Mom stared at me for a moment, and I tried not to visibly tense, worrying that she wasn’t buying my easy acceptance of what she’d said.
But then relief coursed through me as her purple magic sparked and she conjured a bowl of oatmeal for me on the kitchen island.
“There you go,” she said gently. She walked to it and called her shadows forth, and I smiled as she used them like she used to in order to get the lumpiness out of the oatmeal and make it the smooth, almost soup-like way that I preferred it.
“Thank you, Mom.”
“Of course. Eat up.”
I obliged and took a seat on one of the stools, picking up the ornate spoon she’d pulled with her magic from the kitchen drawer, the silver ones with the black roses swirling around the handles. Well, faux silver. We couldn’t have actual silver in the house because Pops was part wolf.
As I started eating, finding myself more hungry than I’d realized, and basically shoveling it into my mouth, spoonful after spoonful, I watched her walk to the oven and sweep her magic over it, calling forth the knobs.
“Your dad has gotten a lot better with it. He was just distracted last night when he made dinner with Cassius.”
I smiled and continued eating.
She leaned against the oven instead of coming over to me like she normally would have. She was very touchy-feely with me, just like Pops was, so this was odd. It seemed like she was forcing herself to give me space now that she’d been able to get her hug in earlier.
They must have thought I’d been subjected to some physical abuse from Ruxnoth.
I mean, yeah, he had touched me.
But it hadn’t been… wrong.
In fact, it had actually helped me.
He had helped me.
It had been kind and… wanted. Relished, even. Not in a harmful way nor a sexual way. And I could tell that wasn’t how he’d intended it. It hadn’t been disturbing or despicable like that.
I smiled out at Mom. “Fine, remember?”
“Yeah, that’s what I’m seeing.”
Seeing, but not quite believing?
“Thank you for your shadows. They helped.”
“Good, baby boy.” Her lips quirked. “And Maximus? You know Ketheron will want to know. And… Nuvri is the name of Evira’s plush polar bear cub, right?”
I chuckled. “That’s right. They both did an incredible job. Comfort and cuteness overload without a doubt.”
“High praise, tiny god!” Ketheron’s voice sounded suddenly, as he burst into the kitchen.
He knew what it was like to have been feared because of what he was, too. But that had faded over time. The fact he no longer always wore those thick sweats anymore, and was clad in navy jeans and a white tee now, which had become his usual sort of wear, him no longer so self-conscious about the shimmering golden cracks all over his skin that signified his Polygenus Entity makeup was a definitive sign of that.
But that fear fading for him, the way he was seen becoming positive, wasn’t something that could happen for me.
Because of the necromantic aspect of my abilities.
Because of what Morien had done where the wider supernatural knew nothing could stop death magic aside from other death magic.
Because unlike even Ketheron, I couldn’t be killed.
Ruxnoth had been right—because there was no end to me, for those who feared me, there was no end to the threat for them. And that was a heavy burden. Pain without end was unbearable. That was what I was to them.
My thoughts were interrupted as Ketheron bounded toward me.
