Page 11 of Death Warden
Fin ducked his head. “Oh boy.”
My heart pounded. “What? What is it?”
He took a deep breath, then blurted out, “Your mother had an affair a year into her marriage. I don’t know the details, just that you were a product of that affair.”
The world tilted and I grabbed hold of the table to steady myself. “My dad… he wasn’t my dad?”
“He was your dad in every way that mattered,” Fin said firmly. “That man adored you.”
I nodded, allowing that to sink in and holding on to it. “Did he know?”
“Yes,” Tobias said. “Your mother told him. They didn’t have secrets.”
“No, just affairs.” I didn’t bother to hide my bitterness. My father had been amazing. Loving and present and everything a daughter could want. “They’d loved each other, so why? Why did she do it?”
“I don’t know,” Tobias said.
Part of me wanted to be pissed at her, but what the heck would that achieve. She was gone and there was no bringing her back to yell at her. Necromancers couldn’t be summoned back to the realm of the living.
I sighed. “At least she fessed up.”
Fin snorted and Tobias glared at him before focusing on me. “Yes, she told your father the truth but…she didn’t tell yourbiologicalfather. He has no clue you exist.”
Fuck. I had a father out there. A blood connection that had been kept from me. This was…huge. “Why are you telling me this now? Why not tell me when my parents died?”
“Because your mother’s will was clear. You were only to know about your real father if your life depended on it.”
“And now it does.” I frowned. “Are you saying I could…die?”
His throat bobbed. “The power required to sustain the lock is…it’s a lot. More than you can channel now that Mary is dead. It could put a strain on your body, your heart. Being with your biological father is the only thing that can give you the power you need right now. It can keep you safe. The city he lives in is built on powerful leylines, but getting through the wards isn’t easy. You have to be born there, invited, or linked to the occupants by blood.”
“Not ghosts, though.” Fin gave me a sly look. “They can get in as long as they’re not malevolent.”
Jimmy… “You knew he was telling the truth?”
“Gag order, remember?”
“Shit. And being in this city will help?”
“Yes, it will buy you time,” Tobias said. “I called your father on the way here. He’s expecting you. You’ll leave tonight. You can take my car.”
I wanted to ask how he took the news. If he was happy, angry, unaffected, but I staunched the questions because I’d find out myself soon enough.
I licked my suddenly dry lips. Fucking nerves. “Jerry and Bernard…do they know?”
“Yes. I’ll tell them where you are.” He reached out and took my hand. “I know it’s a shock. I get it. But this is bigger than you and me. We have to do whatever it takes to keep this necromancer locked away. The power he has, the darkness…it’s a threat to the balance of nature.”
I needed a minute to process. “I need to pee.”
I shoved my stool back, hurried out of the room, locked myself in the bathroom, and stared at myself in the mirror. A classic move I would never have one of my heroines do, not unless I wanted to freak the shit out of my readers by placing a masked killer behind her.
My parents had been murdered.
And I was carrying the lock to the killer’s mystical prison around my neck. Mary and Leo were dead, and the weight of the lock pressed in on me. If I didn’t find my conduit soon, then the bastard responsible for the deaths of my parents and numerous others would be set free. Part of me wanted to face him and make him pay, but I wasn’t dumb enough to believe I had that kind of power.
He had to stay locked away.
I had to make sure of it. If I had to connect with my biological father to do that, then so be it.
