Wuthering Frights (31 page)

Seventeen

"How long have you been working for your father?" Knight demanded finally, after not speaking to me for at least ten minutes. He
'd
placed me into the passenger seat of a black Yukon Denali, my arms still cuffed behind my back so I had to lean forward slightly to obtain any semblance of comfort.

The only thing he'd admitted to me thus far was that I was being arrested for my involvement with the illegal potions trade; and specifically, for participating in the aid and distribution of the
Draoidheil
. Apparently the ANC had been able to salvage one crate of the stuff which was being transported with us in the Denali. The other ANC officials had taken Quill, Horatio and the surviving guards to Hades only knew where. Knight hadn't admitted that much to me yet.

At the mention of Melchior
, I felt my heart drop, even though it was pretty obvious that Knight already knew about the relationship between my father and me. Even so, I still couldn't help the shock that warred through me. “You know?" I asked in a hollow tone as I looked at him, and felt my stomach sour.

He refused to look at me, keeping his attention focused on the road as he left the loading docks and headed for the freeway. "Of course," he spat back. "I've always known." He said it like I was stupid for even asking, like he was so accomplished as an ANC detective,
by all rights,
he would know.

"I ... Why didn't you ever mention it? If you knew he was my father, why didn't you ever tell me?"

He looked at me then and laughed, but there was no levity in the sound. He shook his head like I just didn't get it, like the joke was on me. "I never mentioned it because you obviously already knew and, furthermore, it would have given too much away."

I closed my eyes, wondering if this whole thing was a dream. Maybe it was merely a fabrication from my muddled mind
,
arising from the fact that Baron had hit me too hard. But even after blinking several times, when I opened my eyes, I found that Knight was still driving and I was still sitting beside him. I glanced down at myself, realizing I was dressed in only my bra and yoga pants. With my hands firmly locked behind my back, my arms went numb, and when I tried to move them, they stung like pins and needles. "I don't understand," I said simply, wishing the headache behind my eyes would fade away. "You would have given too much of what away?"

Knight expelled a breath and didn't appear to be in the mood for a lengthy explanation. "How long have you been working for Melchior, Dulcie?" he demanded again.

I shook my head and tried to focus on the question, tried to remember, tried to look past the pain that was throbbing between my eyes. "I don't know, maybe two weeks."

"You're lying." Knight snapped, glaring at me before returning his attention to the road, apparently remembering he was behind the wheel. "Don't play this innocent fucking game with me, Dulcie. I don't have the patience for it."

And that was when I lost it. I craned my neck in his direction and felt my eyebrows furrowing because I honestly didn't understand what was going on and my headache was only making my temper that much shorter. "I have no idea what you're talking about! So why don't you drop your shitty attitude and tell me what the hell is going on?!"

Knight failed to reply, but seemed to focus entirely on driving, refusing to look at me. I could see his ears tinged red with anger. When he finally spoke, his voice was hollow and pained. "Your father and I always had our differences," he started and his hands tightened around the steering wheel, making his knuckles go white. "I was at the top of my game in the ANC, getting accolades and rewards left and right. Of course, Melchior not only respected my position, but realized he could use me to his advantage. He approached me about becoming his top potions smuggler and, in the process, had to put everything on the table. He had to show his hand. When I refused, he banished me to Earth, telling me I would never be allowed to return to the Netherworld. I was basically exiled to live the rest of my life beneath the radar." He looked at me and frowned
as I thought about the fact that
Knight's
story was very similar to Quillan's. It was like my father had searched out the best Regulators in the ANC to call his own
.

"Obviou
sly he didn't know me very well,
"
Knight continued.
Then he took a deep breath. "He would have had me killed, but by that time, I'd gained so much notoriety in the ANC, knocking me off would have created too much suspicion. Instead, he banished me to Earth, and permitted me to work in any ANC location of my choosing. What he wasn't aware of, though, was that I kept a close eye on him, even from afar. When he pronounced my sentence, I promised myself, he would be taken down, that I would personally see to it ..."

I felt my jaw drop as something dawned on me. "You're part of The Resistance?" I asked as my mouth formed a perfect "O."

He said nothing, merely inhaled deeply. But he didn't have to say anything because his lack of a response was answer enough. He was definitely part of The Resistance and probably always had been. I studied him, as the pieces of the puzzle titled, "Why Melchior O'Neil wanted Knightley Vander dead" were quickly falling into place. "Melchior wanted to wipe you out in order to end The Resistance," I said, watching as he exited the freeway. We were on Coconut Street, which led to Splendor's city center. I thought we were en route to the ANC, where I’d be kept in custody for Hades only knew how long. Obviously I didn't imagine Knight would return me to the Netherworld for sentencing because, in his mind, it wasn't as though I'd actually be sentenced since Melchior was my father. The truth of the matter was that I'd probably be dealt with in the harshest possible way given my involvement in destroying my father's immediate chances at tyranny.

Knight glanced at me and shrugged. "Most recently, yes, but at the time he exiled me, he wasn't aware of my ties to The Resistance. However, I was more than aware of his ties to the illegal potions industry and after doing a little recon of my own, I learned he had a daughter." Then he frowned at me.

"You came to Splendor because of me?" I asked, feeling nauseous at the realization that Knight assumed I'd been serving my father during the entire course of his and my
association
.

"Yes," he snarled back at me. "I knew there was a mole in the ANC ranks in Splendor, and at the time, I figured it was you. So given my hatred of your father and my determination to see him dethroned, I transferred to Splendor so I could beat you at your own game."

"But you knew the mole was Quill," I said,
wishing I could press
my fingers to my temples,
to try
to assuage the pain between my eyes. I had to wonder if I had a small concussion. "You were there when I let Quill go."

He glanced at me and shook his head. "I wasn't with you, I took you on your word that you let him go. Quillan might never have been there, for all I know." Then he laughed cynically. "At the time, I might have bought into your little charade where Quill was concerned, but now I know better. Now I know the truth."

"The truth?" I repeated, starting to become pissed off with this whole situation.

"Quill was the fall guy for you. Your father knew it was wiser to ensure your place in the ANC than Quillan's so he told Quillan to take the fall for you, with the knowledge that having you in the ANC would be a far greater advantage to him." He looked over at me then, taking me in from face to breasts. "Your father is no idiot. He realized you were the best weapon in his arsenal. He knew you were every fucking man's dream."

I shook my head, feeling panic stirring within me. Looking at things from Knight's perspective, I could understand how he'd come to this conclusion, even though he was completely wrong. But the evidence seemed to support his theory. "That isn't true, Knight. None of that is true. I met my father for the first time two weeks ago, I swear it."

"I'm not finished," he interrupted in an irate tone. "So I figured you got word back to Melchior about Knightley Vander and how he was now working in Splendor; and I'm sure Melchior had a field day with that one." He slammed his fist into the steering wheel, making the horn blare as I jumped a few inches out of my seat. Knight came to a stop sign and inhaled deeply before looking over at me. "So, Dulcie, you tell me, what did your father tell you to do? Did he ask you to target me? To make me want you? Did he tell you to make me fall in love with you? To wrap me around your finger?"

Glaring at him, I was no longer okay with having to defend myself against false accusations. "So you think you have this whole thing figured out, don't you?" I asked icily. "And it all fits into a tiny, neat little box called Dulcie's guilty, right? None of it's true—it's just a load of bullshit!"

"Disprove it then, Dulcie," he raged back at me. "Prove that it’s false. Go on, I'm curious to hear you try and back pedal your way out of this."

But there wasn't anything that immediately came to mind on how I could disprove it. Instead, I opted for simply telling the truth.
"I started working for my father two weeks ago because he forced me to do it."

"And how did he manage that?" Knight asked, his tone facetious.

"He held your life as ransom," I snapped at him. "I made the deal with him that I would be his eyes and ears in the ANC, as long as he agreed to leave you alone."

Knight shook his head and laughed acidly. "I don't believe that for one second, Dulcie," he said, facing me, his lips tight. "I fell for your bullshit once, and told myself that everything I'd previously thought about you wasn't true, that you really had no idea who your father was, and you really were the girl for me." He shook his head and bashed his hand into the steering wheel again. "You were pretty good, Dulcie, I'll give you that. You even had my body convinced that you were the one."

He was referring to the fact that as a Loki, only his body could choose his mate, a woman strong enough to handle his powerful seed, and the one woman to whom he would be dedicated for life. When his eyes first glowed in my presence, it was his body's announcement that I was his woman.

"Knight, that is the truth! I didn't know who my fa ..."

"I don't want to hear it!" he railed at me.

I swallowed hard, suddenly intimidated by the anger and pain in his eyes. But there was also a fire in me that refused to be extinguished, a fire that wouldn't stop burning until Knight learned the truth and realized I was innocent of all of his accusations. "And what about everything we said to each other while we were in High Prison?" I demanded. "What about the fact that I came back to the Netherworld to save your ass? And how do you explain my being imprisoned with you and nearly raped by that Cyclops thug? How the hell have you talked yourself out of the legitimacy of all that?"

He shook his head. "You being imprisoned was just part of the overall act, something that was just a façade but meant for me to drop my defenses and trust you wholeheartedly. Looking back, to your credit, it worked … but now I can see right through it ... and you."

"And that bit about Cyclops?" I persisted, my lips tight.

"Bad luck. Wrong place at the wrong time. Your father should have known better than to lump you, a fairy, in with the likes of the goblin and a Cyclops. Just goes to show how much he truly loves you."

I couldn't argue with him about that because he was correct—my father didn't care about me. Not a damn.

"Besides," he continued, "Caressa said she never took you to the portal. Remember how I caught you in that lie?" Without allowing me to respond, he continued, "Of course, she never took you to the portal because your father released you from High Prison, something which in and of itself was highly problematic, considering you skipped any trial and simply got released. It's good to have a big daddy up high in the ranks, isn't it?"