said, it left me up the proverbial creek. Unfortunately, I still wasn’t convinced I’d be any safer in Avalon.
“I think it is time for me to have a meeting with both Alistair and Grace,” Dad said.
I’d had too many nasty surprises today to react much to the announcement. “I thought they were the enemy.”
He lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. “In that they want to manipulate you for their own causes, yes. But they are both extremely powerful. I don’t believe either one is cold enough to want you to be killed, but even if they were, they wouldn’t want it to happen while they still had a chance of winning your loyalty.”
And wasn’t that a rousing endorsement.
“Do you think either one of them would want to challenge the Queens?” I asked.
Dad shook his head. “Alistair was born in Avalon and has lived all his life here. I can’t believe he’d have any ambitions in Faerie when his platform is all about the Fae severing their ties with the Courts and becoming ‘true citizens of Avalon,’ as he calls it. And Grace … has other reasons not to want to live in Faerie.”
“Such as…?”
Dad didn’t answer.
“Since it’s my life on the line, I think I have a right to know,” I argued.
His expression turned to one of distaste. “Lachlan.”
I waited a beat, but that seemed to be all he planned to say on the subject. “What about Lachlan?”
Dad’s lip curled into a sneer. “My sister has a certain … attachment to Lachlan. One that is not sanctioned even in Avalon, but one that would cause her to be completely shunned in Faerie.”
In other words, Grace and Lachlan were a couple. At least sort of. I couldn’t help remembering how Lachlan had spoken about her, with a kind of reverence almost. I doubted their relationship was exactly a partnership between equals.
Dad shook off his distaste for Lachlan. “I expect the healers to be finished with Finn within the next several hours. I will arrange a meeting with Alistair and Grace, and I will make certain you are well defended while I’m gone.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Shouldn’t I go with you? I have a pretty big stake in all this.”
Dad started to say something, then changed his mind. He thought about it a little more, then fixed me with a level gaze. “I promised I would be honest with you, and so I will be. You do, of course, have the biggest stake of all in what we decide. But, my dear child, you really have no say.”
I gaped at him.
“Honesty isn’t always pretty,” he said. “You are young and untried, and you don’t begin to know the extent of your powers. I’m also your father, and have legal custody.”
“My mom has legal custody.” And oh my God, did I owe her an incredibly supersized apology when—or, gulp, if—I ever saw her again. Right now, I’d happily nurse her through the aftermath of a bender, while pulling up our roots and moving and trying to keep her problem secret from my friends. That all sounded so easy when compared to having two Queens of Faerie trying to kill me.
“Believe me, Dana,” my father continued. “As far as Avalon is concerned, my claim on you is undisputed. Your mother isn’t here, but I am. That’s all that would matter.” He reached for me, but I twitched out of his grasp.
“You don’t get to touch me and act all paternal. Not after that speech!”
He raised his eyebrows. “Would you have preferred I lie to you? Because although I long ago turned my back on the Courts of Faerie, I was a key player there once upon a time, and one does not survive long without learning to lie with frightful facility.”
I didn’t fool myself into thinking he wouldn’t turn that skill on me in a heartbeat if he thought it would profit him. Hell, for all I knew, everything he’d told me today had been a complete fabrication. But the ugly truth was, if he wanted to keep me here, he could. That was one thing I was certain he wasn’t lying about.
Without another word to my father, I stood and walked away, climbing the stairs to my room while my father planned a meeting between all three of my would-be puppet masters. And you can bet the first thing I did when I got to my room was take off the white rose cameo, and toss it into the nearest