Bittersweet Blood (The Order #1)

“Are you sure about that?”


Tara nodded. “I need to know who I am. I need to know why my mother went to so much trouble to hide me, and from what. Because someone is looking for me now, and how can I hide when I don’t know who or what is coming after me?” She took a deep breath. “Besides, I don’t want to hide anymore. I’m finished with hiding.”

He searched her face, and Tara held her breath while he came to his decision. Christian would use whatever methods he needed to get the information, but she couldn’t stand by and watch him torture an old man. She took a step closer and put her hand on his arm. “Please, tell me what I need to know.”

“Tara,” Christian said warningly. “Don’t make the mistake of thinking that you are dealing with a sweet old man. Ella used glamour for her own ends, as does Jonas. It serves his purpose to appear as he is. Ask him how your mother paid for his services.”

Jonas flicked him a cold glance. “She paid in fae blood.”

“And plenty of it, I would guess.”

“You would guess rightly.” He shrugged. “I never said I was a charity, and my work does not come cheap.”

Tara dropped her hand and stepped back. “Tell me.”

“I take it she’s dead, so I suppose client confidentiality doesn’t apply.”

Tara had known her mother was in all likelihood dead, but still a wave of sadness washed over her at his words. “You know she’s dead?”

“She was dying when she left here. She had enough strength left to see you into the world, and that was only through grim determination. She had nothing more.”

“What did she come to you for?” Christian asked.

“Two things. A ward for a property to hide those inside and a spell that would make her child appear human. The spell cost her dearly. She needed it to last.” He studied Tara as if searching for something. “It would have been easier if the baby had some human blood, but you have none.”

Shock flashed through her. “None?”

“There’s not a single drop of human blood in your body. I thought you knew. Your mother was pureblood fae. Your father, from the nature of the spell, some sort of demon. I presume she was a casualty of the war. Your mother would have been better off to go back to her people, but the fae would have destroyed you. They don’t like mixing their blood.” He took a sip of his drink. “They would consider you an abomination and hunt you down. Hence the spell. It’s ironic that she gave her life saving you from her own people. Demons are much less fussy about these things.”

Tara sank back down into the chair behind her. So she wasn’t even a little bit human. That fact would have been a bitter blow only days ago, now it didn’t seem to matter much after all that had happened.

“Do you know her name?”

Jonas shook his head. “She never told me, and I never asked.”

“What about my father, did she tell you anything about him?”

He shook his head. “Apart from the fact that he was a demon, which I needed for the spell, she told me nothing. It’s not in the nature of our deals to share unnecessary knowledge.”

Tara tried to assimilate the information. Were they any further forward in finding out who she was and whom she was hiding from?

“So you believe she hid me from her own people, the fae.”

“I would think so.”

Christian had told her the demons were coming after her. That they congregated whenever she went near CR International. But this man said it wasn’t demons but the fae she needed to fear. Her head was about to explode and she rubbed at her temples.

Finally, she took a deep breath. “What was she like? My mother I mean?”

Jonas looked surprised at the question. “She was sweet,” he said. “And very, very sad.”

They left the bar not long afterward.

“So, what do we do next?” she asked Christian as they stepped out onto the street.

“I think we need to approach the fae, but I go alone for that one. I’m not letting you anywhere near them.”

Tara shivered. “I’d thought of the fae as the good guys and demons as the bad. Now I find it’s the good guys who want me dead. Or maybe they both do. Then again, I suppose I am one of the bad guys. At least half.” She tried a smile, but it was a pathetic attempt. “Maybe they cancel each other out, and I’m just sort of average.”

Christian took hold of her hand. “There is nothing average about you, you’re unique, and I’ve told you, it’s not so simple to say the fae are good and demons are bad. Ask Piers—he’d take a demon over a fae any day.”

“You’re not making me feel any better here.”

“We’ll sort it all out, I promise. Now, let’s go home.”

“Can we go to my place first? I’m worried about Smokey. I don’t think he’ll let your people near him, and I don’t want to leave him there on his own.”

“Okay, then home.”