“Thank you for what you did today. For saving Calvin… and Jun.” I tried to say more, but my throat constricted painfully.
“Careful, if you thank me too sweetly, I might start doing everything for you.” He never took his eyes off of my profile.
I worked to suppress the grin that threatened to pull at my lips, but he caught the slight movement, right before I burst into hysterics. The laugh that tore through me was raw… needed.
“I’ve seen oceans form, stars collide, even the first dawn rise over a newly born world. But your smile is the one thing that undoes me.”
Warmth seeped deep into my cheeks. My eyes studied the horizon as the sun cast an ethereal glow across the island.
“What if I never get my memories back?” I wanted to know our story, and I hated the Ocean Mother for taking what belonged to me.
“Then I’ll work every damn day earning back your heart. New experiences, new memories, new…”
“Us?” I asked, knowing it was how he intended to finish the sentence.
He looked at me with eyes full of unspoken dreams and quiet ache. His wings flickered and radiated against the sun’s rays, a scarlet hue projecting across the wood.
“I haven’t seen you fly with your wings, only your magic.” It was more of a question than a statement, but when his eyes scrunched, I wished I never said anything.
“My father clipped them when I was ten. Cleaved through the tendons with an axe. I’m lucky I still have them at all.”
I sucked in a breath. “Why… why would any parent do that?”
“Control.”
“Do you miss them?” I whispered, grave and solemn. A sad, pitying breath.
“I’ve made do with my magic, but there’s very little in this world better than flying with your wings. Feeling the wind blow between the feathers, the muscles work to propel you, the skill needed to send your body through the sky…”
“Your father should be killed.”
The god hummed in agreement.
“Do I have family in the depths?” I wasn’t sure why I longed to know, but the questions dug into me. It felt odd that the god might have known more of my own life than I did.
Noctis finally looked away from me. “None that are worth remembering.”
“Will you tell me what you know about them?”
He paused, contemplating the softest blow to land the information. “If I could make it down to the depths, I would murder them with my own hands. No powers. No godly intrigue or fear factor. Just brutal death.”
I gasped. “How could you say that? They’re my family.” The nerve of that man.
“You weren’t only sacrificed by the Ocean Mother. You were prodded and tested by your father and mother first.” He faltered mid-sentence, as though the words struck him deep. “When I found you on the shore of Remdigue, you were covered in bruises, sold to the Ocean Mother for a promise of power by your parents. You were nearly drained of blood already by their hands as they drank it like the Thirstlings. So, I have no problem saying that I would kill them if I saw them.”
A barrier in my mind cracked, pulling in a memory.
Two sets of familiar sea-blue eyes bore into me as I writhed against the magical bonds holding me to a flattened stone. Protrusions dug deep into my back, splintering aches shooting through my body. My father ignored my screams, brutally shoving the sharp blade through my arm’s skin and watching as the iridescent blood streamed through the water. Gods, I writhed, jerked, shoved my tail out as hard as I could… but he only chuckled when I couldn’t escape. His dagger-toothed mouth overlapped the cut as he drew my blood into his body, fueling him. He sucked hard, teeth piercing through the skin. Sobs tore through me. Why didn’t they love me more than the addiction? More than the blood? More than the power?
Then, it was my mother's turn. She hesitated slightly before slicing through my other arm, momentary hope bubbling in my chest, but my motherjittered as if she couldn’t live without the taste—as if the addiction alone would kill her if she did not feed from my blood.
I used to wish my blood carried poison. And that poison could free me.
My eyes frantically searched the room, begging my parents to set me free, to have pity on me. But when they finished slicing my arms, they quickly moved to ravage through my tail, peeling away scales one by one.
I snapped back, blinking away the memory, sweat slicking the nape of my neck.
“I remember…” I whispered, my eyes darting around and meeting back at Noctis. “Do they have other children? Please tell me I was the only one.”
