Blood Sacrifice Read Online Free

of Kelly blood. When you did not demonstrate our own people’s magick, then I knew there was only one solution.”
    “To treat me—”
    “Do not impugn that which you know nothing of.”
    “Then enlighten us.” Adam took my hand. “Enlighten us all. If you knew Keira was more Kelly than Sidhe, why did you not simply arrange for her to be raised with her father sooner?”
    “It was not that simple.” She sighed and brushed a hand over her face. An affectation? Perhaps. I’d not known Sidhe to allow themselves to seem tired or less than perfect, especially those of Seelie origin. “I waited until I knew that her Kelly strain was stronger than the Sidhe strain. I knew there was another, being raised Above, by his mother. Son of the Unseelie King. Geraint wanted to bring the boy to us, and I argued against it. If we brought the boy to us, we tempted the wrath of his father. Instead, we chose to have your father raise you. You, we could monitor Above. Geraint’s son, Daffyd, volunteered to be your guardian. We’d hoped to pair you with your counterpart—”
    “Gideon? You knew about him and were matchmaking?” I’d expected some sort of lame explanation but this took the cake. “You were the ones who set Daffyd on me? Did you close the door to Faery, too? Lock him in there?”
    “A miscalculation.”
    “Some miscalculation,” I growled. “This entire thing is ridiculous. All of you people plotting to match me up with Gideon for what? To control the supernatural world through us?” I threw up my hands, every muscle wanting to incant spells, to cause bodily harm. “Did you ever consider that I would not be your puppet to control?”
    Branwen seemed to dismiss my comment. “Ridiculous or not, we are here and a legitimate Challenge has been issued within the strictures of our kind.”
    “So instead of marrying us off, you marry Gideon to Aoife, instead. What do you think that will get you? Closer to your sister’s throne?” She said nothing for a moment, as if choosing her words. Had I struck achord? My mother was queen in her own right, but a lesser one. She was not in line to rule the Seelie Court.
    “If you accept it, then we continue and the magicks will decide.” Branwen’s voice remained chill.
    “If we don’t?” Adam asked, his voice calm, but I could feel his fury beneath, barely contained. I knew he was as angry as I was, though he was better at hiding it.
    “Then it’s war,” Gideon interrupted, appearing from my left. He smirked as the words left his mouth, as if he were anticipating just that. A war. A bloody battle.
    “War? So that’s what you want? I’m game if you are.” I clenched my hands back into the fists that had become second nature over the past half hour or so. “No need to issue Challenge, Cousin. I’m here right now and willing.”
    Another smirk slid into a smug grin. “You will fight me?”
    “Anytime.”
    “Keira.” Adam took my hand again. “No fight until we understand the Challenge. If you will excuse us.”
    I swallowed my anger and let Adam lead me away.

CHAPTER THREE
     
    “Accept the challenges so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.”
    —George S. Patton
     
    “T echnically, we’re not required to actually battle,” Tucker said, his eyes scanning the parchment, which he’d unrolled across the top of Adam’s desk. It wasn’t overlarge, but it seemed to take up the entire desktop.
    After Gideon’s snarky comments, Adam had forced us to do some official mingling with the rest of our guests long enough for propriety’s sake. We’d then left the Hall to seclude ourselves in Adam’s office over at the main inn. No one was there, thanks to the Reception. Most nights, the entire Wild Moon bustled, coming alive from dusk until dawn, sanctuary for vampires and Kelly alike. Tonight, nearly everyone was still at the party. Our day manager, John, and his family were, no doubt, cozy and snug in their own small home for the night. He’d be up