Page 70 of Mortal Blood
“And I said it’s not going to happen.”
He paused for a beat. “I could make you,” he said, his voice husky. “I could compel you.”
My heart raced. Not from desire. Not from fear. From fury. “Try it, and I’ll cut out your heart.”
Anger flashed across his perfect face.
“Lower your hands,” he murmured, his voice laced in compulsion. “And put them behind your back.”
I was powerless to do anything but watch in horror as my hands lowered and tucked themselves behind my back. Wait, no I wasn’t. The thought smashed into me like a lifeline. His compulsion affected my hands, nothing else. I lifted my knee and slammed it between his legs. He twisted quickly, catching it on his thigh, and stared at me, surprise flitting across his face. And then he threw his head back and laughed.
“You always surprise me, pet.”
His compulsion fell away and I jerked my hands in front of me, ready to beat the shit out of him—or at least try. Because his moods pivoted in a heartbeat, and him laughing now did not mean a single good thing.
He chuckled again and raised his hands. “Let’s not get…physical. Wouldn’t want you to be late for whatever it is you’re in a hurry to do. How long do you have left on your Cailleach stone?”
I dropped my hands and stared at him, trepidation dripping down my spine like ice water. “How do you know about that?”
“I’m fae, pet. I can smell the magic from here.”
At least he wasn’t threatening to make me kiss him anymore.I blew out a sigh and glanced up at the sky. “About four hours.”
“Cutting things a little fine, aren’t you?”
“Yeah. So if you don’t mind—”
“But Idomind. Your manners are worse than ever. Tell me, what do you have to do?”
“None of your business.”
“I’ve decided it’s my business,” he said, and then his voice took on the lilting tones of compulsion. “Tell me your task.”
“I have to leave the academy,” I forced out, and Davorin shook his head, reaching out and playing my hair through his fingers.
“I can feel you fighting my compulsion, you know,” he said as he closed the gap between us again. “And it amuses me to watch you struggle…but your half-truths do not amuse me.”
“Well, I’m so sad for you,” I spat.
“I know the smell of Aodh’s magic, and I know Aodh would not ask you for something as inane as leaving the academy’s grounds, even against the council’s orders. So tell me your task. The truth—all of it.”
I grit my teeth but the compulsion washed over me in waves.
“I have to meet someone!” The words burst from my mouth, and no matter how I tried to lock my jaw or clamp my lips together, I was as powerless to stop them leaving, or the words that followed, because the compulsion demanded thefulltruth. “To meet my father.”
Surprise flickered through his piercing eyes. “Well, thatisinteresting, isn’t it? The council would surely be interested to know aboutthat. Perhaps, little criminal, the apple does not fallfar from the tree?”
“I’m nothing like him,” I snapped, shaking my head sharply and pulling my hair from his fingers. “He’s a sadistic ass who screwed my mom over and scared her so much that—”
I clamped my mouth shut. Why the fuck was I telling him that? It must have been the lingering traces of his compulsion.
“I wonder, then, if he’s such a bad man, and you’re such a paragon of good, what he desires with meeting you, pet, hm?”
I’d been wondering the same thing—albeit in a helluva lot less pompous way.
“No idea,” I said. “And if you don’t let me go, I’m never going to find out. And then Aodh’s going to do whatever he does to people who break deals with him, and honestly, I’d really rather not findthatout.”
“No, you most definitely would not,” he agreed, making no move to get out of my way. “How do you intend to survive this meeting with your father?”
