Heir of the Coven (Daughters of the Warlock 3)

“I don’t,” I insisted. “Tell me why you stay here, with people who don’t admire you. Respect you. Nothing. I just want to understand.”

He bowed his head. “I told you, it’s my home.”

I sighed and rolled onto my back, pulling the blankets up over us. But I waited, in case he was willing to give me something. I pressed my lips together, to keep myself from saying something I would later regret, for pushing him when he didn’t want to be pushed.

Finally, after so long I was almost asleep, he started. “I don’t have any affinity to the Fae people. I... don’t know my father. No-one has stepped forward to claim me. No-one seems to know who he is, or was. I don’t know why. Is he alive, dead? I have no idea.”

I opened my eyes and looked over to him. “So, you feel like an orphan.”

“I am an orphan. The only family I’ve ever known is my aunt, and her... cronies. The Witches who hated me, feared me...”

“What about your aunt?” I furrowed my brow.

He smiled, and this time I saw the most amount of warmth for a single person I’d ever seen on Tavlor’s face. “She loved me, the best she could,” he said. “She didn’t have any children of her own, and she loved her sister. So, I can’t complain about how she treated me. She was nice in a world full of hate.”

“So...” I tried putting everything together. “So, you feel like the only family you have is here, and since she was part of the Council, then you would have grown up respecting them. Wanting to be a part of their world...”

He nodded.

Damn...

I sighed. “I understand, I suppose,” I said, lifting a shoulder in a strange shrug since I was still lying on my back. “I just wish you could see yourself the way I see you, rather than the way they do. It’s not fair.”

Tavlor rolled onto his side so he could look straight at me. “Well, I could... if you wanted to open your mind up to me again.”

“Yes!” I twisted over and grinned at him. Why hadn’t I thought about that before?

He frowned. “You’re not afraid, at all, are you?”

“Why would I be?” I asked him.

There was a glimmer of something I didn’t catch that crossed his face. Relief? Wonder? Surprise? I wasn’t sure. It still made no sense to me and I lifted my brow, hoping he would get the point and understand I was asking him to continue.

“Most people would never allow such an intrusive spell because it reveals everything,” he said slowly. His eyes dropped to my lips and I sucked in a breath. How I longed for him to kiss me again. “Every thought and feeling.”

He waited, as though expecting me to go ‘oh, then I can’t let you.’

Instead, I shrugged. “Go for it. I’m not hiding anything.”

And I wasn’t.

If anything, this was the perfect way to show Tavlor just how much I felt for him.

From the moment I’d seen him, I’d been in awe of his beauty, our attraction, his strength and power.

I tilted my head towards him in invitation.

He leaned over and placed his palm on my forehead. I closed my eyes and relaxed, knowing that these sorts of spells could hurt if you fought them.

Tavlor’s words slipped into my mind effortlessly and I let him explore, uncaring about where he went or what he saw. There was a gentle coolness in my mind. I knew it was him. I knew he was trying to be careful, almost like he was afraid of what he was going to see. Like he didn’t quite trust me.

Not yet.

I wasn’t sure if I could influence what he would see inside my mind, but I let my memory wander back to the first time I’d seen him. How strong he’d looked, how tough. How male.

And how much I’d wanted him.

When Tavlor finally let go, I opened my eyes, only to find there were tears in his.