What did that mean?
Nothing, he decided. It meant absolutely nothing because he knew the truth. Jaden was lying. “Tesiah is my father.”
Jaden shook his head. “No, Leucious. I made the bargain with your mother myself. I know exactly what happened.”
Was he saying what Leucious thought he was? “You’re my father?”
The color faded from Jaden’s cheeks. “What? No. No! What would make you think …?” He paused as if running his words through his head, then nodded. “Let me rephrase what I said. I made the bargain with your mother for her to have a son for your father. The son she was desperate for.”
This was getting tedious, and it was making him furious. “Who’s my father, Jaden?”
He hesitated a moment before he answered. “Noir is.”
Leucious stood there unsure of how to react.
Noir. The darkest god of them all. The one who’d cursed Mot and that Mot had talked about with utter contempt and hatred.
His mind reeled at the implications and the horror. Noir … His father.
“How’s that even possible?”
Noir was condemned to a hell realm. Locked there. He couldn’t leave it to impregnate his mother. It made no sense. Even for a god, how would that be possible?
“I don’t think you want the gory details since we are talking about your mother. Suffice to say, he used the demon Paimon as a surrogate. I arranged the bargain. Paimon fulfilled it.”
Curling his lip, Leucious let that seep into his soul. A demon had impregnated his mother. A demon. Everything he’d thought about himself was a lie. Everything. “Why are you telling me this now?”
“Because as soon as Tesiah is told the truth, he will lead his army out to destroy the bastard he didn’t father. That means you. He will want your head over the lie he’s been told all these years.”
Of course, he would. Leucious knew that better than anyone. His father would never allow the son of someone else to sit upon his throne. He’d rather leave it vacant and let the others fight it out rather than see Leucious take it now.
The worst part? His mother was already dead. She would have been Tesiah’s first victim after the news. And hers would not have been an easy or merciful killing.
That made him sick to his stomach.
But there was nothing he could do to save her.
No wonder he’d been anxious all morning. Leucious turned and headed back toward his men in the camp. He needed to sober them up and be ready to route his … Tesiah. He had no idea what to call him anymore since he was no longer his father.
Although in all honesty, he’d never really been a father to him. Just someone who scowled and cursed at whatever weakness he perceived.
The heavy fist that beat the weakness out of him.
Still …
It’d been all Leucious had known.
And if Tesiah wasn’t his father, he definitely wasn’t his king.
Where did that leave them?
Enemies. What else? And Tesiah had taught him that all enemies must be dealt with and eliminated with extreme and bloody prejudice.
He started for his camp.
Jaden caught his arm. “Wait, Leucious. You need to understand why Noir fathered you.”
“I don’t care.”
