Chapter 142

Briar’s POV

The being that rose from the resurrection chamber wasn’t quite my father anymore. It was something more, something terrible and beautiful and wrong in ways that made my crown-enhanced senses scream warnings.

"Daughter," it said, and the voice held echoes of the man who’d raised me, trained me, turned me into a weapon. But beneath that were darker things—the demon, the vampire, the werewolf, all three natures fighting for dominance.

"Father," I replied, the word feeling strange on my tongue.

"I remember you," he continued, stepping down from the chamber. Every movement was unnaturally graceful, power radiating from him in waves that made even Malachar’s magic look like a candle next to a bonfire. "Small and bright creature. So eager to please. You would drain victims for me and smile, thinking you were making me proud."

"That child is gone," I said.

"Is she?" He tilted h