“I want to go home.” I looked at David with pleading eyes.
“Yes,” David agreed.
Alezzander strode into the living room with a stone look. He walked in my direction. I gripped David’s arm. David embraced me protectively. Nyx gasped and held Alezzander by the arm, pulling him away from us.
“Forgive me,” Alezzander glanced between David and me. “I have realized that you are not at fault for the actions of your parents. I am ashamed of my behavior and beg you to understand that the situation is not easy to approbate.
“I cannot live without my family, child. If accepting you is the way to keep them, then I shall receive you as you are, but with one condition: you must tell me who your father is. I shall need to deal with him personally, for he is the one that has shattered the principles of the Doctrine.”
“I don’t know who he is,” I spoke without viewing him. “Are you going to kill him?”
“That is not up to me to decide. The council must make judgment of that and then pass their votes to Deus who has the final say.”
I stared at him. “Please don’t do that. Please don’t turn him over to your council.”
“Why would you plead on behalf of a father that has abandoned you?” Alezzander’s heavyset brow rose. “Do you think he would do the same for you?”
I looked down at the floor. Alezzander had a point, but he was my father even if I did not know him.
“He’ my father. It doesn’t matter what he would do for me. What matters is what I feel is right.”
“I don’t want my family compromised. Conspiring is a death sentence as far as this matter is concerned. You are not supposed to exist. Do you understand that?”
I nodded.
“I can protect you,” Alezzander asserted. “But I cannot protect your father. He must come forth and face the council. His act is unpardonable.”
“Surely there is something in the books that provides partial sanctuary for her father?” David inquired.
“I’m afraid not,” Alezzander said. “He will be tried and penalized with the harshest of verdicts.”
“No one but us knows this,” I interjected. “No one else has to find out.”
Alezzander’s mouth formed a straight tight line as he considered my statement. “I shall deny my knowledge of anything. I will deny knowing you if that is what it takes to save my own flesh and blood. That is the best I can do for you. It is in your hands.”
“Thank you, Father.” David tightened his embrace on me. “I will do my best to maintain the situation mute. If for some reason the council be advised of this, I will serve as advocate for her father.”
“Words cannot describe my opposition to this, Dahveed. However, you are a grown man and responsible for your own deeds.” Alezzander took a seat on the couch next to me. “And you, girl, you are undetectable even to a Primitus, as myself. I had to strain to find the most minimal sign of difference in you. I pray that my son will be too, or you both may be in grave danger.”
“I forget what a Primitus is?” I looked to David for an explanation.
“The prime lineage of deities are called Primitus. They are the first generation of gods,” David explained.
“Are you the son of Deus and Starr?” I asked curiously.
“We are all sons of Deus.” Alezzander curved his lips.
“By blood, are you the son of Deus?” I reworded my question.
“By blood,” he answered, “we are all the sons of Deus.”
The room was silent for a few minutes. Nyx glared at Alezzander, still upset over the earlier happenings. I was upset too, but I needed answers to so many things.
“What am I?” I asked Nyx.
“Different.” Nyx answered. “You have the ability to control your subconscious. I can sense a long life within you, but I cannot know if you are immortal. I see you fragile, yet fierce. I will not know what you are until your coming of age.”
“When will that be?” David queried.
“I don’t know that either.” Nyx looked at me with a blank stare, reading me, I presumed.
She walked over to Alezzander, stared at him for a few seconds, and then brutally slapped him.
“You deserve more than that. She’s terrified of you and I am ashamed.” Nyx walked off into the kitchen with tears in her eyes.
Alezzander followed.
We all stared at each other in awe. I heard arguing coming from the kitchen in Latin.
“I think I should leave now,” I told David. “I’ve had enough for today.”
“I think it better to stay. Take rest in my room until you have calmed down and your head is clear, before you go home and interrogate your mother. You must be inconspicuous in your approach to asking for information about your biological father. You must not mention how you discovered the truth.”
“I don’t want to be in the same house as your father,” I confessed.
“Come here.” David kissed my forehead. “I will never let anyone hurt you again. I will not hold my self back if there is a next time.
“I’m sorry for my father’s behavior. He is not a savage, I assure you. He is just concerned for our wellbeing. He thought you were an abomination. I’m sorry, my lovely. I truly am.”
“He treated me like an animal,” I cried. “He’s a horrible person.”
“He seems that way now, but believe me, he is good at heart.”
My eyes filled with tears of rage and impotence, as I realized my mother had kept this secret from me my entire life. And to top it off this horrible man was David’s father. I loathed him already, and I had barely met him.
“I want to go home,” I continued to weep.
“Isis,” Galen called my name. “I think you should take David’s advice and settle your emotions before leaving. You don’t want to cause panic in your mother.”
“Okay,” I accepted Galen’s reasoning.
“I’ll take you to my room. You will not be disturbed there.” David held me under his arm and led me up the stairs.
We sat on his bed. His arm was tight around my waist, his other hand wiping tears from under my eyes. “Would you like a beverage?”
“No.” I hugged him. “I want to know who I am.”
“You’re exactly the same person you were before any of this was revealed.” He kissed my eyes. “You’ve not changed.”
“Everything has changed for me.” I sobbed into his chest. “Who’s my father? Why did my mother keep this from me?”
I suddenly had a thought. I sniffed and gazed at David. “Do you think he did the same thing you did with the Star Crest?”
“No, precious. That is not the case. You would have been born fully human.”
“What am I, David?” I held my hands over my eyes. “Am I turning into something hideous?”
“No. The ones that were abominations were born as such. You do not resemble them in the slightest.”
“Why would she keep this from me?” I hit the bed with my fist. “She made my father believe I was his daughter… or maybe he knew and kept it from me too. How am I supposed to live with the uncertainty of what I am?” My mouth trembled.
“I realize you’re overwhelmed. I’m as much taken aback as you are, but I will be there for you. I will be the shoulder for you to cry on—your sanctuary.”
I held on to him with all my strength and began to sob again. My face was nestled into his neck. I could smell his sweet aroma. The sandalwood scent soothed me. It was him I wanted to be with at a time like this and no one else.
“Why didn’t you tell me what the Star Crest meant when you gave it to me?” I questioned him still breathing in his scent.
“You would have not permitted it. I was a desperate fool, in love.” He kissed my head. “There was no other way.”
“Do you think my mother knows about me?” I sniffled.
“No, and do not mention this to her. It only compromises her and all of us more.”
I placed my hand on the back of his head, running my fingers through his dark hair. He closed the gap between us and took my lips in his—swaying, biting, caressing them.
“I adore you,” he whispered.
Nyx knocked on the door to David’s room. “Am I interrupting?”
“No, Mother. Come in.” David smiled shyly.
I wondered how long she’d been standing there before she decided to knock.
“Isis, Alezzander would like to speak to you and David alone.”
“Is he going to strangle me again?” I reproached.
“Please forgive him for that. He thought you were something else. He had no idea that you were so normal.” She walked into the room. “He’d like to make his apology sincere. Will you have him?”
David stared at me, awaiting my response. I was reluctant to accept, but, for the sake of my beautiful David, I would do it.
“Yes,” I agreed.
Alezzander was already at the doorway when I gave my answer. He walked to the bed and knelt on one knee. Nyx walked out of the room.
“I have inflicted you with physical and emotional pain. I am truly apologetic for the words I have used to disrespect you. I was hasty in my actions, and I cannot begin to convey my deepest regret for it,” Alezzander began his apology.
“I beg you to understand that I was blinded by the surprise of your… genus. I am sworn to defend my creed and you are a living miracle, child. I don’t know how it is you have been living undetected for so many years.
“In short, please take my sincerest apologies. I kneel before you as the most significant form of symbolism for repentance. I have knelt before no one under these circumstances.”
I wanted punch his teeth out. I was still upset over the fact that he called me a bastard mutt and choked me. I glanced at David, thinking about what I was about to say, but I went ahead anyway.
“You call yourself a father and a god,” I shook my head opposing the thought. “You don’t deserve either title. You have no respect for your family or for those you’re supposed to empathize with… such as me. If the only reason you’re doing this is to please Nyx, then you keep your false apology. I don’t need it.”
David’s eyes widened as he gazed at me. He didn’t expect a reprisal to escape my mouth.
Alezzander lowered his head. “I realize where your spite is coming from, dear girl. I implore you to reconsider. I shan’t rise from here until you have accepted my apology.”
“He is not feigning, Isis. Hypocrisy is not a trait of his.” David took my hand.
“He owes you an apology, too,” I said to David, holding my ground.
“And I shall give them all my apologies, for I have caused them mental anguish, as well,” Alezzander promised. “But you are the one I am beholden to.”
Alezzander kept his knee to the floor. His back was straight like a Templar waiting to be knighted. He waited for my response.
David tightened his hold on my hand. “You don’t have to accept if it is not in your will. He will have to live with the remorse.”
“It’s not in my nature to hold grudges. It makes for an ugly personality,” I sighed.
David smiled warily. “What are you saying?”
“I forgive you,” I said to Alezzander. “And I apologize for my words also. It’s bad manners to speak to your elders in such a fashion. I was taught better than that. Do you take my apology?”
“Yes.” Alezzander’s face was serious. “May I stand now?”
“Why would you ask me that?”
“Out of respect,” David answered for his father. “He may not rise until you approve.”
“Please, stand up.” I felt ashamed of being ignorant of their customs. I was suddenly aware of the magnitude of humiliation the kneeling before me was to them. It took guts for Alezzander to do this before his son and wife. I was at a loss for words.
After Alezzander formally apologized to his family, he began to indulge in Nyx’s culinary masterpieces and questioned me. He was looking for small details regarding my abilities to travel to Somnium. He was curious about the level of intellect I had and complimented me on my looks.
“Do you take after your mother?” He asked in small talk.
“No, I look nothing like her.” I drank from a soothing tea Nyx had prepared me.
“She’s quite beautiful, your mother,” Nyx noted, “but you’re right; she and you bear no resemblance.”
Nearing midnight, David drove me home. I was sure Claire would be fast asleep. She had to work the next day.
David pecked my lips under the porch light.
“Don’t leave,” I pleaded with him. “I don’t want to be alone.”
“My lovely, these are not visiting hours. I’m surprised your mother didn’t call to reprimand you on being so late.”
“She knew I’d be with you and your parents. She had no reason to call. Besides, she didn’t give me a curfew tonight.”
David tilted his head and gazed at me. “How soon are you planning to confront her on the issue?”
“Tomorrow,” I sounded unsure, “I think. I don’t know how to do it.”
“It doesn’t have to be that soon. You can wait until the time is right. Repose and it will come to you.” David held me in his warm brawny arms.
“I need to know,” I mumbled. “Would you be able to live with the mystery?” I gazed at him.
“No, I suppose not.” He peeled my arms off him. “Isis, I have to go. It’s past midnight already. Do you think it appropriate for us be out here at this late hour?”