A Little Green Magic (The Little Coven #1) - Isabel Wroth Page 0,89

and cold, Ivy felt better for knowing he was ignorant of their mother's murder.

“And? Did it help the drought?”

“For a little while. Her blood wasn't as potent as I'd hoped.” Her father seemed to be waiting for her to burst into tears, scream at him, call him a monster and a murderer, and was obviously confused by her calm refusal to do so. The beast across from her didn't deserve a single tear from her.

Later, in the privacy of her own home, Ivy would have a meltdown of epic proportions, and Uriah would be right there to hold her.

Her chest was tight, though. It hurt to speak. To breathe. To act as though she didn't feel like her insides had just been hollowed out with a rusty, jagged spoon.

“It's been almost two weeks since you killed Le Doux. What took you so long to find me?”

With little more than a suspicious narrowing of his eyes, Donnatar answered. “As I said, at first, I only sensed a mere spark of your presence. Your powers had been bound for so long, and then that spark grew a little brighter, then a little brighter still. You were tentatively practicing, which gave me a general location to begin my search.”

He reached over and clapped Ilex on the shoulder that rocked her brother in his seat, “I gave your brother one last chance to scout ahead and bring back news of your location. This time, finally, he returned and reported his success, but you were so very weak. I doubted you would be of any real use to me at all.

“He got a glimpse of those Brownies and began studying you, using them as spies to glean what details he could of your life, and as soon as you lit up the night with your truly stunning display of fertility magic, I knew you had finally unfurled. Like a lotus blossom, rising up from the muck and filth to unfurl beautiful petals. Tell me, did your beast satisfy your needs? Or did you ache for more?”

“How many children do you have?” she countered, refusing to let the seed of that question take root and grow like a weed inside her mind or Uriah's.

Her father smirked at her knowingly, but let it go for the moment. “I honestly don't know the exact number. Several hundred, at least.”

“Impressive. You said you were running out of time to find me. What's the rush all of a sudden?”

Donnatar took another lengthy pause, lips pursed as though trying to find a way around their deal. “As Donnar said, our lands are dying. The people are suffering, and crops are withering. It cannot go on any longer, or I fear the damage will be permanent. The ritual must be performed on this coming summer solstice.”

The next solstice to come was Lithia, where light gave way to darkness, summer fading to autumn. Not the ideal time to renew or replenish dying crops or people.

“You said it yourself: you see nothing of yourself in me. I'm a disappointment, just like my brother. You're a god; what can I possibly do to heal the damage to your lands that you cannot?”

The angry flush that painted her father's cheeks was unbelievably satisfying. “I won't know the answer to that until we try.”

Ivy nodded, giving thoughtful frown. “Why was it so important that my brother and I be born on Imbolc?”

“To be conceived and born on a solstice day gives any child extraordinary powers, obviously,” her father told her, in a tone that suggested she was an idiot for having asked. “I hoped the wild magic of two fire festivals and the rebirth of spring would tip the scales and ensure your powers were more like mine than your mother's. At this point, I'm not so sure it worked.” Donnatar shot a pointed glance at Ilex.

“As I understand it, the realm of the Fae is pure magic, so how can your territory be in such dire straits?” Ivy's question made Ilex look to their father with an expectant lift of his brows.

Donnatar shrugged elegantly. “My territory is not densely populated, which means rituals and magics are not routinely performed on the lands, and I am often traveling around to other territories to perform fertility rites.

“Your brother did well enough for a time with what little he had to work with. If things remain imbalanced as they are, the dark Fae will be able to claim my lands as their own, and the only thin they’ll plant