Entwined Fates: An Enemies-to-Lovers Fae Romance by Lola Gabriel & Juniper Hart

Author:Lola Gabriel & Juniper Hart [Gabriel, Lola]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-11-02T16:00:00+00:00

18

BANYAN

There was only one reason why Dean Borges would request my presence in one of the formal sitting rooms that was usually used to receive officials.

When I walked into the sitting room, my dad stood before the fireplace, his hands clamped behind his back.

“Hello, Dad,” I said.

He turned his upper body and watched me, his golden eyes tracking my movement as I walked to the couch and sat down.

“Banyan,” he said. “You look well.”

“Thanks.” I leaned back on the couch, making myself comfortable.

I knew what this was going to be like—he was here to chew me out face to face because, over the phone, it didn’t have the same effect.

“I spoke to Dean Borges and went over the reports I’m getting from your lecturers,” Dad said, getting straight down to business.

“Hit me with it,” I sighed.

My dad frowned.

“Come on, tell me how disappointed you are.”

“For a change, it looks like you’re trying.”

I blinked at him.

“Your grades are up. I’m pleased.”

I raised by eyebrows. My dad was never pleased.

“Okay,” I said, not sure how to respond.

“They can be better,” Dad added.

And there it was.

“Of course they can,” I exhaled and shook my head, looking toward the window that overlooked a large fountain in the courtyard.

During my first year, Ajax had flooded that fountain, so that the courtyard had looked like a swimming pool. The dean had been furious. My dad had admonished me for the company I kept.

Maybe he’d given up on that part, accepting he would never win certain battles, and I would never give up my friends.

“Why aren’t you applying yourself?” Dad asked. “I don’t understand why you’re fighting the system. You know where you’re headed. If you really try, all you’ll do is make your life easier. But you’re set on screwing this up. It’s your life, Banyan. Don’t you understand that?”

“It’s not my life,” I clapped back. “Nothing about this is mine. I don’t get to choose anything. You were the one who told me what to do, who to be, so that one day, I could be some kind of king that would carry your approval. You don’t give a shit about what I feel.”

“Feelings don’t matter,” Dad said. “They get in the way of being a good ruler.”

“Yeah? Is that why you and Mom barely talk anymore?”

My dad bristled, his golden eyes changing, the pupils becoming slits with his anger. “Don’t you dare talk about your mother. We have an understanding—”

“You mean you told her how things would be, and she had to accept it because there was no other choice. What happened to a partnership?”

“A partnership?” he echoed.

“Isn’t that what a marriage is supposed to be? Or was she an incubator so you could have offspring, and that was it?”

My dad’s face reddened with anger. Scales crept onto his wrists, visible under the sleeves of his suit.

“Where is this coming from, Banyan?” he demanded in a cold voice. “Tell me you’re not thinking about dating one of the peasants who go here.”

“Peasant?” I asked, surprised.

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