Humphrey and Kylie watched him with the same quiet amusement they reserved for storms they had already outrun.
Years of experience had taught them how to sense danger long before it arrived, and Daisy, desperate, grasping, and wildly overconfident, was a threat so poorly disguised it almost insulted them.
They knew Seraphine far too well. Her intelligence, resilience, and quiet ferocity. Whatever game Daisy thought she was playing, Seraphine's legacy was a shoe she would never fit into no matter how hard she forced her foot.
"What makes you think we'll tell you anything?" Humphrey said calmly, though the edge beneath his voice was unmistakable. "Seraphine is our daughter now, and it's our responsibility to protect her from people like you."
The words struck Ravyn square in the chest, sharp and unforgiving, like a blow he hadn't braced for. His jaw tightened, eyes darkening. "You talk as if I'm some bastard," he snapped. "Aren't you my parents?"
