“Asa?”
He got out, circled the SUV, and opened my door. He reached in, gathered the bouquet, and tossed it on the asphalt. I took the initiative, slid out, and stomped until every petal was bruised. I thought that would be it, that the purpose was catharsis, but Asa had other plans.
Crouching above the mess, he waved a hand over it, an incantation on his lips, and the debris swirled away to nothing.
“How…?” I gawked at him. “You never mentioned you could do magic.”
“As I’ve said, Father is a big believer the word no doesn’t exist. He spells his gifts to appear, and he gives the target of his affection the opportunity to return to sender. He considers it foreplay. Daemons enjoy the hunt.” He warned me, “This isn’t a solution. He’ll push until he gets what he wants, or I kill him.”
For Asa to reject a present on my behalf would only cause his father to double down until he heard direct from me. But then his suggestion registered, and my tongue turned to sand in my mouth.
“Kill him?” I forced my chapped lips to move. “Then you would be High King. That’s not a solution either.”
“No,” he agreed. “It’s not.”
“We’ll figure it out.”
Fisting the front of his shirt, I led him inside to work up an appetite before dinner arrived.