“And your clan protects him?” Andrea’s brows rose. “And you’re the head of the clan? Are you saying that you control the realm of Faerie?”
“I do.” It was a quiet statement, flat and without boasting.
“No wonder you’re so full of yourself,” Andrea said. “But if you’re this bad-ass warrior-protector for the emperor, when did you have time to meet and have an affair with my mother?”
“It happened when we were at war. Battles raged all across Faerie, clans fighting clans for control of the empire. I found myself cut off and alone in a wild place but discovered a way to the human world. The gate opened, and I startled a she-wolf who’d come to the woods for solitude. She wasn’t exactly glad to see me, but I stood before her, transfixed. I fell in love with her on the spot.”
“Except that Fae despise Shifters. We were bred to be your fighters, and you consider us no better than animals.”
Fionn gave her a derisive look. “Shifters were bred well before my time, and the Shifter-Fae war happened before I was born. I’m not that old. I’d never seen a Shifter before. She was my first.”
“So you saw each other, and it was instant love?” Andrea couldn’t keep the skepticism from her voice.
“Not on her part. I had to beg her to pull me through the gate to save my life. She did that—pitying the wreck that was me, I suppose—then I had to follow her about for a long time before she’d even let me near her. And then ...” Fionn swept his hand in front of him, palm up. “What we had was beautiful. And now, at last, I can see what came of our love.”
Andrea cocked her head to study him, but her heart was hammering. “I believe that you were probably good at persistence, plus you’re not bad looking, for a past-it Fae. But I’m not a complete idiot. Any Fae could pop out here on this ley line and pull a Darth Vader on me.”
“Pull a what?”
“Andrea, I am your father. It’s not as though your name is on my birth certificate or we can do a paternity test.” Andrea paused. “Although, to be fair, he really was Luke’s father.”
Fionn looked puzzled—as puzzled as an impossibly tall warrior in chain mail could look. “I do not understand these words. Your world is confusing to me.”
“As yours is to me. How do you even speak English?”
“I knew a little from academic studies on Earth languages, which are required curriculum. Your mother taught me much more. I studied on my own after that, so that when I saw you again, I could communicate well with you.”
“When you saw me? Not if?”
“I always planned to find you when I could. I have been watching you, waiting until it was safe.”
Andrea’s anger boiled out of her. “Watching me? What the hell? If you really were my father, and really were watching me, why didn’t you burst in and stop all the bad things that happened to me? Where were you when the pack leaders wanted my stepfather to strangle me at birth? How about when my mother died? Or when I was shunned for most of my life? How about when Jared tried to force a mate-claim, with the entire Shiftertown to back him up? And when Jared went on to stalk me and terrorize me? Tell me, Daddy Dearest, where the hell were you then?”
“Hiding you. Keeping you from my enemies.”
Andrea’s words faltered. “What?”
“Daughter, when the Fae wage war, it’s brutal and ruthless. I am the head of my clan. If the leader of my rivals knew I’d fallen in love with a Shifter, that I’d sired a child on her, your life and hers wouldn’t have been worth a breath. The other leader wanted to win at any price, and you would have been part of that price. He slaughtered half my men, almost all of my Fae family. Dina died here in this harsh world from illness when she tried to have a Shifter child, and I didn’t dare go to her for fear my rival would find you. You were all I had left. When I say I watched you in secret, I mean I kept it secret from everyone. Which means it had to be a secret even from you.”
Andrea listened in growing shock. “And this guy, this rival. Where is he now?”
“Dead.” The word held triumph, simple and raw. “I myself ran my sword through his black heart. And so now I am free to reveal myself to you, my beautiful daughter, and to bring you home to me at last.”
Andrea stepped back, putting herself well out of the man’s reach. “When you say home, you mean in Faerie, with you?”
“It is where you belong, Andrea Gray. You are the only child of a warrior lord, the warrior who essentially rules the land of Faerie. You belong at my side, a highborn lady in your own right.”
A bubble of hysteria worked its way upward and burst out as a laugh. “You mean I really am a Faerie princess?”
“Essentially, yes. The equivalent rank of one, though you wouldn’t be of the royal house.”
Fionn’s deadpan explanation made Andrea laugh harder. He scowled as she wiped her eyes. “Sorry,” she said. “This is a lot to take in. And to believe.”
“You must believe me, child. Take my hand, come to me, and I will show you. I will give you visions of how I met your mother if you want. If that will convince you.”
“Oh, right.” Andrea took another step back. “Why don’t you just come out here and get me yourself?”
“You know that I cannot. I need your touch to come to you. But why should I? Yours is a dirty world, full of cold iron. You come into Faerie and be with me.”