It was a romantic question, and that wasn’t the mood of the story.

“I begged him to let me live in the human realm, but he refused. He couldn’t look past his hatred, or ignore the possibility of me one day having half-blood younglings who could wander through. He wouldn’t even let me send her a letter. I’d taught him some binding spells, so I couldn’t overpower him. I’d pledged myself to his service. He was my master, and I couldn’t disobey him.”

“He’s a disgrace,” Cair bit out through his fangs. “It’s even worse that he made you suffer all of that, but your half-blood son still wandered through.”

Zadok hummed. “Though the more I think on it, part of me sees it as justice, in a way. He tried to stop it happening, but he failed, and not only that, Luca is mated to the crown prince. My son and his. It’s two shots fired back.”

“That’s why he tried to kill me, isn’t it?”

“It’ll be a factor, yes.”

“So what are we gonna do about it?” I perked up, but suddenly felt a throbbing in my head. I must have made a pained noise as Cair noted it.

“Nothing yet.” He smiled tiredly, lifting the hand not holding mine to brush his knuckles across my cheek. “We can discuss it when you are healed.”

“But—”

“No buts, sweetheart.” His tone brooked no argument. “You’re exhausted. Whatever else there is to discuss can wait for another day or so.”

I couldn’t exactly disagree with him. Not only because he’d already prioritized my needs above his own, and dragging this out any longer would be totally selfish, but my eyes were stinging and my energy was flagging. That didn’t mean I was ready to sleep, though. My mind was too animated, fueled with excitement at finally meeting my dad and learning why he’d never been a part of my life. I was finding out pieces of myself too, seeing him—how he acted, what he looked like, the fact that I was a mage. All the bits I needed to begin filling the hole in my chest that had been empty for so long. I didn’t want to put that on hold for even a second. I didn’t want to close my eyes and risk it all having been a dream. I knew, logically, that he was still going to be there once I woke up, but I had waited so long, and having to wait one more day to get to know him, to really know him, felt impossible.