“I miss Skya too,” Severo said. “As for your mother, we’ll be there soon, and I’m sure she will be…all you ever imagined.”
Seri snorted. “Not sure if that is a good thing, as I’ve imagined some pretty horrible shit.”
Severo blinked. “Okay, then she will be the exact opposite of how you imagined.”
The Nymph chuckled, but his humor faded quickly, and he asked, “Should…should I see him?”
Severo grimaced. He couldn’t say he liked the idea. He, in fact, would rather Seri stayed far, far away from the man who had just tried to murder his own wife, but…it wasn’t up to him. “Do you want to?”
“I don’t know. Now that all this stuff is coming out, I feel that I have to ask why…”
“You may not like the answer.”
“I know that, but…I need to know…I think.”
Severo nodded and took a deep breath, trying to not let the idea panic him. “Okay, they moved him to jail already, so I’ll have to call Cyrus and see if I can get us in to see him.”
“Thank you.”
Seri tookdeep breaths in and out, clinging hard to Severo’s hand as if it was the only thing keeping him grounded. The man kept glancing at him as they moved forward, face full of worry. For once, things felt too bright to him.The white walls and floors of the hospital were not helping.
He almost stopped when he spotted the police officer standing by a door down the hall.
“That’s...” he rasped.
“Yes, that is where we are going. It’s going to be fine, Seri. If she ends up saying something out of line we can leave and never look back, okay?”
“Okay.” Seri took a deep breath in through his mouth, and then out through his gills.
He said okay…but he wasn’t sure if anything was actually okay. Something would change after this. There was no way it wouldn’t. He’d be going from not having a mother to having one. He supposed it already had changed. The previous Seri, who knew nothing about his blood family, was gone…and that sort of scared him.
Could he cut her off? Yes… But the knowledge that she was there, that he had met her after all these years, would remain.
Was it worse to have a mother and want nothing to do with them, or to never have one at all? Before, he had completely ignored the possibilities. His mind made up that he didn’t care…
But now, if he walked away, would he be able to stop himself from wondering about what could have been, or what could be?
He held his breath when they reached the door and the officer. Severo held up his new CEB badge… Though it was different from his old one, it still marked him as an agent.
The man gave a hesitant smile. “The Chief had to leave, so he sent me here. I’m Joah Brody. She’s been waiting for you two.” The guy winced. “Not to step out of line, but Mrs. Lowen is in a lot of pain. She’s been refusing medicine so that she’d be awake when you got here. Perhaps keeping this first visit short would be a good idea?”
Seri gasped. “I…”
“Thanks for telling us,” Severo said, guiding him forward, even though his mind was still processing the officer's words.
She had…sat in pain, waiting for him? Why…
His breath whooshed out of him at the first glimpse of her. Avery Lowen sat there in her hospital bed, long cyan curls lying slightly limp to her shoulders, with all sorts of lines and monitors hooked onto her… Looking like the photo…but not…
Her left eye was swollen shut, lip busted, and there was a bandage around her head and on her chin. Her left arm was in a cast, while her right was wrapped up. Seri didn’t know what else she had going on under her hospital gown, but he could see a hint of white across her shoulder.
Tears filled the one eye that was not damaged. In that silver eye, he could see it—the pain, the yearning, as her gaze devoured every inch of him. Her bandaged hand went to her mouth and she sobbed. “Oh, I never?—”
Her voice broke, and Avery sat there crying silently for a few seconds before she managed to compose herself. “I never thought this day would come. I kept hoping…” She took a shuddered breath and asked, “Will you come to me, Seri, my beautiful child?”
Seri stood there frozen, heart beating ever faster, tears filling his eyes as he continued to stare. But without any thought to do so, he found himself pulling from Severo’s hold and running to her side.
She reached out, hand shaking, her face pinching in pain. He grasped her hand between his, and went to his knees by her bedside. She was so small. They may look alike, but she was tiny compared to him.
