Free Flight (Children of the Sidhe) by J.R. Pearse Nelson Page B

better remember who you’re dealing with. I can squash you like an insect under my heel. That girl is your only hold over me.”
    “ Still, the child will die,” Abarta hissed as he stepped forward. Instead of his repulsive kiss, this time she felt his hot breath on her face, making her want to cringe. “New information, Tessa. Three days. Do not fail me.” 
     
     
    Fifteen
     
    Slowly, through a book-induced fog, Nathan realized the wards on the front door were chiming. He rose, and stretched. If it was someone coming to kill him, he doubted they ’d use the front door, or attack him inside a warded building. They’d wait to catch him in the forest. So he only hesitated for a moment before answering the door.
    Nemglan stood outside, glowering at the trees over his shoulder. His eyes widened as he took in his son at the door. “Nathan. It is good to see you. May I enter?”
    Nathan waved him in, watching the forest. Season was nowhere to be seen. In fact, it had been almost a day since he ’d seen her. She must be checking in with the Morrigan. He realized he was focusing his thoughts on anything except the man he’d just let into Tessa’s house.
    “ You look well,” Nemglan stated, taking him in with a sweeping gaze. He stood in the center of the hallway, his feet squared, as if prepared for a confrontation.
    “ I’m as well as can be expected. Do you need anything? Something to drink?” Nathan led the way into Tessa’s study.
    “ No. I just came to...I’m sorry, Nathan. I should have returned days ago. I had no success tracking the assassin, and I should have returned to see you. I have so much to tell you, but with each day that went by...I couldn’t face the son I know hates me.”
    Nathan realized with some surprise that hate was no word for what he felt. A few days ago he would have expected to hate Nemglan, but maybe having a week to cool down on an Otherworld vacation was just what he needed to accept his father.
    “ I don’t hate you.”
    Nemglan looked up. His eyes sparkled with what Nathan assumed must be tears, though he refused to look closely enough to verify it. “That gives me more relief than you can understand.”
    “ If not for this threat, would you have come for me, eventually? Or would I have gone my whole life without knowing what I am?”
    “ I didn’t know your mother had died until recently. We agreed long ago that you should not be torn between two worlds.”
    “ And what if I turned into a hawk, with no idea what was going on? At least you were there when I shifted. I can’t imagine facing that for the first time on my own.”
    “ There was only a small chance you’d be capable of shifting, Nathan. Most of my family do not shift, and most of my children have had only a single form. Strange, that the son I abandoned, for the best, turned out to be most like me.”
    “ You don’t know that. You don’t know me at all.” Nathan was glad the words didn’t sound petulant. He didn’t feel any post-adolescent angst over missing a relationship with his father. Instead, it was a statement of the obvious.
    “ I do know you. I’ve paid attention. You can’t call me negligent, once you know the facts.”
    “ The fact ,” Nathan stressed, “is that you left my mother alone to raise a son you fathered. That’s shameful.”
    “ Your mother wanted to be left alone. Once she knew of my nature, she could not condone our relationship. She chose to be alone. And you see how little time she had? Why could she not let me make her happy for her short mortal span?” Nemglan’s anguish kindled something in Nathan.
    “ She was such a stubborn woman,” Nathan said softly.
    Nemglan ’s gaze jumped to his with surprise. “Yes. She was.”
    “ But the fact remains that she had a hard life. Couldn’t you do more for her?”
    “ Your mother would only take so much from me. Nothing for herself. She was not a kept woman, she told me. She let me do things for you. She never had to