Dark Promise by Annika West

44

The shouting began before we could even get down the first flight of stairs. Mom’s angry voice was giving me traumatic neurological responses, and my knees started going weak.

It wasn’t that my mom had been verbally abusive, per say, but if say, you were seven and crawled into a grocery store aisle shelf to see if you could ‘Spiderman crawl’ past the cereal boxes and get to the section with chocolate syrup so you could drink an entire bottle without security cameras catching you, subsequently knocking boxes to the ground through half the aisle…

Let’s just say Mom had a drill sergeant voice for only the most special of occasions.

Like meeting her baby daddy again for the first time in over two decades.

The kitchen was in chaos.

Mom was on the counter, wielding a cast iron skillet.

Dad was crossing his arms in that way that introverts do when they’re extremely uncomfortable. He, at least, was standing on the ground.

The moment he caught sight of me, he held a finger up to his lips.

That was the universal, Don’t you dare tell your mother to calm down, otherwise she is guaranteed to do the opposite.

That was Dad for you. He was there to support her, no matter what, while doing his best to keep the peace.

He clearly needed a raise.

Adair was robed in white, with pastel flowers embroidered over the entire garment. His long hair rippled down his back in a single, thick braid.

He was all pleasant innocence as he stared up at my mother like a dutiful audience member. “Incredible to see you, Alice. Love the new hair.”

The skillet went airborne.

Dad reached for her the moment the handle left her grip.

Adair’s lighthearted smile faded. He ducked just in time, and the skillet crumpled a cabinet door, burying itself in the pantry shelf.

“Enough.” Hux’s deep voice made everyone, even Adair, turn to him.

The faery shook his head in amazement. “He’s so much younger than me, and yet he exudes a power I never would have imagined. Ozais, you should absolutely take notes.”

Oz was clearly personally offended and gave Adair the middle finger when his back was turned.

“Alice,” Hux said, “you may remain on my kitchen counter for as long as you wish. But please refrain from throwing any more dangerous objects. Though I can see where Aster gets her thirst for violence. And her throwing arm.”

Mom straightened and lifted her chin.

I gaped. She was proud of that?

Fuck, yeah. I had the best mom ever.

Dad was using his eyes to check in on me, asking if I was ok, and I gave him a thumbs-up, panicked because that’s supposed to be the ‘not-ok’ signal, and just sent him an air high-five.

A normal dad would have been worried by my sporadic behavior. But this was my dad, and he knew how to interpret Aster-isms.

He mirrored my gesture, putting up a thumbs-up that was hastily erased and covered by a high-five.

Let the jury note that I also had the best dad, ever.

Who takes the cake for coolest family?

I did. Me.

Everyone was looking at each other in some version of shock.

August couldn’t stop staring at Oz. Knowing him, he’d probably already pieced together the implications of Hux’s brother being alive.

Mom was still glaring daggers at Adair from atop her perch. She was giving no indication that she planned on stepping down.

Dad was still watching her like he wasn’t sure if she was going to pull out a curse bead and do her worst.

Any layman would think that Willow was bored and irritated. But really, she was just irritated. She kept doing that creepy vampire stillness and then shaking herself. Almost as if she was expecting things to go south and kept deferring to a defensive state.

So cute. So vampirey.

Hux held out a hand. “We hold our meetings in the dining room. Aster, Willow, and August, please bring the snacks. I’ll manage the paperwork.”

The crisis was averted for the time being. Mom did come down from the counter, and even though she sat at the table, she only had glares for Adair.

The huge dining room suddenly felt super overcrowded. There were only two spare chairs, which was insane.

I couldn’t believe I’d gotten used to the ridiculous amount of space there was in Vulcan Corp. Like, I used to live in 600 square feet. Comfortably.

Now, I was put-off by how close Marigold was to my shoulder.

What kind of immortal witch in her right mind would even think of sitting next to me without fearing for her life?

Oddly enough, Marigold wasn’t even trying to pretend like anything was weird. She smiled at me, all sweet and gross, like we were coworkers at the Union, commiserating over Kiki’s antics.

I pointedly ignored her.

Hux was standing at his usual place at the head of the table. I’d gotten him a thermos of coffee, because I was an incredible mate, and made sure the lid was tightly sealed.

“Alright. I will keep this brief. Thank you all for coming. Alice, I’m sorry to bring Adair with us on such short notice. Please know it wasn’t to upset you or Hunter.”

Mom shrugged, sliding her hell-stare over to her ex. “Oh, it’s not your fault, Huxley. This swine was the one who lied to me about who he was and ditched me after leaving a baby for me to raise.”

She reached over and touched Dad, almost on instinct.

Dad’s smile was tight, and he was obviously still worried Mom was going to go homicidal. Somehow, his warm brown skin managed to look completely leeched of color.

It was only until Mom grabbed a cookie from the table and bit into it viciously did he relax even an iota.

Hux and I gave a short rundown of my time in Faery. We skipped the part about him totally betraying my ass. No need to bring the relationship drama to the forefront, right?

Even still, I could tell that my parents knew something was up.

“So,” Dad began, all pleasantness. “Aster, you just… decided to go to Faery? And leave behind your entire team? Without telling anyone where you were going?”

“I told Willow,” I defended.

Mom wasn’t convinced. “Willow came with you. Cut the crap. What happened?”

Hux sipped his coffee, relaxed and in charge.

I waited.

He took another sip, not giving me any cue.

When had you started waiting for his permission, Aster? I scolded myself.

But I also reminded myself that consideration and permission weren’t the same thing, so I did my best.

“Hux is an asshole sometimes,” I explained to my parents. “He does shitty things and lies a lot. I’m pretty sure this man has more secrets than I do crumbs in my bed.”

Oz whistled in half-appreciation, half-awe.

“I know,” I agreed. “It’s a lot to manage. In any case, he’s manipulative and has had over two hundred years to perfect the art of fucking people over, and oftentimes will make anyone close to him regret their existence.”

There was a level of fear in Hux’s expression I didn’t expect. I mean, he wasn’t scared of me. He just looked like he was watching someone yank out their own toenails.

There’s a difference, I swear.

Dad cleared his throat. “Aster, is there a point to this?”

“Duh. He screwed me over. He trapped me in this stupid I.E. contract, which,” I emphasized, finger held up, before Mom could go find the skillet again, “which he just released me from. But when I found out, I was super fucking pissed. You know me. So, I left. And boom — like clockwork, I’d just banished one asshole from my life, so another one obviously had to show up. It’s the law of physics or whatever.”

Adair’s nose scrunched elegantly. “Did you just call the Lord of the Spring Court an asshole?”

Mom shot to her feet, tipping her chair back with the sudden movement. “Lord of the Spring Court?”

“Oh gods,” Dad said on a horrified exhale.