“Really?” I snap. “Since when does she need one?”
“Papa!” Delinda yells in my ear and I put aside my animosity from earlier to let her go to him.
“How about you go and see your little sister?” Remiel suggests after giving her a tight squeeze. “She is with Marguerite.”
“Yes!” she squeals and runs off without a second thought.
I spin back to Dracul. “No!” I say loudly. “You cannot violate her like that.”
“Violate?” he repeats, looking askance. “No, Aefre, that isn’t…”
“Oh please. I know all about the balancing process,” I say scathingly.
Remiel makes a loud grunt that causes me to look at him strangely. He has a weird look on his face. “Yes, so do I,” he growls.
“Aefre, please,” Dracul says. “What do you take me for?”
“Someone who has taken my daughter away and is quite happy for some beast to get his hands on her!” I yell.
“You are overreacting,” he says to me as Remiel comes closer to me to calm me down. “To’Kah is one of the best Guardians we have had in a really long time and he was…unoccupied. It stands to reason, my heir would be assigned him.”
“I don’t care about…”
He holds a hand up to shut me up.
“Her Power doesn’t need balancing while she is so young. He is there to guide her, protect her.”
“Well…” I blow out a breath. “Well, that means nothing. I don’t want him anywhere near her. I remember his ways.”
“He will not lay a hand on her,” Dracul storms at the suggestion. “She will remain pure and honorable until a suitor has been selected for her.
“S-suitor?” I choke out. I look at Remiel. “Did you know about this?”
“No,” he seethes.
Well…good. I would hate to have had to kill him, or more likely, die trying.
“No suitors,” I say, shaking my head. “She is too young for any of this.”
“She will soon be mature.”
“Only if I leave her there with you,” I shout at him. “She is coming home now. She has already grown more than she should have. I have missed out on too much of her childhood already. I will not let you take any more from me.”
“You don’t have a choice,” Dracul says, not unkindly. “It is what it is.”
“Only because you say it is. She is my daughter.”
“And she is my heir. Do we have to go over this again?” he asks with a heavy sigh.
“Until you see reason,” I say steadfastly, crossing my arms.
“Aefre.” Remiel warns me to back down, but it’s not happening. Dracul won’t hurt me. I hope.
“Mama?” Delinda asks me, coming back into the room with a concerned look. “Why are you fighting?”
“We aren’t, baby,” I say to her immediately, giving her a big smile. “I just miss you and want you to come home.”
“Oh,” she says in relief. “I miss you too, but I like it there. You should come and live there. Can she, Uncle D? Can she?”