Kay would never forget the look on her mother's face as Thane confronted them. For a moment, the love she harbored for this ancient who stole her heart and then broke it shone in her eyes like a blazing beacon, but then reality set in, and that expression hardened, growing cold. 

"I came to apologize to my daughter for keeping her in the dark even after every other truth came to light, but it seems I came at the right time to correct another wrong," Thane said, glancing at Kay. "May I enter?" he asked, and she almost raised a brow in surprise. 

"Father, I don't know if now is the right time."

The sound of that word changed his entire countenance as his gaze softened and his eyes warmed, but another emotion hid in those enigmatic depths; guilt. The Thane she had met such a short time ago would not have given a second thought to what he did to this woman, but the Father who went through so much to save his children and who finally learned the truth that set him free was not that the same person. 

Eve saw the difference in him and frowned, noting it but not moved by it. 

"Dani... Kay, I do not wish to speak to him," she said quietly, gathering her things with shaking hands and not marking the pages they discussed as she had intended. Seeing Thane shook Eve to her core, and she didn't blame her mother. 

How would she react if Marcus did to her what her father did to the woman he claimed to love? She'd never speak to him again. 

"Evie, please, give me a chance to explain?" he asked, almost gently. 

"Do not ever call me that again," Eve bit out, dropping a pattern book. The spine opened, spilling the pages over the floor. 

"Damn it!" 

It was the first time Kay ever heard her mother swear, but the unexpected tug of mirth that briefly lifted the shadows in Thane's eyes told her that it wasn't the first time he heard her swear. Whatever that memory held, it brought back a fond memory.

Eve didn't even notice, but something in the defeated slump of her shoulders, the way she bit her lip, and avoided looking at them, warned Kay that she was close to tears in a very different way than before. 

Seeing Thane again hit her mother a lot harder than expected, and with the raw emotions between them barely resolved, Eve couldn't deal with another flood of emotions, but she was too strong a person to allow them to see how close she was to breaking. 

Pity tugged at her heart, but before she could move, Thane squatted beside his former love and helped her gather the pages. Their hands accidentally touched, and Eve froze. 

"Don't touch me," she hissed aggressively, but the emotion originated in pain and sorrow.

"I know that telling you that I am sorry and I was wrong will have no meaning to you. But if you allowed me to tell you my story, you may at least understand why I was such an intolerable asshole, even if you can never forgive me."

This raw moment of reconnection seemed to intimate a place for her to be present at, but she didn't want to leave Eve alone with Thane. Although he may have changed a lot, he was still the ruler of the underworld and sometimes far removed from human emotions and reactions. He might hurt Eve even further without realizing it. 

"I bought your bullshit once before, Thay, and I may be a 'seedling,' and you are a king, but even a donkey doesn't bump its head twice against the same rock. No, I do not wish to hear your side of the story, and you already know mine. Thus there is nothing for us to talk about. I guess you will call my boss and rob me of even being part of my daughter's life until this wedding?"

Thay? Even amid all this strife and Eve's roaring tide of contradictory emotions, the nickname bade her raise a brow. Evie and Thay; a love story that ended in sorrow. 

"No, Evi... Eve, I will not call your boss. That bombastic, self-righteous dick no longer exists, but you do not have to take my word for it. Ask my children if you wish. All seventeen of them, who are still alive, because our daughter has my strength and your tenacity and grit."

Eve just sat there for a moment, trying to take in what he was saying.

"I can't deal with you now, King Thane." 

Those two words placed a wall between them, and with a sigh, Thane got to his feet, walking to the door before he remembered why he came. 

"Kay? May we speak tomorrow? I'd ask you to have dinner with me, but Marcus can barely contain himself. He has a romantic evening planned since your breakfast plans got hijacked by your sister. What was that message again? Oh, yes. He wants you to wear something sleek, sexy, and appropriate for a fancy restaurant. Be ready at eight."

"Thank you for the message. And although I'll go to dinner with you on Saturday, not tomorrow, there is no need for us to speak. The matter has been concluded, and I forgive you."

"Why?" he asked, his gaze straying to Eve, who still packed her stuff away. 

"Because I understand you," she said, and those words impacted both her parents. 

"Akira is concerned that if you go out in public, there might be backlash. Marcus and Kay's divorce has made a splash since they are such a high-profile couple, and I fear you've been marked as the villain."

She hesitated, noticing how Eve stiffened at hearing those words. 

"Then tell my future husband to book two tables next to each other, and please tell my brother to get himself a tux and a manual on modern restaurant etiquette. I'll inform Claudia she's going on a first date. That is if he is well enough to join?" 

"Akira is still preparing him for the change. It will be a couple of days before he's ready. It won't be much of a romantic date with them right there," he said. 

Eve set her container on the table, clearly not wanting to pass Thane, who still stood at the door. 

"Would it be more romantic if someone attacked us or the paparazzi swarmed us? Claudia is somewhat of a celebrity in the circles of the super-rich."

"So is Marcus, something of which I do not approve. It draws too much dangerous attention to our kind." 

That tone was so much King Thane back on his throne, and Eve grew pale. 

"Do you want your scepter and crown, Your Highness?" Kay needled. "We are everywhere. From lowly shopkeepers to famous movie stars and singers. It is far too late to worry about such things. Azera did not keep such a tight lid on the dark fae, and anyway, few people do not know of you."

"It was inevitable if I wanted to protect my people," he said automatically, and she raised a brow at him. "Old habits are hard to break, it seems. I will leave you, and if you have any problems..."

"Marcus and Claudia will handle it. Or I will just use my succubus charm and make them all fall in love with me," he froze halfway out the door. 

"That is not even a joke, Kay," he bit out.

"And I am not fifteen."

"But you are now a full succubus and almost as powerful as I am."

The worry in his eyes made her realize that he feared she might lose control, and she'd spent enough time around Azera to know the consequences. Her former mistress once lost her temper in the middle of a fae party while she was already high on too much power, and ten people were so completely drained of energy that they died. 

The papers wrote it off as "tainted" drugs at a party because the doctors couldn't explain to the public that a group of people died of ecstasy while fully clothed and not engaged in any nefarious activity. And, of course, their bodies ended up in a room at a rave far from Azera's castle, deepening the mystery. 

"I am going to dinner with a vampire, werewolf, and a two-thousand-year-old succubus who's in love and lust for a woman he can't yet have, and you are worried about me?" She tried to lighten the atmosphere.

"This is not a joke, Kay." Thane sounded so much like the concerned father of a teenager, and if she wasn't mistaken, his concern for her chipped away at Eve's reserve. 

"No, it is not. I am fully aware of what might happen. Azera was never much for controlling herself when she had so many minions to get rid of the consequences, and she paid enough people to make sure they were buried without question. You are just going to have to trust me, Father."

"I do, daughter, but I am so afraid that you might overestimate your control of yourself because everything came with such ease to you."

"Ease, Father? I trust my control because I learned to command my emotions at the hands of a sadist that you delivered me over to like a sacrificial lamb," she bit out, but her words lacked bitterness as she stated the fact. "and like you, I am no longer that woman. No mere human will tempt me into anger with a few words."

Thane's gaze grew dark, and she turned to find Eve looking stricken, angrier than ever, and it was her fault.

"I am sorry for pushing you so hard," he said, taking in Eve's white-knuckled grip on the container. Her stiff backbone and the tilt of her chin. 

"No, I am sorry. You were concerned for my wellbeing and that of our kind," she said, relaxing her own stance, and he nodded. 

Thane left without saying another word but with a reluctance that spoke volumes. If there was a way to make it right with Eve, he would have.

"I didn't know he would come here," Kay apologized, wishing she could hug her mom, but that distance between them had returned. 

"Sometimes we have to confront our past to lay it to rest," Eve said with a reserved resignation. 

"Will you ask your employer to assign someone else to me?" Kay asked and glanced at her. 

"If you want someone else."

"No, I don't, but if it will be too difficult for you, then perhaps we should part ways." She didn't want her mother to feel obligated, and perhaps it was better for Eve if they made a clean break. 

"You want me to do that?" 

Something about the way her mother said those words made her realize too late that Eve thought she was casting her aside as Thane did. 

"No, I don't want that. You are my mother, and I love you," she said, crossing the distance between them and hugging Eve. "I just want what is best for you."

"You are what is best for me."

They clung to each other for a long time, and Kay had no problem keeping her succubus from stealing any more of her mother's energy. In fact, she figured out how to return some of it, and although it left her slightly hungry, she didn't mind. 

Knowing that Azera could have saved the lives of those she killed, but didn't, only verified her evil. 

"I have another appointment," Eve said, and they let go of each other.

"What will you tell my sister?" Kay asked, and a frown tugged at her mother's brow as she considered the question. 

"There would be no explaining your current form without telling her the truth, and your sister isn't the way you remember her. If she realizes I lied to her about you and everything about us, she would cut me off and never speak to me again."

"What happened?" Kay asked, sensing something off. 

"The man she married cheated on her and lied to her face so many times. She has no tolerance for lies of any kind, and there's a hardness in her that I've not been able to break through. We are not very close."

"So, you lost both your daughters."

"But I found you."

"Yes, but Thane is part of me, and I will not choose between you."

"I cannot lose you again, even if that means I have to see him, but I won't let him back into my life."

"That is understandable, but your story will come out if we continue on this path." That thought clearly had not occurred to Eve. "And if it does..."

"Your sister will realize Jarvis isn't your father, I had an affair with a much older man, and I lied to her." If possible, Eve grew even paler.

"Perhaps we should keep our connection a secret and let sleeping dogs lie, Mother." Kay hated the idea, but she'd do it if she could see her mother again. 

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