My father waved another hand as if Jarek were an unruly child.
“You will stand down, Jarek, as I told you before. We came here for my daughter, not for bloodshed.”
Papa’s attention swiveled, his eyes narrowed in speculation, focusing in on where Logan and I stood shoulder to shoulder with our hands tightly woven.
“You ask me to leave you with a man who stole from me? A man who touched my daughter when he was forbidden to even speak to her? The man who killed my brother? The same man you promised you would never see again if I spared his life?”
Shock impaled Logan.
An arrow to his heart.
He nearly bowed in two, and his breaths turned ragged, and I could feel the brutal thunder of his heart.
As if a piece of him had simultaneously broken and healed.
Because now he truly knew what it meant when I’d told him there was no other choice to make.
I’d chosen him.
I lifted my chin. “Yes. I’m asking you right now, as my father, to see me as your daughter. As a human being. As a woman who loves and hurts and has needs. I’m asking you to let her finally have the chance to live.”
“And if I say no?” That he issued to Logan, a challenge in the rise of his brow.
Logan’s hand clamped down so fiercely it was close to painful. “Then we’ll have a war I doubt either of us want to fight.”
My father chuckled a low, disbelieving sound. “You know, you were the smartest boy to ever pass through my halls, your mind quick and your skill natural, but also the most unwise.”
I could almost hear Logan’s teeth grind. “If you think my falling in love with your daughter was unwise, then you’re the biggest fool of all. Loving her is the only thing I’ve ever done right.”
Emotion welled.
So thick.
So real.
A dubious sound puffed from my father’s mouth, and he took a step back, eyed Logan when he said, “I expect you and my daughter in Los Angeles on Friday. We will have a discussion. Without an audience.”
He slanted a direct look at Jarek when he stated it.
My own shock had me rocking forward, the ground shaking beneath my feet.Was he actually hearing me this time?
It was the same second Jarek snapped. He flew forward in an effort to get around Jud, only it was like slamming into a brick wall.
Jud held him back by the upper arms while Logan positioned himself in front of me. Jarek thrashed and tried to break free, threats ripping from his mouth, “You have just signed your death warrant. I promise you. I will take back Aster and the stones you stole. Where are they?”
Desperation wheezed from his outrage.
My stomach twisted.
The stones had been nothing but a curse.
“Let’s go.” My father lifted a hand in the air to indicate it was finished.
Jud shoved Jarek back. “I’d suggest you disappear, asshole.”
Dizziness spun my head, and I tried to remain upright, unable to believe the possibility.
That my father might actually see.