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I sniffed at the drink my father placed on the long worn table between us, and my nostrils flared.

“Bane calls it Dragon’s breath. It's his own brew.”

Narrowing my eyes, I swirled the glass. “Is it poison?”

My father’s strong shoulders shrugged and his eyes sparkled. “Likely but hasn’t killed us yet.”

Tossing it back with one gulp, I hissed while it slowly burned my insides. I sat down at the long kitchen table and admired the strength of the fae before me.

My father studied me with the same quiet intelligence he possessed most of my life.

It had made him a powerful leader before the bloodlust took him.

He poured me another drink and waited. The same way he did when I was a cub, silently watching me until I was uncomfortable enough to confess all my secrets…

except this time there were so many, I didn’t even know where to begin .

I dropped my gaze to my glass and swirled it just like the thoughts running amok inside my head.

The cat was surprisingly quiet. Taking a page from my father’s book.

“Daemon.” His voice rumbled and I looked up to see a sad smile on his face. “Son, it’s been hundreds of years. Let us not waste any more time to speak to one another. What is on your mind, my cub?”

“How did you do it?” I blurted out, just like when I was young. The silence always won. “How did you stand it? When mother died?”

He stiffened and sadness bled into his patient gaze. “You and I both know that I didn’t. My own people suffered and I nearly killed my own son—I almost lost everything that I loved, not just her.”

My throat burned and it wasn’t from Bane’s poison. “I am sorry. I’m so very sorry for what I had to do.”

Blonde brows fell heavy over his eyes. “My cub…you did the right thing. I would have done the same in your position. There is nothing to apologize for. After your mother—” He released a guttural growl and I tensed, my hands tightened around my glass.

“After we lost her, I lost myself. The only thing that made the pain go away was giving into the rage…but it also made me forget. I forgot about everything that I once cherished.” He sighed and tilted his head.

“You’re afraid. Afraid of this happening to you, afraid of your soulmate bond. ”

“I’m fucking terrified and it's not even complete. The way I feel for her…” I rasped and then bowed my head so he could not see the anguish inside of me. “I won’t survive it. You know what is inside of me. Our world won’t survive it. If I lose her again…I can’t do it.”

He was silent for a moment, his lips pressed in a thin line before he barked a short laugh. “You know what your mother would say?”

I spread my hands on the dark worn wood, not daring to look up. “What would mother say?”

“Our greatest strength comes from embracing fear with love.” I could hear the sad smile in his tone. “Bond or not, my cub, you love that fae out there. That is a glaringly obvious truth. I don’t need my powers to see that.”

“She doesn’t know.” I swallowed. “I’ve masked the bond. ”

More silence.

“Why?”

I ran my hand through my hair and stared hard into his concerned eyes.

“Deirdre would have used it against us, against Remnant. During my capture, she was already using her against me. She thought it was my own honor she was torturing. If she knew there was a soulmate bond.” I shivered.

“There’s no telling what kind of depraved torture she would have concocted. ”

My father’s gaze was intense and haunted. “Jarquinn was not alone that night he found you. You were barely alive when we tracked you down. When you were stabilized, I returned home. I was worried what my presence would do to your recovery. I should have stayed.”

I inhaled sharply. “I did not know. Jar never told me.”

He drew a shaky breath and leaned in towards me.

“I thought I lost you Daemon, and all I could think was that one day I would be given another chance to be a better father. What Deirdre did to you, seeing her cruelty with my own eyes, the suffering you endured.” He choked again and looked away.

“I am sorry that you have paid the price for my mistakes Daemon. All of them it would seem.”

“My suffering is nothing compared to what that bitch did to my soulmate.” I rasped and I reached out to grip his hand. “And that had nothing to do with you. Deirdre was tainted from the beginning.”

He gripped my hand and growled fiercely. “Are they all dead? The ones responsible?”

I blinked at the memory of terrified eyes begging for mercy, I had almost forgotten him, the human. I pulled my hand away. “All but one. But you should know it wasn’t just humans under Deirdre’s influence. It was our own people, father. Shifters, led by Falcon.”

“Falcon?” My father hissed, curling his fingers into his palm, no doubt imagining strangling him. “What does that two faced feathered shit have to do with all this?”

I inhaled deeply. “The war between our nations had to stop. No matter how much I wanted to honor mother for you, I could not stand losing one more innocent fae.”

My father remained silent…allowing it to spill more secrets.

I snarled and rapped the table with my claws. “It had to stop. The unnecessary death. Our people needed to move on and I could no longer throw the lives of good fae…the only fae left in our world right into Deirdre’s heartless clutches.”

My father flinched but said nothing.

I took a deep breath and I dug my claws into the table, just like my next words would do to my fathers heart. “So I drew up a peace treaty and sent Falcon with a large contingent of shifters with an offer that would appease her.”

I looked away, no longer able to meet his strong gaze. I knew how it sounded but I also knew my mother. She would have done the same.

He glanced down at the table and stared at the deep gouges. “You gave her the gateway to the Sanguine.”

I ripped my claws off the table and hissed at him.

“Not at first, but I implied it. When Falcon sent word that she would only agree to peace if I came to the City of Light myself, I knew Falcon had betrayed us and the queen would make a play for the Sanguine. What I didn’t know was the extent to which Deirdre had imprisoned her own people, Remnant included, and where they had disappeared to.

Which was a problem because I had made a vow to a very persuasive swordmaster when he heard that I was traveling to Faerie. ”

“You got captured on purpose.” He growled.

“I did.” Picking up my drink, the glass shook in my hand. I swallowed, using the fiery burn to calm the rolling turmoil inside.

“Fuck Daemon.”

My hand tightened on the glass. “One day my guard made an unfortunate mistake.” I licked my fangs in satisfaction at the memory of slaughtering the bastard.

“Even in my rage, I was pulled by an undeniable force straight towards her room instead of escaping. Her torture had driven me mad with the need to protect her and I thought perhaps I could save one soul in that goddess forsaken place, end her misery.” My vision swam and I shut my eyes, the screams echoing from the past. The same ones that woke me up in cold sweat most nights.

“Our bond snapped into place the moment I touched her…but I wasn’t successful in getting her free. ”

I growled, shaking my head violently against the images, then my eyes snapped open, my power clashing thunderously inside of me and I realized I was shaking, the glass had shattered in my hand and its contents were spilling over the side of the table .

“We are not there anymore, she is not there anymore. You are safe, fairy boy.” The panther attempted to quiet my turmoil.

I stared at the liquid as it dripped over the edge like the blood in my nightmares. My body trembled, the power burned inside of me, attempting to burst forth. Where was this fucking power when I needed it? Why had it failed me then?

“Open our bond, Daemon, We need to filter it before it destroys this place!” The panther growled at me, recognizing the dangerous levels spilling inside.

I stared. Drip, drip.

“Open the bond now! ” The beast roared.

“Fuck you.” I snarled but it was enough. I tore my gaze away from the spilling liquid and opened our connection, allowing the beast’s presence to absorb the overwhelming surge of power.

My shoulders sagged and I slumped in my chair, my breathing erratic.

Quietly, my father swept the glass aside and wiped up the liquid staining the table, then set another glass down in front of me. I watched the liquid pour in a daze.

Silence again. I hated the fucking silence.

So I continued. “I begged you know.” I confessed.

“I begged that fucking bitch to make me a deal. One I knew she couldn’t resist. The location of the Sanguine.

” My head snapped up and I snarled at my father.

“And now I have doomed us all and I would do it again too. I’d do anything to keep her safe.

I’d barter this very world if I had to. Morta has nothing on the destruction I will bring down on Faerie if anything ever happens to her again.

I have been telling myself all this time it was for her, to allow herself the choice to choose me but if I am being truthful with myself.

I am fucking terrified to lose her…just like mother. ”

My father’s eyes flashed and then he reached for me, gripping my bloodied hands that had been cut open from the shattered glass.

“What you say is true, Daemon. You are capable and powerful enough to bring this world to its knees. Your mother and I knew that the day you were born.” I flinched and he squeezed my bloody hands.

“But if you are in search of a truth from me then here it is. Choosing to live a life denying your soulmate the bond is the same as your fear of losing her.”

I grunted .

He shook his shaggy blonde head. “As for the Sanguine. You didn’t doom us Daemon. Even after the Blood Wars…we all knew that it would be a matter of time. Power like that does not die.”

I gripped his hands harder and snarled at him.

“She’s alive. Deirdre…Falcon too. They are all alive and they have been using the Sanguine. It is the cause of the deadlands, the wraiths, everything. Yesterday, she attempted to attack Finlandia. Wraiths and spy crows flooded the valley.”

My father rocked back in his chair, utter devastation on his face. “Fuck.” His eyes narrowed on me and he growled low. “You’re going hunting.”

A low snarl emitted from my clenched teeth. “Yes.”