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Chapter 816 You Call That Fatherly Love

Remembering Artemis‘ warning before he came, Dale forced himself to speak gently to Tessa. “Come back to Black Mountain with me; that’s your home.”

He had thought long and hard before choosing those words.

But the moment Tessa heard them, her brows furrowed. “You think if I go to Black Mountain with you, all our problems will magically disappear?”

“What do you mean?” Dale looked at her, confused.

“I was nothing but a cover for the Ashen Pact uprising,” Tessa said flatly. “Finding me won’t help you.”

Ever since she’d been following Victor, Tessa could feel the deep, bone–deep hatred he carried for the Ashen Pact. That kind of hatred could only come from years of blood–deep enmity.

Tessa wasn’t stupid.

So when Dale came looking for her now, she didn’t mince her words.

“You were just a cover?” Dale frowned.

Tessa nodded. “Yes.”

Dale fell silent.

Just a cover. The phrase hit him hard; the news couldn’t have been worse.

If Tessa really was just a pawn in the Ashen Pact conflict, then things were far more complicated than he’d hoped.

He looked at her face–those eyes and brows that so closely mirrored his own.

Taking a deep breath, he asked, “Then what do you think we should do about the Ashen Pact’s current crisis?”

Tessa’s tone

parents stood on opposite sides, and she

clearly

she knew where she stood, she knew how to act when things came to

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And right now…

she couldn’t afford to

a crucial moment, it was better to have none

Dale’s expression darkened.

“Tess, I know you hate me–for not being

I am your

weighted, deliberate–as if to

careless most of the time,

lips curved into a smile–one full of

that look from someone so much younger. He drew in

he’d been frantic–either searching for Tessa or desperate to see her.

if she returned with him to Black Mountain, Victor would have to

Tessa wasn’t

mocking smile deepened. “You say

said, his tone

really want is to take me

has been nothing

back to

scheming stepmother who played innocent, Manny, Dan… all

2

T

of them was

only ever acknowledged the

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