I watched as her eyes filled with tears that threatened to spill over onto her cheeks. But there I stood, just barely inside ofthe space, rooted to the spot like a century-old tree.
“I—I thought for so long that you weredead,” I stammered, my voice cracking as I tried to wrap my head around this new reality.
For months before Father’s demise, he had danced around the idea of Mother still being alive—buthe’dneverprovideda legitimate answer to any of my questions.I’dbegged and bartered, but Father loomed the possibility over my head the way you dangled a treat in front of a griffin—just out of reach.
I’d done the same to Aviva, right after our veltik khan. I’d had no proof about Mother then—I’d just wanted her to hurt the way I had.
As a child, I was told Mother had died in her sleep. Peaceful, but extremely sudden. It was saidshe’dgotten sick, and the illness had taken her out swiftly.
That was what I’d always been told, anyway.
The older I got, though, the less that explanation had made sense. But since there was not a single trace of any wrongdoing or proof of foul play, there was no way for me todisprove what Father had told me.Soalthough it bothered me,I’dlearned to live with it. To accept it as factual.
But in that moment, what I thought had been my reality shifted.
What else had Father lied about?
“Everybody believes that,” Mother responded softly.
My hands began to shake, and Icouldn’tseem to stop the barrage of words flowing from my lips, my mind whirling.
“Father kept hinting at you being alive, butI’dthought he was bluffing just to get to me—Ididn’tthink until recently that he wasserious. But hewouldn’thave kept mentioning it unless there was some substance to it, so I kept digging. When I found Father’s journal entry aboutprisoner fifty-one, Ididn’texactly knowwhatto expect. I just knew whoever was up here was special to him.”
“Is that how you found me?” Mother asked, her voicestillsoft. Soothing, asI’dremembered it, despite the rasp in it.
I nodded.
“He’ll be furious when he finds out about this, Dimitri,” she said,concernetching itself onto her face.
My brow crinkled. She didn’t know Father was…
“Father is… he’s…” I stuttered, trying to say the words aloud, and failing.My eyes watered, the reality ofhisabsence hitting me full force in the presence of my mother.I’dbeen keeping myself busy for weeks, all so Iwouldn’thave to face the factthatwas now sitting like a lump in my throat.
Father may not have been everybody’s favorite, buthe’dbeen a rock in my life. Something solid, something unyielding.
Until the very end.
“Oh, my son,” Mother said, her expression sullen—empathy and compassion radiating from her like the heat of an undying flame.
I listened to thealychiteshackles and chains rattle as she slowly opened her arms towards me.
Ididn’tknow what to think at first. Iwasn’tsure why Father had hidden her away, and the soldiers at the tower entrance had claimed she was dangerous.
But in the end, the fae before me was still my mother.
The same female I used to cry for as I fell asleep—aftershe’ddied.
The one that used to sing to mewhen I was upsetuntil I calmed down.
Somebody I didn’t realize I’d missed so intensely until that moment.
But there she was. Her arms were outstretched, ready to comfort me like she had all those years ago, despite her own current circumstances.
She was still exactly who I’d remembered her to be.
Iwasn’tsure if I ran or flew, but within heartbeats I had closed the distance between us, sliding to my knees and throwing my arms around the female before me.
Her chains were longer thanI’dthought, as she had no issues wrapping her arms around me in return and tucking me into her much smaller, thinner frame. My chin rested on her shoulder, and Icouldn’tignore the way a few stray tears rolled down my face as I took comfort in my only parent that, as it had turned out, had not yet returned to the Stars.
