The Shadow Princess (Chronicles of the Stone Veil 6)

Mind racing, I try to understand the implications. She could have been in serious trouble had she been found out. Had Heph silently taken the banishment and all the heat to shift suspicion away from her? I’ll have to ask him.

“Unlike Heph, your mother never hurt anyone. Like you, she used her own blood to amp her spells.”

I nod, appreciating the distinction. “Then how did she get involved with you?”

“She summoned me,” he replies. “She used her blood and a very old piece of magic. She called to me naked on a full pink moon out in the forest over a strong ley line.”

Oddly, I don’t cringe at the image. It’s almost beautiful in my mind, but it doesn’t jibe with what Heph told me. “My uncle said he was with her when she summoned you.”

Amell nods. “The last time, when I decided to accept her summons. But before that, she had called many times as she was desperate for help. She wasn’t asking for me specifically, nor was she calling to the Underworld. She simply wanted a baby for your father, so that he would be happy. She suspected he couldn’t have children. She knew it would destroy him if he knew it was his fault. So she decided to do whatever it took to get pregnant with you.”

“Did your magic make my mom conceive?” I ask.

His gaze never wavers. “Yes. And I made sure that you were given abilities to harness my type of magic if you wanted it.”

“Did… did… you and her… did you both…” The words lodge in my throat.

“Did we have sex? Did she, in essence, cheat on your father?”

I nod mutely.

“Your mother was a stunning woman. She was naked in a forest begging for help on more than one occasion. She spilled her own blood as a sacrifice to me. There was no way I wasn’t going to have sex with her.”

I force myself to brush past that tidbit. “It’s one thing to have sex, but it’s another to give someone a child. It’s monumental, some would say. What was the price?”

“Did I mention the part where I said your mother was naked and—”

Holding up my hand, I shake my head. “No sex details. But I know damn well you just don’t go around impregnating women.”

“How do you know that?”

The question throws me off guard. “Do you?”

Amell grins and shakes his head. “No. You’re my only child.”

“So, why did you say yes?” I push. Because if it was just sex, it would have been just sex and no baby. Just as he might have had the power to force conception, he had the power to deter it. “Surely, she paid some price for the gift you gave her.”

Amell leans forward in his chair, a forearm on the table to get closer to me. “Your mother requested a favor, but I realized I could get something from it too.”

“And what was that?” I ask, knowing deep in my heart if he tells me it was just to get his rocks off, I’ll blast him with shadow magic.

“A legacy,” he replies. “I wanted something of my own to carry on a part of me. Something I could have pride in. My existence in the Underworld was complicated, but I wanted something good to come out of me. And so, my price to Selena was that I wanted the ability to check in on you. You’d never know it, of course. But over the years, I visited and met with your mother. I’d observe you from afar, and your mother would fill me in on how you were doing. I got to observe you having an incredibly fulfilling life, and I got to see how well King Jaron carried out my fatherly duties. He loved you beyond all measure and was your true father. And no matter what you might think, your mother never betrayed him. She may have given me her body, but I could see into her soul during our joining, and it was your father she was thinking about the entire time. So don’t ever think badly of her.”

“I wouldn’t,” I assure him, my voice raspy with emotion. Amell wanted to be my father too? From the very beginning, yet he couldn’t. He had to stay in the shadows, which is irony at its greatest.

Amell stands again and pulls me into another hug. “That’s the whole story. Your mother wanted something very badly, and she wanted it to make your father happy. I gave it to her, and I got something out of it too. It’s a piece of your family history that I hope you can at least understand, if not accept.”

“I can,” I say with a watery laugh, dashing at tears. “I will.”

My Dark Fae father kisses me on the top of the head. “Call me if you need me.”