The faint lilac haze around me flickered, then died, and Amaya's blade became shadowed once more. I tensed but, despite my fears, my father didn't immediately attack.
Not that I relaxed any. "It's a failing also shared by the Aedh. I hardly think Lucian had planned to die so soon."
"Perhaps not, but he was aware of its approach, as you well know."
He paused, and that vague sense of amusement vanished. My grip on Amaya tightened so abruptly it was a wonder my knuckles weren't glowing.
"Lucian's plans are no excuse for you having lost the second key, however."
"No, because you own some of that blame." My voice was curt, which was perhaps unwise given the state of both my strength and Amaya's. "You not only knew he was fucking the sorceress Lauren, but also that he was working with the sorcerer who stole the first key. You didn't tell me the first fact until after I'd questioned you about her, and you didn't even bother mentioning the second."
"Because it should not have been relevant. No human should have been able to access the fields, let alone the gates."
"But he had Lucian's help, and he's a very powerful dark sorcerer."
"Lucian could not attain full energy form, and therefore should not have been able to step onto the fields."
"So how the hell did the sorcerer get to the gates with the first key if he didn't have Lucian's help?"
His anger swirled around me, fierce and frightening, but this time, its force was not aimed at me. And it had a rather frustrated edge to it.
"That I do not know."
And it killed him to admit it – a situation that cheered me up no end. "We think the sorcerer accessed the fields via stone portals formed by both black and Aedh magic —"
"While that is more than possible," my father interrupted, "he should not have been able to see the light and dark paths, let alone access them."
"Unless he had Lucian's help."