Ilona Andrews - Magic Breaks

“Very well, let’s put a number on it. I promise to take no direct action personally, nor instruct my people to take any action against anyone within the territory my daughter has claimed, for the next hundred years. Should any of my people challenge you, they would do so without my permission and incur my wrath. I will, however, keep the installation of the People in Atlanta and their business will proceed as usual.”

My mind started working. “I want more. I want you to promise that neither you nor your people acting on your orders will ever harm Curran or Julie, in my territory or outside of it.”

“I’m being rather generous. It’s already a good trade,” Roland said to me. “You wish to protect your people. I’m the biggest threat you face. Eliminate me as a danger. If you refuse, blossom of my heart, I will come to Atlanta and I will bring fire and ruin to it. I will purge the Keep the way I purged Omaha.”

The earthquakes of Omaha had killed thousands. But they had always been viewed as a freak cataclysm brought on by a flare, a massive magic wave.

“You . . . ?”

He nodded.

“Why?”

“There was a Native power that chose to oppose me,” Roland said. “I didn’t strike the first blow. I merely retaliated. Is that disturbing to you?”

“Yes.”

“You will understand eventually. No challenge, no matter how insignificant, can be left unanswered. Even a cry in the wilderness must be acknowledged, because someone might have heard it.” Roland smiled. “I’m fortunate you survived. It will be so interesting to watch you grow. We have nothing but time on our hands.”

“You’re telling me to give up the man I love,” I said.

“I can’t say I approve of your choice. He’s powerful, but also paranoid and xenophobic. He will be difficult to bend.”

“Oh that’s rich,” Curran said.

I unclenched my teeth. “I can go years without worrying if you approve of me. And I have no interest in bending him. I like him the way he is. You have no right to comment on my relationships.”

“I’m your father. That’s the great privilege of parenthood; we can comment on whatever we want.”

“I don’t want you to be my father.”

“Of course you do,” Roland said. “You want to be loved, just like all of us want to be loved by our parents. Don’t you want to know about your mother? What she was like? About our family?”

“Our family consists of monsters.”

“Yes. But we are great and powerful monsters. Love demands sacrifices. When you love something, the way you love your people, Blossom, you must pay for it. Besides, I’m not forcing you to leave him, only the position of power that comes with him.”

“How exactly does this get around me challenging you?”

“You claimed a territory. I made you step down in retaliation. This demonstrates to those who are watching that I have power over you and our relationship is much more complex than the simple rebellion of you against me.”

“You are incredibly powerful,” I told him. “But I’m your daughter. If you hurt Curran or Julie, I will hunt you. I will dedicate every waking moment of my life to killing you, and I will succeed. Maybe not now. Maybe in another century or two. But I will never give up. Your powers work half of the time, when the magic is up. My sword works always. Promise me, Father. Promise it.”

Roland looked at Curran. “So be it. But this is the last concession I’m willing to make.”

“We have a deal,” Curran said. My heart broke into small jagged pieces.

Roland smiled again. “I always gave my children what I thought they wanted. Usually they wanted power. I am giving you what you need instead. Consider it an early wedding gift.”

There wouldn’t be a wedding. The Beast Lord and the Pack were one and the same. Even if we tried to make it work, we’d fail. The Pack would pull and pressure him to spend time at the Keep, where I couldn’t be, while I would pull and pressure him to stay with me.

Roland rose. “The two of you have some choices to make. I shall leave you to it. Oh, and I would like to be invited to the wedding.”

“No,” Curran and I said at the same time.

Roland paused by the door, his face wise, his eyes timeless. “I’ve often asked myself why I could never raise my children to be the people I envisioned them being. I believe it was because they were with me. Power corrupts, it is true, but none succumb to its rot as readily as the young. You don’t see it this way, but what I am giving you now is a blessing. You will understand in time.”

He put his hand on the door handle. “Almost forgot. Teleportation by water requires an incantation and the ignorance or agreement of the one being teleported. Aar natale. ”

The words clicked in my mind, their meaning clear. “Interrupt?”

My father nodded. “That’s all you have to say to stop a teleportation incantation.”

He walked out.

If I stayed with Curran, Atlanta would burn and the Pack would die. I could do nothing to stop it.

“Fighting him will be difficult,” Curran said.

“Yes.” Understatement of the year.

“Do you like being the Consort?” he asked.

“You’re kidding me, right?”

He came over, crouched by me, and took my hands into his. “Kate, do you like being the Consort?”

I couldn’t ask him to give up the Pack for me. But I couldn’t lie to him either. “No. I never wanted to be the Consort. I just wanted you.”

“Then problem solved. Barabas!” Curran called.

The door opened and Barabas stepped inside, his face puzzled. “I just saw a man leave. I’ve been at the guard station since we got here. I’m positive he didn’t come in. Unless I’m insane, none of us let him in.”

“I want you to release a general announcement to the Pack,” Curran said.

“Should I get a pen and paper?”

“No, it will be short.”

“I’m ready,” Barabas said.

Curran looked at me. “Effective tomorrow, we are retired. Jim has our blessing.”

What?

Barabas opened his mouth. Nothing came out.

“Take your time,” Curran said.

“You what?”

“We are stepping down,” Curran said.

“You can’t!”

“We just did.”

“But—”

“We’ll talk about the details in the morning.”

“But what do I tell them?”

Curran sighed. “Which them?”

“Them!” Barabas waved his arms. “Everybody.”

“Tell them we quit. Thank you, Barabas. That will be all.”

Barabas blinked several times, turned around, and left the room. The door behind him closed.

“You’re leaving the Pack?” I couldn’t believe it.

“No, we are leaving. Together. It’s freedom, Kate. Freedom from paperwork, freedom from sorting through petitions. We can have a day off whenever we want. We can have sex whenever we want. You can run Cutting Edge, I’ll help you apprehend bunnycats, we can go to Julie’s plays or whatever the hell she does, without having to make excuses . . .”

I put my hand on his lips. “But you’re the Beast Lord.”

He kissed my fingers and took my hand off his mouth. “I haven’t liked being the Beast Lord for a while now. I built all this so my family—so you—would be protected. Then I almost had to kill my own Council so that I could leave to save my mate. In the end, Roland just walked past all of my defenses. Screw this. I’m done with it. This is the best way to protect you and Julie for now.”

“You created all of this. I can’t ask you to give up your life for me.”

He smiled. “I know. You did it for me. You moved into the Keep with me. My turn.”

Words came running out of me, one over the other. “You realize that my father won’t leave us alone? He can’t help himself. He meddles. He won’t attack us directly. Instead, he’ll find some ancient god with an axe to grind and suggest to him that Atlanta might be a nice place to put down roots, just so he can watch us take him down. Didn’t you see him? He was so happy I passed his little test. He’s already thinking of ways he can manipulate and use me and you.”