“It’s okay, kid. You can tell me.”
I shake my head. “You have been in a coma my whole life.”
His brow furrows, and he breathes in that new information.
“Your mother raised you…and your brother alone?”
“She had some help. Grandpa, Aunt Marilynn, Uncle Niles, Aunt Ruth, Uncle Warrose, and DaiSzek.”
It’s a sad, short laugh.
“How does it happen?”
“The injection Masten and Kaspias gave you. Once activated it will put you in a coma.”
He peers down. “How is it activated?”
Huh. I guess I didn’t think through this part of the explanation.
“It, well, once you’re—hmm. When you and my mom are close—you know, cause—”
This is the first time I’ve ever seen my dad cringe.
“Stop. I think I’m caught up,” he says quickly.
“I’m sorry. I know this is the aftermath of what they did to you, experimenting with your brain chemistry. You think my mother was the cause of all your trauma. Is this right?”
Discomfort fractures him from the inside out.
“It’s complicated,” he replies.
“It won’t last. She’ll fix it in the void.” I fidget with my hands. “I know it’s hard to imagine me as your daughter or even be happy about it because you hate my mom right now, but—”
“Happy? Sapphire, I amdevastated. You are what…twenty-one? I will miss my daughter’s first steps. Your first words. I won’t be there to threaten the first man who breaks your heart. I won’t be there to hold you when you cry or protect you from the evil of this world.” He pinches the bridge of his nose and closes his eyes to gather himself. “I am so fucking sorry you had to grow up without me there to keep you safe. I should have been there. I don’t need to spend two decades with you to know how much I already love you.”
A rift inside my core stitches itself back together. Not healed but no longer ripped to shreds. I smile with swollen eyes and a red nose, feeling like a little girl.
“I love you too. And so does Krimson.”
This time, he wraps his arms around me again, kissing the top of my head and resting his cheek there. It’s everything I used to wish for as a child. It’s everything I needed desperately.
“Tell me there’s a way I can survive this,” he whispers sadly.
“There is,” I exhale against his chest. “Crow Ivast told me if you drink a tea made of Red Oak leaves, before… you and my mom, you know…”
“Yeah, got it.” He releases me from the hug.
“It will cancel out the effects.”
My father rubs the side of his face in deep thought. “Crow Ivast told you this?”
“Twenty to thirty in the past, yes.”
He stares at me.
“Your genetics and my mom’s did this.”
“And your brother?”
