Blood Legacy Chapter 116: 114. Daddy dearest

I let out a small yawn and turned to lay on my back over the bed, my gaze absent and unseeing as I stared at my ceiling. My tears were long since dried out, that sticky tightness pulling at my skin with every movement remaining the only evidence of their languorous journey down my face.

I could feel him. It all felt so real. My magic had somehow managed to emulate him so perfectly. His facial features and expressions, his gestures... It was as if his spirit had projected itself into my bathroom and touched me with its ghostly caresses, making me feel him so vividly...

And now I felt so utterly abandoned. So lonely and despondent. I wanted him to take me back. To steal me away again. Anything to have this sickening and soul-eating longing quenched. It was slowly killing me. Driving me crazy with mad want for his presence.

I made a grave mistake when I decided to pack my things and leave him. I never should've done that. Maybe he really did think that I'd be happier home, and that's why he chose to bring me back.

*Damn.*

I should've stayed there and tried to work things through. I never should've left him. If I had known that I was going to suffer so greatly like I was right now I never would've left that cabin. Hell, I was even ready to throw myself at his feet and beg for him to take me back there with him. I would've offered myself to him on a silver platter if I could. *Anything to have this agony ceased. This thirst quenched.*

I couldn't help but wonder though, was he thinking about me like his phantasmic version said that he was?Did he feel exactly as miserable as I felt? Could he feel this excruciating pain that I was feeling, eating out at his soul in my absence?

But if so, why wasn't he here? Why hadn't he tried to reach out yet? Why had he left me here to drown in agony, with every night and day spent without him?

*Because he doesn't want you,* my consciousness spat back at me so cruelly, bringing back those hot tears brimming in my eyes.

He'd made that pretty clear the last time we spoke. He wanted me to run away. It didn't matter that I heard him begging for me not to leave him that night right before I did. He was unconscious, and I was pretty sure that he probably didn't even mean it. Who knows what he was dreaming about right then. Hell, he could've dreamt about Clarissa, mistaking her name for my own. *They did sound kinda similar after all, Clarissa, Carina...* And we kinda looked the same too.

I angrily wiped my tears away at the thought of that, suddenly filled by a vile sensation. I didn't like thinking about him with her. It made me feel furious and vindictive and...jealous.

Oh my god I was jealous on a freaking dead girl.

"Shit,"

*Get a fucking grip, Care.* I immediately scolded myself and sat up, dragging a hand over my face before I blew out a frustrated breath.

I needed a drink. I needed a drink and I needed it now.

I yanked the covers away from my legs and got out of my bed, yawning and stretching as I'd already spent so much time lazing around like a lifeless potato. I didn't even know if Dre was still around the house or not. She'd been crashing at Estefany's even more often now that I was generally spending my days cooped up in my room, barely coming out to eat or drink anything at all, let alone interact.

I couldn't blame her though. I mean what was the point in staying here all alone with a literal ghost like me when she could just hang around with her much more fun girlfriend instead? And to be completely honest, it wasn't like I actually wanted her close. Not while I still had my magic on the loose, untamed and dangerously close to releasing itself at any given time. I didn't want to expose her to such peril.

I reached the staircase and let out another tired yawn, about to descend when hushed talking suddenly reached my ears, making me pause for a moment.

My brows furrowed as I couldn't make out what they were saying so I stealthily climbed down a few steps, just in time to hear Dre's frustrated tone.

"I don't know, I..." she let out a long and audible exhale and I climbed another few steps, careful not to be seen or heard. I had no idea what was going on but I could tell that it wasn't good. So I needed to know more, and that without the fuss of having to pry the words out of her mouth later. It was easier this way.

"It's okay, sweetie. We will get to the bottom of this,"

I suddenly froze at the sound of that familiar masculine voice, my hand tightening against the banister until it actually started to hurt.

*You motherfucker,* I mumbled under my breath and flew down the rest of the steps, angrily storming into the living room like a furious tempest.

Both their heads snapped in my direction as soon as I came into view, my sister's features displaying evident surprise and even a little bit of guilt whilst the bastard that had contributed to our conceiving simply remained calm and unaffected. If not even a little bit bored I'd say.

"Care..." she meekly called out but I didn't even mind her, my attention focused solely on him as I defiantly stared with determination.

"You need to leave," I bluntly announced, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Now!" I noticed my sister flinch at my tone from my peripheral vision and the insolent motherfucker raised his palms into a surrendering manner, continuing to regard me with that eerie calmness.

"It's okay," he said, his tone steady.

"Dad," my sister whined with tangible anxiousness, her gaze darting between us as if worrying that we were about to start fighting any moment now.

And maybe we were. I kinda wanted to. I wanted to discover how powerful I was. If I could actually take him on, maybe even hurt him enough to satisfy that need for retribution bubbling up inside of me. But she was here and I couldn't risk hurting her by accident. I would never forgive myself if I did.

"No, it's okay honey," he softly said, offering her a smile before his attention averted back to me, his features hardening once again.

"Look, I didn't come here to argue with you,"

"Oh yeah?" My head tilted to the side, my tone biting and cold as I spat out,

"Why did you come here then? To try and throw your stupid apologies at my feet like the other backstabbing bastard did?"

He didn't react to that, his stance remaining hard and impassive as he firmly uttered after a beat of silence,

"I did what I had to do."

My stomach plummeted at the sound of that.

"And I will do it again in a heartbeat. For the safety of our people,"

There it was. The true face of my own father. The horrible truth of what he actually was, glaring me right in the eye.

"You..." I couldn't swallow, my eyes burning from those hot tears that threatened to spill. I couldn't let them though. I didn't want to.

"Look, it wasn't easy for me, Carina. To have my daughter, my own blood offered like some damn object on their altar! It broke me! It broke my heart, knowing that I had to sacrifice my own child just so that those bloodthirsty animals would stay their hand!" He tried to reason but I couldn't listen, my head spinning and my ears ringing from that boiling anger I was struggling so hard to contain.

"They forced me to do it!" He cried out and took a step closer, my eyelids fluttering closed for a moment as I couldn't stand to look at him any longer.

"You don't understand! They would've maimed us! They would've immediately declared war and destroyed entire clans had I not complied and chosen to get sworn under the vow like the treaty dictated!" His voice shook as he spoke, continuously grating on my nerves over and over again as I stood there, unmoved.

"I had to! I had to do it! It was the only way!"

I could feel it. It was so close to the surface. It was starting to scare me. I had to do something. I had to make him go away before something way worse happened.

"You are a fucking monster, that's what you are!" I vengefully cried out and shoved at his chest, surprised to notice the way his features morphed with utter shock as he curiously peered between my eyes. But I didn't care. I couldn't stop now.

"You were actually willing to have your own daughter turned into a fucking shackled lapdog, and that for the sake of a bunch of old-ass motherfuckers who can't get over themselves!" I loudly screamed and threw my hands up in the air, barely hearing my sister gasp in the background.

"You're despicable, you're the fucking worst!"

"Man, I thought that Nathan was a cold-blooded bastard but you, you are a heartless, deceiving piece of shit!" I pointed an accusatory finger at his chest and his features twisted with brimming anger, his eyes flashing an unnatural halo blue for a moment.

I immediately realized what that was. His magic threatening to pop out.

*Oh, I dare you, dearest father.*

I deviously smiled, challengingly peering between his eyes as I seethed out,

"I hate you. I hate your fucking guts,"

His hands balled into tight fists at his sides and I couldn't help but smirk with satisfaction. I wanted to him to hurt. To feel that pain, just as much as I did. He definitely deserved it. And so much more.

"Oh, and just so you know, your little plan failed, dearest daddy," I cruelly smiled and tugged at the hem of my fluffy bathrobe, showing him Nathan's visibly fading mating mark. I'd only noticed that it had actually started to fade this afternoon after that heated session in the shower with Darius' phantasmic presence conjured up by my trickster magic. I also suspected that that was the real reason why I was feeling so sick lately but it didn't matter now. It was totally worth it.

Because now I was getting to witness that look of pure shock and even a little bit of horror marring my father's features as he widely stared at me, utterly speechless.

I knew why he was looking at me like that. That was the look of a man free-falling into an abyss of hopeless panic and desperation. And it was all because now he was realizing that he'd lost his every chance at keeping that stupid treaty intact and valid. I was no longer shackled by my bond with Nathan. There was no tether left, forcing me to remain by his side just to appease that innate need for his touch and presence. I was finally free. They had nothing left to force my hand with. There were no more strings tugging at my heart, no more lust-induced clouds in my judgement.

So unless there was the tiniest hint of my sister's magic manifesting -which I highly doubted since she'd already met her mate and nothing happened so far- there was no other way for him to somehow keep that agreement standing.

There was no other way for the future king to ascend. Not without a queen at his side. A compliant and willing source of power.

He was utterly and irrevocably fucked. And he was just realizing that.

"I will never marry Nathan now, and you can't even make me," I scathingly threw at him with a wink, forcing that halo blue to appear in his eyes for a second time in the span of only a few minutes.

I wasn't afraid of him. If anything, it brought me immense joy and pleasure to know how bad this was affecting him. How angry he was for me ruining his plans just like that.

But the presence of the only being I'd truly ever cared about, my only constant in this fucked-up life standing in the same room with us as we squared up like that had me nervously faltering a little, anxiously shifting my gaze from him to her. I didn't want her to get hurt. I needed to keep her safe. From him, and myself as well.

So I stood there and held myself in check with everything I had, mentally chanting up calming mantras as I carefully watched him ball his fists at his sides again, his eyes closing as he blew out a long breath.

"You will regret this," his tone held no emotion as he said that, his gaze cold as he gave me one last look.

"Not any more than you," I retorted with another wink and his features morphed with evident disdain but he didn't bother reply.

Instead his gaze averted and he simply walked past me, hearing the front door close after only a few moments with a rather loud slam that reverberated throughout the entire house.

Mine and Dre's gazes met and I could tell that she was indeed very shook after what just happened, her brows though suddenly furrowing with curiosity as she uttered a question I wished she had never asked,

"Who's Darius?"