Page 29 of Magical Sass for Three
“Athena thinks she’s a leader,” Albert said. “She’s not. I’m the one who ran the Miami Coven. Not her. We’re not her for you because of what you think you saw, Hanna. We’re here because I want you to take Athena’s place. You’re ten times more powerful than she could ever be. Imagine what we could do together, father and daughter, side by side.”
Hanna couldn’t stop herself. She shook, laughing hysterically. It was too fucked up to not be crazy. Her mother was insane, but her father was downright psychopathic. She leaned over as the laughter rolled through her.
“What’s so funny?” Albert asked. His face matched the seriousness in his tone, and he looked like he’d never experienced anything hysterical in his entire life. “I ask you to rule by my side, and you laugh at me? I don’t think that’s something to laugh at.”
“Mom is a raving bitch,” Hanna said, “always has been.”
Albert quirked a brow. “Is that supposed to be amusing?”
“It is when you make her look like a tame lion.”
“I’m glad you’re entertained.” Albert pointed to the witch trackers and then to Riana. “Kill her.”
Hanna stopped laughing and stared at the man who called himself her father. “What? No! You can’t kill her. She’s done nothing to you.”
“I know she means something to you,” Albert said, “but she’s the only thing keeping you from joining me. Her and those disgusting wolves of yours, but they can be dealt with later.”
“So you’d kill her to get to me? Your own daughter?” That made no damn sense, no matter how he seemed to have rationalized it.
He scoffed. “Riana isn’t my daughter.”
“Of course she is,” Hanna said. “We are both McCoys.”
“That may be true, but your little sister still isn’t mine.”
“None of what you’re saying makes any sense,” Riana said.
“You’re my niece, Riana. Not my daughter.” He said it as if it left a foul taste in his mouth, and he couldn’t wait to get it out.
Hanna tried to wrap her head around what he was saying. She and Riana stared at each other, both lost in the confusion.
“Your mother thought it would hurt me to sleep with my brother,” Albert said. He pointed to Riana. “That right there is their spawn.”
Hanna allowed the shock to wash over her. So much made sense as he spoke. How much her mother hated her and loved her sister. The reasoning for her mother banning magic from their house. If Albert was the experience she had with witches and magic, then Hanna understood her dislike. It still didn’t give her mother cause to be cruel, but it made her get it.
She couldn’t breathe, but she knew one thing. Riana was still all that mattered, and she was getting her out of this.
“Fine,” she said. “I’ll come with you. Just let her go. I won’t put up a fight.”
“You say that, but we both know better. As soon as you get the chance, you will come back here and check on her. I just can’t have that. No emotional attachments at all. That’s best for all witches.”
“Fuck you!” She spat at the ground near her father’s feet. “Riana isn’t someone you can harm because you think it’s best for me. She’ll always be my sister. No matter what our blood says, and she’s still your niece.”
His eyes went cold and sent a creepy shiver through her spine as if his hands had touched her. “I killed my brother for betraying me. How much do you think I care about his bastard offspring?” He stared at her as his hand filled with a gray cloud of power. “You need to learn early that love has no place in powerful witches. Maybe I need to be the one to sever your ties to prove how right I am.” His eyes never left her as he shot the rolling cloud at her sister like it was an arrow of smoke.
“No!” Hanna screamed as the cloud pierced through her sister’s body, and Riana fell to the ground.
“Constance, Abigail, restrain her,” Albert said.
Hanna tried to move, but two people gripped her shoulders until she was immobile. She looked up to see the woman who kissed Derek on one side of her and a woman who looked like her sister on her other side.
Both women dug their fingers into Hanna’s shoulders. Sharp points ripped into her flesh until Hanna could smell her blood. She couldn’t move as claws dug into her arms, restraining her.
Hanna pushed through the pain in her shoulders and stared up at Albert. “When you die,” Hanna said between gritted teeth, “I’m going to be the one to kill you and send you to the deepest layer of hell you can slither into.”
“Now, that sounds like a true daughter of mine,” Albert said, a twisted smile of pride filled his angular features. “We should get a move on. I’m sure those two mutts you’ve acquired are sniffing their noses straight towards us.”
“I will never be your daughter,” Hanna said, fighting through the pain. “I’ll never be a part of you. I’m a part of Riana. I’m a part of my mates. I’m part of everyone who loves me beyond what I am, and I’m strong because I love them back in return.” Saying that out loud felt freeing as if something had held her back and then broke free.
