“That’s what they tell me.” I returned his frank appraisal with zero interest. “You’re High King Stavros.”
“You will soon be family, so I’ll allow a degree of informality. You may call me Your Highness.”
Determined to play nice, for now, I bit my tongue until it bled. “Thanks.”
“Perhaps you prefer Master?” He studied my mouth. “I would like to hear it fall from your lips.”
The thinly veiled order made my knuckles itch for an introduction to his jaw. “I’m good.”
“Of that, I have no doubt.” He cocked an elbow in offering. “Please, join me for a walk.”
Amputation was preferrable to touching a man who had assaulted a woman as he had Asa’s mother.
“We would love to walk.” I threaded my arm through Asa’s instead. “Thanks for making time for us.”
“Of course.” His throat bobbed as if swallowing my dismissal required actual, physical effort. “Shall we?”
A subtle shift on the edge of my vision told me Clay would maintain a polite distance, unless we needed him.
“I understand from my son that you wish to be rid of your y’nai.”
“Yes.”
“Our people will expect a certain amount of cultural tolerance from you.”
“I’m prepared to honor Asa’s daemon heritage, as well as his fae heritage, in equal measure.”
A tendon flexed in Stavros’s neck, but he kept walking, taking time to nod to his loyal subjects in passing.
“Yet here you are, black witch, proving yourself a liar. You can’t afford to shun our customs, Rue.”
“What of my customs? I am, as you say, a black witch. Where is your cultural tolerance?”
“You are a fascinating creature, but I have yet to be convinced you’re a proper match for my son.”
Way to sidestep a question yet still give me an answer loud and clear.
“You have no say over who I mate.” Asa delivered the line with the ease of a person used to repeating an old argument. Often. “I’m a person of mixed heritages, and so is Rue.” White witch, black witch. A smidge of daemon. “We each must do our best to honor the differences between us.”
Amused by Asa’s show of good faith, his father shook his head as if indulging a precocious child.
“How about I keep the y’nai with the stipulation it can’t harm anyone without my permission?”
“That defeats the purpose of y’nai,” he said, gracing me with the same patronizing look.
“I would appreciate leniency in this matter.” I swallowed my pride. “Your Highness.”
My pride threatened to come back up and spill all over his shoes, but I managed to choke it down.
“I would appreciate it if you removed the wards blocking the y’nai access to your property.”
Yup.
I should have upchucked on his fancy leather shoes.
Hold on a minute.
The wards.