Page 26 of Stalk the Dark
Dash turned away, hands on hips, took three strides, then spun back toward us. “Dammit, Ordell.”
“She won’t tell anyone. She’s with the Order. The new chapter head.”
“Then she should know to keep her mouth shut about this.”
I had no idea how my being the chapter head fit into all this, and in hindsight I should have kept my mouth shut, but it was too late now.
Dash stepped into Ordell’s personal space, and the air crackled with power. “They’re mine.” His eyes narrowed. “I was here. I raised them. Nursed them through sickness, held them when they had nightmares.Me. Not you.Me.”
Ordell closed his eyes. “I know. I know. I’m sorry. It’s the rising year, and I…I needed to see them just in case…”
Dash seemed to deflate. “The rising…of course. Dammit, man.” He exhaled and ran a hand down his face. “Come for lunch. The last weekend of the month. Bring Hem and…” He looked over at me. “And…”
“Miss Lighthart,” Ordell provided.
“Yes.” He gave me a quick smile. “The children should get to know you too.” He reached out to grasp Ordell’s shoulder. “I made you a promise, and I won’t break it, but this…you showing up spontaneously, it doesn’t help any of us.”
Ordell looked him dead in the eyes. “It won’t happen again.”
Dash walked us to the front door where the woman waited. “Bella, we’ll see Ordell and Miss Lighthart at the end of the month.”
She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “We’ll see you then.”
Ordell didn’t speak until we were back on the main road. “You have questions.”
“I do, but the only answers I need are ones that explain how I’m related to this situation.”
“To explain that, I’ll need to give you a little background.”
“Okay…”
Silence stretched for long moments. “Bella was a fling. A passing-through thing. I’m always so careful. I came back eighteen months later to find her married to Dash with triplets. My triplets.”
“She didn’t tell you? Didn’t call?”
“I never left my number. But when I saw them, I knew I had to be a part of their lives. But my life…I’m a hunter. I have too many enemies. People who would do anything to get back at me, to use me, blackmail me. We decided it was safer if the children remained unaware of my true relationship to them. So now, I’m Dash’s old friend. The fun Uncle Odi who visits a few times a year, except…It’s been over a year since my last visit.”
“And the whole ‘call first’ thing?”
“Dash is mageri. He never exhibited the level of power required to be drafted to any official positions in the city, but he does host influential figures from time to time. It’s best no one see me with the children, or they might put two and two together as you did.”
“It’s a little hard not to.”
“I know, but Dash doesn’t see it because as far as he’s concerned, they’re his kids. And I get it. I understand.”
“You know, they’ll realize once they get a little older and understand genetics a bit better.”
“I know that too. But by that time, they’ll be under the official protection of the mageri council. Once they hit puberty, they’ll have their official documents as Dash’s registered progeny.”
“But they have no magic.”
“Bella is a faeblood. Something I wasn’t aware of when we had our tryst.”
There were half-blood fae and there were faebloods, humans with a teeny touch of fae blood in their bloodlines. Not enough to necessarily give them any power or abilities but enough to classify them as supernatural.
“Okay, I get the background, but how do I fit in? You said Padma knows? Why?”
“When I found out about the triplets, I wanted to ensure they were thoroughly protected. Dash has influence and power, but we agreed that there should be a plan B if anything were to go awry.”
