Chapter
One
What. The. Fuck?
My father trudged into the room, his tawny, leather boots scuffing across the hardwood floor as he closed the door behind him, shutting Sebastian out.
My father.
He was slightly shorter than I had envisioned him to be, though his stature appeared sturdy with broadened shoulders. Low-cut, graying hair laid unkempt upon his head, connecting in a five o’clock shadow along the base of his squared, dimpled chin.
There was no mistaking who he was. His eyes were exactly as my mother had always described them, matching my hazel ones in every respect.
“Hello, Maeve.” His voice had an intimidating gravel to it, though in a contradictory fashion the low tone was also mildly comforting.
My kneecaps wobbled, abruptly frail as I stumbled backwards, gravitating back down to the mattress I had only just found the strength to rise from.
“Am I dead?” The man I had been longing to meet for my entire existence stood before me, and those were the only words I could seem to muster up in this moment.
I prodded at my cheeks, gingerly pinching the flushed skin to ensure that I could still detect the sting.
A chuckle dislodged from deep within his throat. “No, Maeve. You’re not dead.”
My brain bounced against the walls of my skull as my head churned, the soft waves of my chestnut hair sliding out from behind my ears. “But you’re?—”
“Alive.”
Impossible.
“Then thismustbe a dream. You were killed in the war against Draemor over twenty years ago. I was hardly even a year old.”
My finger nails felt like talons as I jabbed them into the fleshy part of my palm, using the irritation to assure myself that I was actually breathing.
“This isn't real. Itcan’tbe real.” My fight-or-flight response assaulted me, and despite demanding him to leave just moments before, I almost wished that Sebastian would burst back through the door.
Archer—my very-much-so-alive father—took a cautious step towards me. “We have a lot to talk about—years’ worth of things to talk about. I’m sure you’re confused?—”
“Confused?” I barked while I simultaneously switched my pacifying hand prodding to the other palm. “Confuseddoesn’t even begin to explain what I’m feeling right now.”
“I imagine this is difficult for you—all of this unknown. Please rest assured that I will explain everything.” Archer sighed, scratching his nails along his scalp.
My quivering fingers found the pendant that always dangled over my chest, and thanks to the pounding of the organ behind my ribs, I knew one thing.
I was alive.
Sebastian and my friends—all alive.
Myfather? Alive.
Any ordinary person would have felt overjoyed. But the pain of Sebastian's betrayal in collaboration with the amazement of discovering that my father lived, instead of lying decomposed in the dirt, left my mind not knowing exactlywhatto feel.
My father crossed the short threshold of the room, closing the space between us. Attention from his kind eyes stayed firmly established upon me as he approached. He seemed hesitant to do so, but seated himself on the bed beside me.
Although I should have felt apprehensive about being so close to a stranger, his presence improved a fragment of the whirling emotions inside of me. As if my soul knew he was blood.
He smelt of earth—so natural and sugary that it could almost be compared to maple syrup in its early stages of production. Sap from freshly prodded wood that had been poured into a terracotta pot. Yeah—that was it.
“I’m sure you’re going to have many questions. From what your boyfriend told me, you seem to be full of them.” Archer let out a chuckle that reminded me of Delani, just before his cheeks rounded out with a widespread smile that reminded me ofme.
