A Little Green Magic (The Little Coven #1) - Isabel Wroth Page 0,90

in the soil are the bodies of my people.”

Ivy wasn't sure how she felt about that answer. “Do you agree with our father as to the cause of the problems in your territories?”

“Of course, sister. I agree with our father in all things,” Ilex said with a saccharine smile that she didn't buy for one minute.

“Good to know. This ritual you need my help with, Father, do you require my magic to replenish the land or my blood?”

A petulant look twisted her sire's handsome features. He even clicked his tongue in reproach and sank down into his chair as though a grand surprise he'd spent so much time setting up had just been revealed.

“If your magic is not powerful enough to get the job done, blood will be required. Though, with our binding agreement in place, you'll have to be the one to cut yourself. Or your beast can do it.”

Ivy hummed around a brittle smile and decided she'd had enough. She knew how and why her mother had been killed, she had the answers as to what would happen to her should Ivy step foot on her father's lands in Fairy, and a deal was a deal.

Ivy sighed, glad this was almost over. “I only have one more question.”

Donnatar gave a sound of eager relief. “Thank the gods. This is growing more tedious by the minute.”

“I have a twin, a brother born of the same mother. What is his full and true name?”

Her father huffed as though the question was ridiculous and unnecessary. “He told you his true name, like an idiot.”

“Now I'm asking you. Are you refusing to answer me, Father?” Ivy pressed, feeling Rowena tense and press her leg tightly against Ivy's. Uriah squeezed her hand, all of them waiting on bated breath for the forest god to speak.

“Of course not, daughter, I suppose I simply found your question redundant. His full and true name is Donnar, son of Donnatar the Horned One, Prince of the Western Hills.”

Ivy released the breath she'd been holding, unable to stop the trickle of tears that accompanied her sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

Donnatar thumped his fist triumphantly on the table, grinning ear to ear, even went so far as to slap his son on the back again like he'd won a great victory.

Uriah squeezed her hand, his gaze filled with pride. He reached across to wipe the tears from her cheeks with a tender hand. “Finish it, honey.”

“There is nothing to finish!” Donnatar declared jovially, all his anger and irritation absent now that he thought he'd gotten his way. “Say your goodbyes, and let's away. You'll like your new home, daughter. Plenty of woods for your beast to roam, a palace filled with every comfort imaginable for you to delight in, servants to obey your every command.

“All your needs will be seen to, and should you complete the ritual without failure, I'll name you Queen of my territory, and it will be yours to govern from now until the end of your days.”

“That sounds nice,” Ivy told him, glancing sideways when Abel let out the hissing equivalent of a leonine laugh. “But Uriah and I won't be going with you.”

Rowena was smiling brightly, having leaned back to finish off the last of her tea. She tugged on Abel's mane and said. “Hush, you. Don't steal her thunder.”

Donnatar stood up and laid his hands flat on the table, leaning forward far enough that between his antlers and his mass of curly dark hair, he blotted out the sun as he loomed over her. At any other time, the menacing snarl he gave would have made the hair on her arms rise up and quiver. Today, right now, not so much. She’d just won the battle, and he had no idea.

“Are you so foolish as to break a binding contract with the Fae?”

“Of course not, Father,” Ivy parroted sweetly. “But you failed to fulfill the terms of our contract, and by those terms, I'm not going anywhere but to my home with my mate and my coven.”

“You...” Donnatar took a slow, bracing breath and pointed a thick finger at her, the gold of his eyes turning black as pitch. “I answered every single one of your ridiculous questions truthfully.”

Ivy tipped her head to the side and spread her hands with an apologetic shrug. “Just because you believe something to be true, doesn't mean it's the truth.”

“And what, pray tell, does that mean?” He bit from between clenched teeth. Ivy could see him quivering