Chapter Two
Anton
S ucking out the last drop from the blood bag, I wrinkled my nose at the horrific taste, then dropped the empty bag in the trash next to the couch. That was disagreeable, to say the least.
Since the day I’d tasted the most delicious blood I’d ever had over two years ago, everything else tasted appalling. It was like drinking a cup of ash no matter where I sourced my blood from. It made me not want to feed, and I’d been losing weight because of it.
I had no idea how to fix the problem either.
“I can tell from the look on your face that you didn’t like that one either,” Phaeron, the eldest of my fledglings, said with a long sigh from the armchair beside me. “I truly have no clue what else to try. We’ve brought you blood from every region and every species we know of.” He looked frustrated and almost heartbroken, so I reached over and rested my hand on his forearm.
“I know, child. It’s not your fault.”
His baby blue eyes looked pained as they met my gaze. “I want to help you.”
Giving his arm a squeeze, I sent him a soft smile. “I know you do, but I’m alright.”
“No, you’re not,” Beshiro said as he strolled into the living room and sat on the other couch, glaring at me. He was the second oldest, and while he wasn’t as severe as Phaeron, he knew when to take things seriously. Apparently, now was one of those times. “You’re losing weight, and you’re paler than you should be. You’re not okay.”
I grimaced at that. I suppose it was too much to hope that none of my children had noticed it.
It’d been a long time since all of my children were under one roof, but over the last two years, they’d all migrated home at some point and decided to stay when they realized what was going on. Despite the fact that I’d told them they didn’t have to stay to take care of me, I was happy to have them here.
I’d missed having a home filled with laughter and love, not that I begrudged them for going off and seeing the world. In fact, I was happy I’d been able to provide for them so they could.
Phaeron said, “I say we hunt down the witch who put this curse on you and force them to reverse it. Then we can show them exactly what happens when you mess with the Orsova den.”
Katja, the second youngest of my children, came in from the kitchen, shaking her head. “I think we should ask some of these powerful witches Anton’s made friends with to help us. Surely one of them will be able to break the curse.”
Jedediah, yet another of my children—the youngest of the group, and he absolutely knew it and took advantage of it—walked in and added, “Or at least tell us how to break the curse. Clearly, nothing we’re doing is working.”
As the four of them continued to discuss this, I rubbed at my face to hide my wince.
I hadn’t exactly been honest with my children when I’d told them how this happened. I didn’t lie, per se, but I also didn’t correct them when they assumed it was a curse.
Because it wasn’t a curse.
I knew exactly how to fix it. I simply… could not.
I couldn’t even say why I hadn’t corrected them in all this time either.
I supposed it was because I didn’t want them hunting Keryth down and telling him what was going on.
I also didn’t want them to dislike him.
And they would. For this, for making their sire hurt and unable to feed, they would hate him. Even though the sweet little fae had no idea what he’d done to me. In truth, he hadn’t done anything to me. I’d done this to myself. He was not to blame.
But that wouldn’t stop my children from painting him in a bad light, and I couldn’t have that.
When Jed put Beshiro into a headlock, I decided to interrupt… whatever this was, so I cleared my throat. “You better get ready. We have to leave in an hour.”
That got them moving and off the topic, but before they were out of earshot, I called out, “Do not mention this to anyone tonight, my fledglings. Tonight is about bringing my family into the fold and making friends.”
Katja yelled, “Boys! Daddy wants us to be nice to his new family!”
I sighed loud enough for them to hear as they all laughed, but I shook my head, hiding a grin.
As we rode the elevator up to the top floor of the tower, I pulled my sleeves down, then smoothed down my dress shirt.
Jedediah suddenly wrapped his arms around my torso, resting his cheek against my bicep and looking up at me with the puppy dog eyes he’d perfected centuries ago. The innocent eyes that got me every time despite knowing how not-innocent Jed truly was. “Daddy?”
I sighed. All four of them liked to call me that to drive me crazy. I didn’t mind so much when they threw out a simple Dad or Sire or even Pops , but Daddy made my eye twitch. Although that one wasn’t nearly as bad as the full Fang-Daddy that Jed liked to use to really get under my skin. I knew from experience that ignoring him would only make it worse. “Yes, Jed?”
He grinned at me, happy that I’d answered to the ridiculous name. “What has you so nervous? Are you afraid we’re gonna embarrass you?”
“Of course not.”
He lifted a brow, not moving off me, although I didn’t mind. Sometimes fledglings craved being close to their sire, and the reverse was true as well. “You don’t think your new family will accept us oldies? You think they’ll be mad when they see who they replaced?”
I froze, then slowly turned to face him. Gently, I took his chin in my hand, forcing him to stand up and fully face me. “Jedediah, no one on this planet, no one in this universe, could ever replace you. Do you hear me, child? You are mine , and I will never let you go. Do you hear me? You’re my family. Always have been, always will be. Understood?”
He nodded, then glanced away for a beat before making eye contact again. “Forgive me, sire.”
I leaned in and kissed his forehead. “There’s nothing to forgive.” Then I met each of my other fledglings’ eyes. “The same goes for all of you. Yes?”
I received a, “Yes, sire,” from both Phaeron and Beshiro, and a, “Yes, Daddy,” from Katja with a smirk on her face. So at least I knew she hadn’t been thinking the same nonsensical thing as Jedediah.
I released Jed’s chin, then wrapped an arm around him to pull him close as the elevator stopped and the doors opened.
We stepped off the elevator like that, and to my utter remorse, Keryth Bixidor and his sisters, along with a fae teenager I didn’t recognize, were standing in the small lobby area. The second I saw him, the man himself turned to face me, and our eyes locked.
My god, he was stunning. Every time I saw him, his beauty knocked the wind out of me. The androgynous look he wore so well left me in awe and caused certain parts of me to stir with interest. All of the piercings in his ears and the one in his nose only added to his elegance. His green hair and bright green eyes were like a beacon to my soul. Every part of me wanted to reach out and pull him close. My heart sang with every beat whenever I was in his presence.
I felt lighter and free, and I wanted to grab onto that feeling and never let it go.
I wanted to grab onto him and hold him tightly forever.
For one breathless second, I swore I could see longing in his gaze. The same longing I felt reflected in my own. But then his eyes moved over to Jedediah, who was still under my arm, and they flared with anger.
All the warm feelings inside of me felt like they’d been splashed with ice water.
That didn’t stop my soul from wishing it could reach out to his. It didn’t stop me from wanting to hold the tiny beauty.
I’d seen the green-haired fae angry many times before, but I’d never seen him look at someone with so much hate. Not even I received such a glare.
“What the fuck?” Jed said under his breath, and I had no clue how to answer him. It was clear that Keryth hated him on the spot.
That thought made something in my gut churn.
My… my… well, my Keryth shouldn’t—couldn’t—hate my family. He simply… couldn’t.
Phaeron stepped up to my other side and leaned in front of me to meet Jed’s gaze, asking, “Why the hell does that fae look like he wants to kill you? What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Obviously, that’s not true, Jed. What did you do to that guy?”
“I’ve never even seen him before.”
“That can’t be true…”
I barely registered their words as Keryth turned on his heel, scooped up Zellya in his arms, made the other three girls and the teenage boy walk ahead of him, and marched over to the stairwell that led to the roof. I blinked at the floor when I saw that the nature fae had left a trail of thorny bushes growing out of the floor and looking just as angry as he had.
I’d never seen him leak magic like that, so this was clearly a reaction from his high emotions.
Well, we were certainly off to a lovely start tonight.