“Anointed?What’s that?”
“Before his father could publicly acknowledge him and claim him as a son, he had to step into the royal spawning grounds—because he hadn’t been born there. He walked in until he was deep enough to be submerged.”
“Is that something I need to do? I wasn’t born there either.”
“Do you want to find your father and have him publicly acknowledge you?”
CHAPTER 18
Before Qylar’s question was barely out of his mouth, Kenji’s mind was made up. His biological father hadn’t spent a single second in Kenji’s life. He was simply a sperm donor.
Even if it meant getting more answers, no way was he going face-to-face with that man.
“No,”Kenji said quickly. “I don’t give a shit about that bastard.”
Qylar closed his eyes, a wince coming.
Kenji sat up on an elbow. “What’s with that reaction?”
Qylar’s eyes opened, and he eyed Kenji. “I just hate hearing pain in your voice.”
Kenji’s anger faded some in the light of Qylar’s love.
“Finding who he was wouldn’t be so bad, I guess. I’d like to have a name instead of the blank space that’s always been there. Learning a bit about my history would be nice, too, I guess. You talk about all of these kingdoms, so which one is mine? Isthat something we can find out? Is there a Nefyrian version of Ancestry dot com?”
“There is, actually.”
“I’ve always been too terrified to give a spit sample here on Earth. I figured I’d be snatched in the night and locked up if I did.”
“Smart thinking. That might’ve actually happened. Good thing you shifted young and knew not to.” Qylar ran his thumb over Kenji’s lower lip. “When I took your blood sample, I ran it through the system, looking for any potential match, assuming you might like that information. It came up empty, I’m afraid.”
“So, I’ll never know,” Kenji said, disappointment swelling.
“Not necessarily. All royal lines are tracked, but for regular citizens, it’s voluntary to submit their data to the Genomic Library. Not everyone’s genetics are in the system, but more are added all the time. And then there are the underwater kingdoms. I don’t even know if they have a way to collect and store that kind of information to provide the library. I doubt they could be coaxed to come up and give a sample, either.”
“I didn’t realize there were underwater kingdoms.”
“There aren’t many. Most are ancient territories with citizens who refuse to live in human form. They rarely leave the water, if ever. There’s one kingdom not too terribly far from Cryss’s homeland and we would occasionally see a couple of fishmongers who’d come sell their catches at the market every few weeks. Not sure why they needed money when they lived off the seas, but what do I know? Their skin was…off.When I was young, I was told it was because they’d spent so much time in the water and rarely used their human side. It was paleand bloated, similar to how the remains of a human body found submerged for some time looks. They didn’t look like us at all. Even their eyes were funny. Bloated and gray. Young children would sometimes cry at the sight of them.”
Kenji frowned, sitting up straight.
“What’s wrong?” Qylar asked.
“You just reminded me of something my mother once told me. She said my father had weird skin. Not bloated like you described.” He shook his head, searching for the rest of the memory. “Like his skin was a little too big for his body and sort of sagged in places is what I think she said.” Kenji turned to Qylar. “Does that meananythingto you?”
Qylar shook his head. “No. But if you’d like to deepen the search, there are some folks I could reach out to for help.”
“I don’t want to meet him. Just to reiterate.”
“Completely understood,” Qylar said.
“But I would like to know where I came from. If that’s possible, I’d like help trying.”
Qylar smiled. “We can return to the ship tomorrow and I’ll send some messages to get the ball rolling. I can’t promise answers, but I’ll do whatever I can to find them.”
“Thank you,” Kenji said, leaning forward for a hug.
“You’re very welcome.”
