Of Blood and Bone (Chronicles of The One #2)(40)

Cautious, curious, she reached out and discovered the arm under her hand was solid. “You’re real.”

“Corporeal for a brief time. Will you let me …” He touched a hand to her cheek. His smile bloomed, moved his lips, his face, moved into his eyes. “There you are.”

“You died for me.”

“Protecting you was my right, my purpose, my joy. Walk with me while we have this time. You’ve been happy, and well?”

“I … She loved you. My mother.”

“My sweet girl, I know. And I loved her. We had such a short time together to love, to learn. So much of it, too much of it, riddled with fear and violence. But we had more than that, we had pleasure and laughter, too. And wonder and joy. I fell in love with a pretty witch who’d rather shop for new shoes than practice the Craft, and I watched her grow into a strong, fearless, powerful woman. You were part of that, the change that made us better than we had been.

“But I want to hear about your life. Some I can see, some I can’t. Tell me your happiest memory.”

Tears burned at her throat, guilt twisted her heart. “Learning to ride, I guess. Being allowed to ride by myself the first time.”

“What’s this?” Because he heard the tears, Max turned her face to his. “No, no. Do you think I’d begrudge you a father who’d teach you to ride? Or Lana a man who’d build a life with her?”

“I don’t know.” Had never known.

“How could I love you and begrudge you all he is to you, and you to him? I’m grateful to him.”

“You—you are?”

“I am, and he sure as hell should be grateful to me. I made you with your mother, and with your mother he brought you into the world. Love isn’t finite, Fallon. If you take nothing else from me, take that.”

As he spoke, he stroked a hand over her hair. “Love has no end, no borders, no limits. The more you give, the more there is. Your mother gave you my name, Simon Swift gave you his. He’s your father, and so am I. I’d say that makes you blessed.”

“That’s what Mom says.”

“There you have it,” he said simply. “Is it any wonder I loved her?”

“Dad—Simon—he is grateful. He says you’re a hero, and he owes you for everything that matters most to him. Mom and me, and I have three brothers. I wish you could meet him. That’s weird.”

He laughed, put an arm around her shoulders as they walked. “The world’s full of the strange.”

“You wrote about strange things. I read your books. Mom said you were writing another when you died, and she had to run to protect me and the people of New Hope. What was it about?”

“About love and magicks, the dark and the light of both. About battle and bravery, and the rise of a Savior.”

“I don’t know how to lead people.”

“Neither did I. I’d rather have built a simple life with your mother. Simple seemed precious after the Doom. But I was needed, and so are you. I might wish a simple life for you, Fallon, but the world needs more. You’ll lead, and well. I believe it absolutely.”

“The man in my dream said I had to choose. I did.”

“What man?”

“I’m not sure. I think, maybe, it was the boy grown up. Maybe.”

“And what boy is that?”

“Duncan, I think. From New Hope. I saw him in a different dream.”

“Katie’s Duncan? Hmm.” Dead or not, Max felt a little twinge at the idea of his daughter dreaming about a boy.

“He saved people from the Purity Warriors. They’re the ones who killed you.”

“My brother killed me. The dark he chose killed me. His blood, my blood, yours.” Pausing, he gripped her hand, firmly, looked directly into her eyes.

She felt the link and the power in their joined hands.

“The same blood,” he continued, “yet Eric turned away from light and love and loyalty. He’s never to be trusted, Fallon, or underestimated.”

“Mom thinks he’s dead. She thinks she killed him and that woman.”

“Allegra. I don’t know the answer. Even the dead have questions. But if he lives, what’s in him will do all evil can do to end you. He tainted his blood and all that comes from it. Watch for him. Watch for the crows.”

“I will.” And if he’s still alive, she vowed at that moment, she would end him. “Mallick’s going to teach me to use a sword.”

“Good God.”

“You can’t only fight with magicks. The Wizard King had a sword.”

Max laughed a little. “So he did. Tell me more about your life, your brothers.”

It was amazing. It was magickal to walk and talk with the man she only knew from stories, from a picture on a book. Now she knew the sound of his voice, the way he moved, the things he thought.

Now she knew why the night had called her, had struck that beat inside her. She’d reached for him through the veil; he’d come through for her.

She took him to the faerie glade, where they sat and talked while Taibhse swept in to sit on a branch like a guard, and the wolf who’d tracked them as they walked stayed in the shadows.

When she asked him to tell her of the escape from the great city and all that came after, he didn’t censor his words as she’d always suspected her mother did.