Changeling (Book 1) Rated R

Chapter 35

Henric's study was a vast room with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Carpathians.

Enormous, sprawling mountains shimmered under the moonlight, blanketed in white, hundreds of pine trees heavily weighed down by snow.

Christian could see a few flurries falling still, thinking this would only make escape more difficult.

After all, the way out from the servants quarters led down a slope onto the iced-over river beneath the draw bridge. He knew he would fare alright during the trek but he worried for Aimee and Hannah and her infant daughter.

"I have to say I am pleasantly surprised by this turn of events." Henric interrupted.

With a clink, he set a glass of port in front of Christian, over a coaster on the surface of his red oak escritoire.

"Here I thought I'd have to place a bounty on your head for disobedience."

Christian swallowed down a mouthful of bitter liquid and it was like fire going down his throat.

"I would not dream of disobeying you, father." He said curtly.

The part he didn't say was that he'd had no real choice, not when Henric had threatened his siblings.

Henric chuckled as he claimed a seat on his high-backed, upholstered red chair. He threw one leg over the other, crossing them nonchalantly as he appraised his son over the rim of his glass.

"Tell me how you did it." He said with a grin.

Christian shifted in his seat. "I told her you had sent me to protect her." He said truthfully.

Christian had found long ago that the best lies told always had some element of truth to them. It was always better to stick to the real facts and fill in the parts that were untrue. It was more believable this way.

He'd practiced the earnest look in his eyes a thousand times, had perfected breathing evenly through the lies for years.

Had Henric not been so vile his entire life, and demanded so many unreasonable things, Christian wasn't sure he'd have quite reached this level of treachery to the extent that he had.

In some ways, he owed his father for that.

"What's this about me protecting her family? What family? Her mother is dead."

"Her faerie guardian placed her with a human family after our first attempt to capture her. They went missing shortly after I found her and I promised her that the King of Reader Nation would do everything in his power to help locate them. It was the only way to get her to come with me save brute force and I think it is in our best interest to let her go on believing this. At least for the time being."

"How clever." Henric mussed after a sip of wine. "But I don't see the need to lie to the poor creature. Her stay here will be a short one."

Christian brought his own glass of wine to his lips, in part to buy time to form a response but also to hide the grimace that threatened to break past his lips at those words.

"Perhaps, father, but you have not seen what this woman is capable of. I have."

"And what is she capable of, this abomination?"

"She nearly burned Stefan alive, I can tell you that much. And it was only by mere luck that he was able to escape with his life. Father, she is the most powerful--"

"You encountered Stefan on your journey?

"Not just him but many others that sought her for her power. Among them the Verlacs, who I'm afraid had to be disposed of, though I doubt this news will trouble you much."