“All four of us did. We saw the mistakes we made and wanted to give star-crossed lovers a place where they could be happy and accepted. All of us had people who found love and mates in other races. It was an unexpected evolution we did not see coming, which really shows a lack of foresight and that even deities are fallible.” She stops talking, and her eyes grow distant for a moment before she lets out a heavy sigh.
“We did so many things wrong, and hindsight is twenty-twenty. There was no putting the cat back in the bag, so to speak, so we made a deal with the former king. In exchange for creating the Chaos Kingdom, he would owe us a future favor for either him or one of his descendants to fulfill.”
“And I was the lucky soul who was tasked with repaying the favor,” Loki says dryly, but her focus is fully on telling us her tale.
“What was the favor?” Brodie asks, unable to hide his curiosity.
“Thirty years ago, the first time since the great war between humans and supernaturals, rumblings of discontent reached us,” the goddess starts.
“Surely it wasn’t the first hint of that?” Liam scoffs, and she shakes her head.
“No, you’re right, there has always been an uneasy truce between the two factions, but the humans knew if they were to start something again, they would be easily outgunned by the supernaturals. Then it came to our attention that the humans were messing with magic. Somehow, they had convinced a few individual supernaturals to assist their cause. It didn’t really go anywhere, but we realized it was only a matter of time before someone would attempt this again, so we put a plan in place. We selected four human women to bear the final humans that would be leaders for the four supernatural races. As I have explained to Colbie, it will be her family line that will rule the shifters, and all humans in Aramis will be given the opportunity to be changed if they wish to. Taking the human factor out of the equation should bring balance to the kingdoms.”
“And this is going to happen in the other kingdoms as well?” Hunter asks, catching on.
“Yes, in fact, it is already in motion. The fae and witch royals are all due to retire within the coming months. The vampire royals are not supposed to retire for another year, but they are going to find that timeline is accelerated. They are my sisters’ concerns, however, and you are mine.”
“But what does he have to do with all of this and his claim that he is Colbie’s father?” Micah jabs a finger in Loki’s direction, his anger almost as obvious as mine. He doesn’t like that Loki dropped that announcement on me any more than I do.
“That was the favor we called in. We decided that it would be better for supernatural relations if they had a common link. We are hoping to avoid future wars between our creations,” the goddess explains, looking at the king.
“But that tells us nothing,” Hunter argues, but Gryffin is staring at the man with calculating eyes, like he figured something out. “You claim you are Colbie’s father. Does that mean you are the father of all four children?”
My mouth drops open as Loki nods his head. “Yes. The task I was given was to impregnate the four chosen human women.” He looks at me with pained eyes. “Then let them raise their children without any interference from me. I was bound to this by the agreement my father made with them.”
Tears well in my eyes at the revelation, and I shake my head, speechless and devastated, unable to process this fantastical information.
“But how? Supernaturals can’t procreate with humans,” Gem argues, and the goddess shrugs.
“Actually, crossbreeds can, but the children are always born human. It takes magic to trigger the change in them. Again, another little quirk of evolution. There are probably more humans out there with supernatural genes who will never know because they aren’t subjected to the magic that activates them.”
Everyone stares at the goddess with various displays of shock and surprise, but then something occurs to me—something triggered by what Loki said.
“I have sisters?” I look between him and the goddess, and both of them smile warily like they are scared of how I’m going to react.
“Yes, the future queens of Shayla, Eryx, and Tanith are all your half-sisters,” the goddess says. I don’t know how I feel about this. On one hand, I’m giddy with excitement since I always wanted brothers or sisters, and that longing was even stronger after Gryffin and the two girls visited. On the other hand, will they want anything to do with me? After everything that has happened, are we going to be able to get over our father’s betrayal so we can become a semi-functional family? Or will we remain distant allies at best? So many scenarios play over and over in my head as I come to terms with the news.
“So Loki is a quarter of each race, which is how you were able to create children with all four women, but how did each of them turn out as the supernatural race they need to be? Colbie is definitely all shifter with no other traits.” Hunter raises a questioning eyebrow at the goddess, who shrugs unapologetically.
“Remember, they only have the potential to be supernaturals, so when they are exposed to the right magic, it triggers the change. Had Colbie been subjected to Eryx’s magic instead of mine, she would have been a vampire. Loki is the only one in the Chaos Kingdom who has all four bloodlines running through him.”
“That doesn’t seem like a coincidence,” Gem points out dryly, and the goddess blushes.
“We did what needed to be done.”
I focus my attention on the man who sired me. “My mother told me you were a cheating bastard who left when he found out she was pregnant.”
He scoffs and rolls his eyes. “Your mother always had a propensity to tell lies. I’m sure that narrative fit her perfectly. In fact, she was only ever a brief fling, one I knew she would get pregnant from, but the goddess told me you would have to be raised alone to become the person you were meant to be. I entranced her and her parents to believe I was around longer than I was, but that the relationship went south, and we split up. In truth, I never saw her again after the week we spent together. I did it so she wouldn’t come looking for me. Anything she told you about me is a lie and made up to fit her own needs. As much as I wanted to be in your lives, the goddess forbade it. If I had my way, you would have been raised here in the kingdom with me, spoiling you all rotten.” He sounds desperate, like he needs me to believe what he’s saying, and I kind of do. That may be my own desperate need for a loving parent grasping at straws, but in this moment, I don’t care.
I glare at the goddess, furious that she took away my chance to be raised by a more stable and caring environment, but she just stares back at me. “We did what needed to be done. You are the person you need to be because of your upbringing and have unbiased views of supernaturals. Had you been raised in your father’s care, you could have picked up prejudices.”
“What a load of crap,” Liam spits out, and I feel a rush of love at his support, even though she is probably right. “Being raised in Chaos Kingdom would have been the best place for all of them. It would have made them neutral.”
She vehemently shakes her head. “Not if Loki’s grandfather had gotten his hooks into them. Remember, Loki only succeeded the man just over ten years ago. The girls would have been fully under his influence.”
“What happened to him?” Brodie asks, unable to stop his curiosity.
“I killed him,” my father said flatly. “He was throwing around words of war, no longer content to be hidden from the humans or ignored by the other supernaturals. He was stirring up trouble for the kingdom, and I wasn’t about to see all of our people die for his delusions.”
