“Named for akri-Leucious. You might have changed your name, but Lucilu hasn’t.”
He laughed in spite of his sadness. With a ragged sigh, he handed the doll back to her. “Thank you, Simi.”
“You’re very welcome, akri-Thorn.”
He gently took her hand. “Seriously, Simi. Thank you. Your friendship means a lot more to me than you know. I don’t have many friends. Or any, really. Trusting others isn’t something I do.”
“The Simi isn’t others. She’s Simi.” Lifting herself up on her toes, she kissed his cheek. “Don’t be sad, akri-Thorn. Things will get better. You’ll see.”
Then she was gone.
Thorn felt her absence more than he expected. How he wished he could share her optimism. But that part of him had been kicked out of existence when he’d been a boy.
He missed that part of himself.
There was a lot he missed, truthfully.
Sighing, he used his powers to clean up the mess in his room. But that only made it seem emptier.
Was this all there was to his life?
Loss?
Anger?
Betrayal?
Nothing made sense. Once again, he felt lost. Every time he thought he had his feet underneath him, something or someone came along and sent him careening.
“What am I going to do?”
This was just like the day he’d learned his father wasn’t his father. That the world wasn’t what he thought.
That everyone had lied to him.
How many times was he going to have to start over?
Sitting on his bed, he closed his eyes in an effort to get his bearings. He really didn’t know what to do. Or what was going to happen.
But at least he still had Simi.
15
October 8, 743 AD
“So that’s your son, akri-Thorn.”
Thorn froze as he heard Simi’s voice behind him. Eyes wide, he turned toward her and motioned her to silence. “Careful, Simi. Cadegan thinks we’re half-brothers. I don’t want him to know the truth.”
“Why not?”
Too many reasons to count, just as he wanted no one to know who his father really was, but the most prominent one was his own fear of how Cadegan would react to the fact. “He hates his father for abandoning him.”
“That not your fault. The mean old goddess wouldn’t let you visit. Can’t you tell him that?”
How he wished. “It’s not that simple, Simi. Emotions are complicated.”
“That’s what akri say, too. Emotions don’t have brains. But I don’t understand. Mine are simple. Hungry, I eat. Mad, I eat. Happy, I laugh. Angry, I eat. Simple.”
