Closing his eyes, Urian held her there as he fought against his own tears. He really did love his children. He always would.
Geras came running and threw himself against them so that he could pout over the fact that Urian wouldn’t be joining them.
His heart breaking even more, Urian held them until he heard Sheba calling for him to join her from the other side of the door.
Damn it. He shouldn’t have to choose between her and his children. But life was never fair.
And it seemed to take a special joy out of racking his balls.
“I have to go and your uncles are waiting.” He kissed them each in turn. “Take care. I shall come visit as soon as I can.”
“I’ll miss you, Baba!” Geras said.
“Miss you already, scamp.” Urian chucked him on the chin, then wiped away the tears on Nephele’s face. “Be good for me.”
“I will. You take care, Baba.”
Her words made his heart swell and ache. Every time they called him that, it tore him apart and made him glad that in spite of how it’d ended, he’d married their mother. For them alone, his hell with Thia had been worth it.
He paused to watch as they walked down the hall. Geras glanced back to wave and Nephele to blow him one last kiss.
Urian returned both gestures with a heavy heart.I hate change.He always had.
That was the worst part about being an Apollite. Change came fast and furious for them all in their pathetically brief lives.
Twenty-seven years just wasn’t long enough for anyone to live and die. They were gone before they had a chance to begin.
Game over. Why? Because his own grandfather was a selfish ass. Why did people have to be so selfish and cold?
What a world it would be if others could look around for three seconds each day and realize that they weren’t the only ones in pain. That everyone suffered.
If people would take a breath before lashing out to take into account everyone who was in their line of fire.
Yet they never did. Instead, anger was a double-edged sword that cut in both directions as it swung a wide arc and left a bloody swathe in its wake.
Urian sighed. His personal fate was looming faster than he could keep track of. He had less than five years to that fateful birthday.
Five years …
A blink, and he’d either be dead like his mother or a Daimon like his brothers and father. In a way, he envied his brothers for having already made their decisions. It no longer weighed on their minds.
Would he be able to do it? Or would he be like Archie and Davyn, and have to be fed by another Daimon?
While Urian thought himself strong enough to go Daimon, he didn’t really know for certain. It was one thing to tear apart the humans who’d hurt his mother. Another to kill those who were innocent.
The gods knew that Archie was the last one he’d have thought would falter in the face of a human. His brother had never sparedhimany conscience.
Or any blow. Physical or mental.
And he’d been the one to rip apart the human children that night …
But then the true measure of any warrior was never known until the day they were battle-tested. Only in the heat of that moment would they come to know if they would be shattered from the blows of a superior enemy or rise victorious to overcome all challengers. It was one thing to say what he’d do in the abstract but another to actually do it when that moment came barreling down with crushing brutality.
Stand and fight, or turn and flee.
The irony wasn’t lost on him that the brother who’d gone out to avenge their mother and slaughter humans in her name wasn’t the brother who’d been able to turn Daimon to save his own life. Yet the one who’d been a coward and run home to hide that night had been the very one to take that soul to save his own.
You just never know who will fight for themselves and who will fight to save another.
