Page 27 of January Blues
“Sorry! I got so excited to see you, I just completely forgot my manners. I’m Amorandes—“ there was a cough from the room behind him, “Sorry, Prince Amorandes.” He gave a careless shrug, “but you can call me Mori, or Dad if you prefer.”
Prince?
Prince Amorandes?
My father was a prince?
Goddess save me, I was about to expire on the floor from shock. Toth’s hand was the only thing anchoring me in reality. He squeezed it again, telling me that this was all real.
“Your Highness, perhaps you should allow our guests a chance to enter the room, and take some refreshments?” There was a shard of amusement in the cut glass accent coming from the room behind my father.
“Ah, that’s Gregoris, my guard.” He ushered us into the room. “Come, take a seat. I want to get to know you.”
Mori was interesting. I wanted to be confident enough to call him Father or Dad, but we weren’t there yet. He was warm and welcoming, quick with assurances that the rest of our family—he had insisted I call them mine too—were over the moons. Hell had three, apparently. Everyone was excited that I was finally unbound and able to meet them.
It was just that he wanted to do everything today or right now. He was so impatient that it was almost funny.
“I’m really sorry, Mori, but we have plans for dinner this evening or I would have loved to see the palace,” I told him, genuinely upset. It was difficult to tell him no, and I really did want to see the place and the rest of my new family. Except going with Mori would mean bailing on plans with Damon. There was no way I could let Damon down, plus I wanted him and Toth to meet.
“Ah.” Mori looked crestfallen. It actually hurt to see that expression on his objectively handsome face. The guy was my dad. I wasn’t checking him out. Also, I had a mate. I just wondered if being attractive was an incubus trait. Why hadn’t I come with that ability? Then again, Damon called me cutie all the time, and Toth found me attractive, so perhaps I’d gotten some of that from Mori.
“Unless… did you maybe want to come meet my best friend? Toth will be meeting him for the first time as well.”
“Truly? I could come to dinner with you?” Gregoris coughed. “Of course, Gregoris would be with me. Is that an issue?” I couldn’t tell if he wanted me to insist that his guard stay behind. It was difficult to get a read on their relationship.
“I’m sure it won’t be a problem if you both come. I’ll check.” Drawing my phone out of my pocket, I noticed a full bar of signal. “It’s so cool we get a signal here!” I saw Toth, my father, and Gregoris share an amused look. “Okay, I know, magic.” Damon replied instantly as he usually did, proclaiming his excitement to meet my dad and mate at the same time.
Toth’s phone started ringing. He looked at the screen and sent it to voicemail. A few seconds later, it started up again, and once again, he sent it to his voicemail. “Who is it?” I asked.
He looked embarrassed, and I realized why after he answered. “My master. He knows my current contract is done. I’m guessing he wants to negotiate the end of our contract.”
“You are under a contract?” Mori asked.
Poor Toth looked so uncomfortable, so I answered. “It’s how we met and I’m thankful for that or I wouldn’t have a mate.”
“How so?”
“His master offered his services to a human who wanted me to mess up at work and lose my job. Turns out that just being a half demon was enough for that.” Toth shot me a grateful smile.
Mori’s eyes filled. The demon shared every expression he felt on his face. “So it was my magic dissolving that lost you your job?”
Toth released my hand so I could go to Mori and wrap an arm around him. It felt weird to be comforting the person who created me, who had protected me from being shunned my entire life by hiding my demon side. “Without that clever bit of magic to protect me, we might not have found out that we are mates.”
“I’m just sorry I wasn’t allowed to take you here when you were born. I hate that the witches kept you and treated you so badly.”
“It wasn’t all bad.” That was the truth. When left to my own devices, I enjoyed my childhood. I lived a life of privilege that many didn’t get. My siblings were kind to me. My parents weren’t exactly warm, but they didn’t mistreat me, not until the end. That had been hard. If I’d known it was coming, perhaps I’d have been more prepared emotionally.
Mori explained his foolish contract, which had pulled him into my grandfather’s employment. My grandfather hadn’t been a very talented witch, but under Mori’s guidance, his star rose in the coven. With Mori’s help, he’d gained wealth, influence, and a second wife. That wife was a single mom to Rose, Poppy’s mother, and a wealthy, talented witch in her own right. Mori helped my father charm her. Then they had my mother, Dahlia.
Lily, my grandmother, hadn’t liked the practice of keeping demons under contract, so urged her husband to send Mori home. It was only after their divorce, when my mother was an adult, that my grandfather, who had lost a lot in the divorce, called for Mori again.
“I truly cared about your mother. It hurt to feel that it was just lust on her part. I wanted her to love me, but I was just a tool to them. Her father wanted to use her to control me. Then we found out she was pregnant.” His eyes met mine. “I offered to take you to my home as soon as you were born. They refused and arranged a marriage for Dahlia. I was told that they would release me from my contract if I helped with the binding. I had no choice.”
“I know, Mori. You did the best you could.”
“They made me sign a new contract or otherwise I could have taken you. Just weeks after you were born, I inherited the title of prince. With that came immunity from deals.” He sat up. “You are immune!”
“I am?”
