Magic Rises

personal experience?”
    “Yes. When I realized I’d stopped aging, I went for it. Let me tell you, no matter how creative you get—and I got creative—the mechanics of sex are always the same. The difference is passion. Passion makes it special. Having sex with an attractive woman is fun, but add passion, make her that one woman that you love or hate, and the whole experience changes. You feel something for me, Kate. Whether you want to admit it or not, something is there. I can guarantee we would never grow tired of it.”
    Wow. He’d put his best game face on and hit me with everything he had. “No.”
    His eyebrows came together. “No? That’s it?”
    “That’s it.”
    “Why?”
    “Because you put people in cages, Hugh. Even if I were alone and Curran weren’t in the picture, I still wouldn’t. You came here and did just as much as necessary to earn enough goodwill to build this castle twenty years ago. The people down in town live in poverty. Your werejackal castle guards are robbing strangers on the roads, and nobody comes to you and complains, because they don’t expect you to do anything about it. You want to know the difference between you and Curran? If you gave this castle to him, within a month there would be a court, due process, and a working police force accountable to its citizens. Curran sees himself as serving the people he leads; you see yourself as being served. You brought stability to this place, but it’s the stability of a scared slave who knows he will be pummeled with a stick if he holds his head up too high. You’re content with things as they are, and when someone fails you, you stick them in a cage and slowly starve them to death.”
    Hugh leaned back and smiled, amusement curving his mouth. “You are his daughter,” he said.
    I wasn’t sure how to take that. I leaned back and crossed my arms.
    “You know what your father’s best talent is? He can look at you and determine exactly where your best place is. That’s why he wasn’t thrilled when your aunt woke up. There was no place for her in this world.”
    “So he looked at you and said, ‘You will make an excellent wrecking ball.’”
    Hugh nodded. “Before there can be civilization, I come and I subdue. I crush resistance, I break their will, and then your father arrives and reins me in. He brings order, justice, and fairness. He is their salvation.”
    “Be careful, your charming mask is crumbling.”
    “There isn’t much point in it now.”
    “Oh, so sitting through your sales pitch finally earned me the right to the no-bullshit version?”
    He grinned, baring his teeth. “Here it is: I can’t let you get on that boat.”
    Figured.
    “It will be a lot harder to pry you out of their fort. You force my hand.”
    “I didn’t know you were so easy to push around.”
    “Before you left, I had my people load panacea onto your ship,” he said. “Your boy got a note telling him about it and explaining that my welcome is withdrawn.”
    “I thought you promised no bullshit. Where did you even get that much panacea, Hugh? The packs guard it like gold. They would never sell that much of it to you.”
    “I have no need to buy it from them. My people make it.”
    “Bullshit.”
    “Your father was taught how to make it when he was young. It’s a complex process, with a lot of magic done in correct order, so it was his equivalent of a graduation project.” Hugh’s eyes turned steel-hard. “I control the entire supply on this part of the continent. The only way for the Pack to get their paws on an ounce of it is to sail now, without you.”
    Curran wouldn’t leave me.
    “If he chooses to stay, the gloves come off.” Hugh said. “I warned him. He knows if he stays, it’s war.”
    “He will stay.”
    “God, I hope he does. I’ve been looking forward to killing him for three years. I will enjoy the hell out of it.”
    Hugh hadn’t just taken advantage of Desandra’s pregnancy. He’d engineered this whole thing. He’d pulled the strings and the shapeshifters had obeyed, because he held panacea over their heads. He’d manipulated everyone just to get me here.
    “If you hurt him, I will kill you,” I said.
    “You’ll try, and I will enjoy that, too. I meant what I said, Kate. You make me feel that interesting something. That’s rare for me. And I like having you around. You’re funny.”
    “Funny. Does your jaw hurt when you laugh?”
    “‘My hand won’t shake,’” he quoted. “‘My