Genesis by Christie Rich Page B

admit it. You
promised him? Why would you ever do such a horrible thing?” I still
needed time to gather the courage to ask her who my father was. I
was hoping it was just some random guy she met somewhere. Well,
that’s what I kept telling myself anyway. Truth was, I still didn’t
know if I could handle it if my father was fae.
    Her fingers covered mine. She should
have had the hands of a forty-five year old, not the supple skin of
a teenager. In some ways I couldn’t keep from thinking like the
four year old she had left, but I wasn’t four anymore.
    What she did bites. I waited for her to
explain this great decision of hers. She had to have a good reason
for agreeing to something so drastic; however, even with the
imagination I had been blessed with, I couldn’t think of
one.
    She glanced away from me, making me
believe she was ignoring my question. Then she looked at me again,
her hands worrying the fringe of her gold dress. “Fear, Rayla. I
did it because I had to leave the fae realms. Things had become too
complicated for me. Jafan was the only one I trusted to keep my
secret. I did my best to hide you from him, but he searched the
earth until he found me. I had hoped to disappear completely once I
realized I was pregnant. I wanted to raise you myself. Leaving you
with Grace was my only option when he found us. It was only by the
grace of God that he didn’t feel you in that closet.”
    The image resurfaced, filling my heart
with old terror. My voice came out a whisper. “I thought he had
killed you.”
    She feathered her fingers along my
cheek. “Oh, baby, I’m so sorry.” I found myself in her arms. I was
grateful. I didn’t want her to see the fear that had crippled me
for so long. “I never wanted this,” she whispered.
    I straightened, wiping my eyes. “It’s
okay. I’m figuring things out.”
    She chuckled, giving my
shoulder a nudge. “Well, that’s good to hear.” Her soft eyes grew
hard as if she had just lowered a shield over them. “There is something I need to
tell you.”
    “ Okay.” Why did I suddenly
think I wasn’t going to like what she had to say?
    She folded her hands in her lap once
again. This time I noticed a gigantic diamond ring on her middle
finger. I wasn’t sure how I missed it before. Her not so subtle
bling caught the light like the north star. Seemed someone was
trying to make an impression. Her voice trembled once she finally
spoke. “When I learned the lords had found you, I contacted Jafan.”
I’d barely had time to process what she said before she tipped my
chin up to meet my eyes. “Know this, Rayla, I asked him to compel
you. I asked him to invoke the contract. I asked him to claim
you.”
    I couldn’t even gasp, I was so shocked.
My voice squeaked. “Why would you do that?”
    “ Too many reasons to discuss
now, I’m afraid. There is only one thing you have to understand. I
trust him completely. I know how you see him, but you are wrong.
Everything you dislike about him was because of me.”
    I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“What about when he came to Ignis?” I thought he had opened up to
me. Why wouldn’t he tell me something this huge? Why wouldn’t he
jump at the chance to give me an excuse for his actions? “He hasn’t
mentioned it.”
    Was my mother being compelled right
now? I hadn’t seen her in sixteen years. Had I romanticized who she
was? How could she want me to be with someone so cold?
    She went on casually, as if what she
had just told me was commonplace. “He has most likely been trying
to protect me.” She actually laughed. “Either that, or it’s his
pride.”
    Pride I could understand about Jett,
but him using compulsion on me because my mother told him to just
didn’t compute. In my estimation, she had given him leave to do
something he would have done anyway. “No matter what agreement he
had with you, he’s made it clear to me he only wants my power, Mom.
I can’t love someone like that.”
    She shook her