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I sucked in a sharp breath as the tears welled up again He was proud of me How many times had I wondered if he was? There had been so otten ods knew I had a lot of stupid left in me, but my father was proud ofwas said and done The pressure expanded until it was tooforward, I wrapped ht disappear in front ofthat hadn’t come too late, but just in ti them, but they were happy tears

I stayed withquestions and hi with a shake of his head or with his notepad On and off, I cried I kept thinking this was a dreaan to realize this was real

Maybe an hour into our reunion, so that I had never thought would

Dad met the other most importantfor ot to see what it was truly like to have a father in arded Aiden coolly; he looked like he was thinking about using the dagger the same way he had with Seth

Aiden was polite as ever, and he started to ive us privacy, but I captured his hand Our eyes met and he nodded I wanted him there, to share this with me, because none of us knean opportunity like this Aiden sat on the floor byover the back of my calf

I would’ve loved to have met my dad under better circuo out to dinner like normal people, but this…this was perfect in its oay

Honored that he would leave those ere still behind the walls to see if I was aht the pain and the panic when he showed o back to them They have no one else

My heart turned over heavily "But Ares knows you’rein the front door, he wrote I knoay around in there, and I stay out of Ares’ way If Ares was going to use me, he would’ve done so by now

"How can you be so sure?"

Aiden continued the soothing gesture "He ht Maybe Ares has some sort of code he operates by"

I doubted that My chest seized at the thought of hi into Ares’ hands

My father tipped his chin down as he scribbled on the pad I don’t want you doing what you’re planning

I opened my mouth, but he wrote on

But I know you have to Like I have to

He was right Daical parent My wildness caotwas only a few hours away,back to the Covenant I didn’t want to let go of him, and I didn’t for several htly as I could, and e broke apart, there was a stinging pain deep in s I’d ever experienced

In a small room with a pile of blankets as a bed, I stared out theover the caet some rest We’ll have to start out in the afternoon"

My head wasn’t on the battle ahead "What if I never see hi his ar ain"

Clinging to that, I tipped ainst his chest and closed o out to dinner"

He kissed my forehead "Pick a place"

"Anywhere normal Somewhere like Applebee’s"

Aiden chuckled "I think we canin his eainst his chest He held me as I rambled on about my dad, and then we moved on to less happy subjects While I didn’t want to tell him about Seth, I needed to

"I don’t like the sound of this," he said, resting his hands on either side of my head "If he doesn’t allow you to transfer the power or pulls any crap like he has before, you’ll be a sitting duck for Ares"

The upco face-off with Ares was a constant, low-level hu but tolerable But adding in the possibility of Seth going rogue at the last minute turned that pebble into a shark’s tooth

"I’ to work Once Seth has hisit"

"But that’s not acceptable" Aiden dropped his hands and turned, stalking toward the blanket "It’s too risky If--"

"We don’t have any other choice" I followed him "And I think…I think he needs to do it that hen the risk is the highest Like a…"

"Like how an addict stops doing drugs because they’re sitting in jail?"

I wrinkled s," he gru his shirt off his head Thick bands of muscle stretched and pulled taut