Chapter 102: Wiping that boastful grin off the devil’s face.
Ren pulled away from his chest, her expression distant and unreadable. "I’ll come with you," she answered but her voice was flat.
Kai narrowed his eyes. "Wife... are you angry with me?"
"No, but from now on, be honest with me. Why did Lutherieth attack here?"
Kai gently brushed his thumb along her cheek. "King Benkin made a deal with my father. The King’s daughter must marry one of his sons. He gave him Sunkiath in hopes of making him a conqueror... to draw Anarya’s father out. His plan for meeting Anarya and luring her took him decades. But he didn’t understand, that’s not how the Fae accepted someone. He might have made her love him, but the Fae King didn’t care about love."
Ren fell silent. She could guess the rest, but she wanted to hear it from him.
"Your mother told her father she’d fallen in love with a human. They rejected her demand, without even asking his name, and locked her in a magical tower. Later, her maiden, Avenieth, helped her escape, and your father rescued her. Sunkiath helped him cross the Fae barriers in the Monster Ocean. They married with my father’s approval as her uncle."
Kai paused. This part of the story was the hardest to tell. But she deserved to know.
"Your father had to uphold the rite of the first treaty, offering a daughter to my father. After Seraphina’s death, no queen in House D’orient had given birth to a legitimate heir. Your father only wanted Anarya... but he didn’t realize she would do anything to protect her child."
His voice grew quieter, heavier.
"She found out she was carrying a daughter, and it terrified her. Anarya loved me deeply, but she couldn’t bear the thought of her daughter marrying a demon... or even a half-demon."
His face darkened, jaw clenching with old resentment.