s shoulder at the pookah, “I will allow you to join us but I will not tolerate secrets…” I started saying, but then Riella cheered, jumping out of my arms, and reaching out to the spirit guide with needy fingers. Its lithe bunny frame hopping up to her shoulder.

“Thank you, thank you!”

Rising, I held up my hand and her cheers disappeared but her wide smile did not.

Suddenly, I knew I had another weakness—her smile undoing me just like her mother’s in a much different way.

Goddess help me the day my daughter learned that .

“On one condition. I want to know what that damned thing is whispering to you and we will determine if it is safe or not.

" Looking up at Remnant, she nodded, before I shot our daughter a stern look. "Understood?"

Petting the red eyed glaring rodent, Riella looked up at me smiling even harder, hugging my leg tightly to her.

"I understand, faedere. Thank you!" She nuzzled her sweet innocent face into my hip once more and I chuckled, patting her head affectionately.

My hand stilling when the pookah's paws also embraced my leg.

I glared down at it and held back my growl at the utter possession in its eyes. A claim on my daughter I wanted to snuff out of its tiny body "Game on you bastard."

I thought I'd have at least a few thousand years before I had to worry about sharing my daughter with another being…no matter what the goddess fuck it was—it seemed I was wrong.

Jar chuckled softly, and I looked up to see his soft blue eyes observing me, full of pride, and twinkling with a mixture of amusement and sadness.

It was time to leave—and I couldn’t help but think he had mastered this whole thing, sending me off whole and healed again, along with a well placed gnome attack that still fucking throbbed, a new beat of my heart claimed by my daughter, and the gift of a feral spirit guide as our final goodbye. All that was missing …

Jar winked, tilting his head downward and I followed, snorting.

There they were…the exact thing that was missing from this perfect moment.

Unicorn slippers.