“I agree with Mera,” Amanda said and took a sip from her glass goblet. “Cadmus felt right.”
Ethim glared. “Why the hell were you feeling him at all?” Jealousy, from her father?
“Now, Ethim. You know you’re the only man for me. I just wish you’d be home more often.”
Ellie stared in shock at her mother’s smile of sincerity. Who the hell is this woman impersonating my mother?
“We’ve had this discussion. Considering this is the last year I agreed to, I’d say you’re right where you belong, Mandy.” Her father looked smug with satisfaction, and Ellie took a harder look at her parents. Using the senses that seemed to be growing stronger the longer she stayed in Foreia, she noted the joining bonds of Dark energy from her father holding tight to her mother. And her mother’s odd, purple signature bands of energy invited and latched onto her father eagerly.
“You two are confusing as hell,” she murmured, fixated on the power of desire blossoming before her. “I thought you had this love-hate thing going, but it looks more like lust-hate, and frankly, that’s way more than I wanted to know.”
“Oh.” Her mother blushed. “Ethim, I think it’s time we explained a few things.”
He scowled. “We? No. All of this animosity and misunderstanding occurred because of a promise you forced me to make. You fix it.” Without looking at her, he snapped at Mera, who remained hovering in the background. “And not one word from you.”
With a snif, Mera set the fruit tray by Ellie’s side and left the room.
Ellie ate a strawberry, surprised to find herself suddenly famished. “As much as I want to know what you two are talking about, I’d like to see Cadmus safe and sound first.”
Jonas entered the dining area, putting to rest Ellie’s other worry.
“Jonas.” She rushed to him and inspected him carefully before giving him a huge hug. “I’m so glad you’re alright.”
“Yeah, well, it’ll take more than a jealous Storm Lord to bring me low. Don’t worry, Remir’s bringing him in. Apparently, she’s concluded her meeting.”
Who the hell is she? Ellie was dying to know, but Jonas’ next words to her stopped her cold.
“You disappeared with Cadmus for quite a while, Ellie. What were you two doing all that time?” At her flush, he frowned. “Don’t think we’re not going to talk about it.” Did they have to discuss this in front of her parents? “Ethim should know—”
“—when to butt out of his daughter’s love life.” Amanda interrupted. “Now, Jonas, you’re right in the middle of our messy family history that I’m supposed to explain.” Her face lit up. “Unless you’d rather?”
Jonas looked like he’d swallowed a lemon. “Hell, no. But don’t let me stop you from telling your daughter what an idiot you’ve been.” At Amanda’s glare, he shrugged. “Okay, a beautiful idiot with a big heart, but an idiot nonetheless.”
Ellie could only stare in amazement at evidence of some huge falling-out she’d never known existed. Oh, sure, her mother and father had an odd relationship, but she’d always attributed their problems to their different lifestyles. There was more?
“Much more,” he mother admitted.
Ellie stared. “Did you just… Did you read my mind?”
“Yes, dear. It runs in the family. Sorry, but you’re thinking loudly.”
Ellie nodded and encouraged her mother to continue.
“It all began after I married your father several years ago.”
“Try sixty-seven,” her father corrected.
“Sixty-seven?” Ellie stared at her mother in shock. “I know Ethim’s older than dirt, but you’re human. Like me.”
“Ah, actually no. I mean, yes, I’m human. But I’m also a little bit more. My psychic ability enabled me to bond with Foreia for some time. We age much more slowly here than at home, and your father put a spell or two on me. I might have lied about my age.”
“And about what else?” Jonas prodded.
Her mother glared. “Shut up, Jonas. If you hadn’t interfered all those years ago, this would never have happened in the first place.”
“Me?”
“Oh, come on, Mandy,” her father interrupted. “Shara was Jonas’ pledge sister. It wasn’t his fault she grew enamored.”
“Everyone, just stop.” Ellie glared her family into silence. “Ever since I can remember, my parents have spent as little time as possible together.” She stared at her father. “Ethim would visit for brief periods of time, run roughshod over Mom, bribe her with presents and, heaven help me, sex, then disappear.”
She turned to her mother. “You told me to ignore his absences and focus on the special times he and I spent together. Well, I hated it.” Fury burst forth, anger she hadn’t realised she’d carried for so long that refused to be contained. She read the shock on her parents’ faces, the odd satisfaction on Jonas’, but couldn’t stop.
“I hated how easily Mom fell in line with whatever Ethim wanted, time and time again. I hated when you visited, Ethim. Because, for a short time, we were a real family. But all your magic tricks and presents couldn’t disguise the fact you had another life, one more important than that of your wife and daughter.”
Ethim drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Now, wait a minute.”
“And you, Mom.” Ellie was on a roll. “You let him walk all over you. What about me? What about what I needed? You never asked him to come to my soccer games, my band concerts or school nights. You covered up for him and refused to answer my questions. You think I didn’t sense your bitterness whenever the word ‘Djinn’ came up? Who do you think taught me to hate the Djinn so much? We’re human, they’re not.”
“Thanks a lot,” Jonas muttered, wincing at the anger she turned on him.
“And don’t think you’re out of this. I might have been somewhat normal if you hadn’t always shown up teaching me things Mom told me not to pay any attention to. It’s not normal for a kid to play with shadows, real shadows, Mom. Jonas used to make them separate from the wall to play while teaching me about Foreia and Aelle.”
“Jonas.” Amanda looked shell-shocked.
Jonas squirmed. “Well, hell, Mandy. The girl’s got so much Djinn magic in her it’s a wonder she didn’t send herself to Foreia by accident at least once in her childhood.”
Ellie kept quiet, not wanting to disturb the mood now that she’d shaken them all. No need to mention she’d accidentally transported herself there several times as a youth, though at the time, she’d convinced herself she’d been dreaming. But after her visit today, she knew she’d been much more than awake.
“And Ethim,” Jonas continued, “you should have explained things to her, like I told you to, instead of leaving everything in Mandy’s lap. Mandy was in no frame of mind to talk to her baby girl, not after what she thought she saw. It’s no wonder she was pissed, catching you and Shara, ah…” He glanced at Ellie, then sighed. “Mandy, tell her all of it.”
Her mother bit her lip, and tears pooled in her eyes. “Don’t hate me, Ellie. It was such a long time ago. You can’t know what it’s like to be so in love with someone, to be so vulnerable and scared of the future. Imagine how much harder it would be to find yourself in love with a king from another world, and you just a lowly nobody.”
“Mandy,” her father said softly, reaching over to hold her mother’s hand. “You know you’re worth more than ten of me, any day of the week.”
Ellie watched it all, understanding more than her mother thought.