Wait, wait, wait.
He was…compelledto stay? Sean turned that idea over in his mind, letting the tiniest shred of compassion nudge its way in. David had been forced into that life unwillingly.
Forced not to leave, at least, but he wasn’t forced to participate, and he did it anyway.
“So what about my mother?” Sean asked.
Kywyn let out a humorless laugh. “She wouldn’t let me touch her.”
Sean snorted. “And you wore her down?”
“I didn’t try, but things happen sometimes.” He made a helpless gesture. “We’re pixies.”
Again, what did that have to do with anything? Sean almost asked, but those details weren’t important.
“So you gave her a bouncing baby boy.” He immediately regretted the bitter tone.
Kywyn flinched. “I named you Caden because she said you’d be a fighter. But she called you Seán.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “She said she liked the way it sounded.” A faint smile pulled at Kywyn’s mouth. “She gave me three months with you, then she left for good.”
“But why?” This was the part of the story Sean most wanted to know.
“She left no note. She didn’t say goodbye. I woke up that morning, and you were both gone. I searched everywhere in this realm,but Nish wouldn’t let me cross the mist no matter how I fought. I didn’t even know if you were still alive.”
“She didn’t tell you why?”
Kywyn shook his head and leveled him with a frank stare. “What happened to her, Sean? Blaire would only say that she’d rejoined the Light.”
His heart constricted. “She—she was killed.”
“Killed?” The stricken look on Kywyn’s face mirrored Sean’s feelings on the matter.
Sean fidgeted as he explained, “I came home and found her. They’d stabbed her. Stolen her jewelry. We never figured out who did it.”
“Youfoundher?You?”
He closed his eyes, wishing the image wasn’t imprinted so vividly in his head. “In her bedroom. There was blood everywhere. She’d put up a fight.”
“Oh, my son.” Kywyn’s jaw slackened and his eyes went glassy. “And you were alone.”
“I wasn’t alone. I had Blaire. And Cole.”
Kywyn grimaced. “I’m—I’m so sorry.”
Sean lifted one shoulder. “I grieved, and I moved on.”
An utter lie. In his life, there’d been three constants: his mother, Aunt Blaire, and Cole. When his mom died, Sean wasn’t sure he’d survive it. His family’s support pulled him through the darkest time of his life, and even though the grief had shifted from relentless pain to occasional needles, he’d still been marked and changed by it.
He’d been an orphan desperately seeking somewhere to belong.
He wasstillthat boy, wishing for a home.
Could this place really be the answer? Could Kywyn be the father he’d always wanted?
A moment elapsed while Kywyn clenched and unclenched his fists. His voice thickened. “So that’s the story, then. I’m sorry it’s not a better one.”
Sean stared at his father. “I used to ask about you.”
Kywyn’s ragged breath cut through the space between them.
