Chapter 1
Deejay
I lounge on the sofa in the den, reading after getting all the boys in bed.
A week has passed since Matt and Cary joined my household.
Cary and Jasper decided to share a room, so I put bunk beds in that room for them, even though they always end up sleeping together in the bottom bunk.
Cary seems to be adjusting well, but it’s because he hasn’t lost his acting parent.
I can tell by the way Matt and Cary interact that Matt took on that responsibility a while ago, if not for the whole of Cary’s life.
Since Cary has always had Matt, and Matt is here, he doesn’t act abandoned because he wasn’t, and from his perspective, he gained more family.
Matt on the other hand has secluded himself from everyone except Cary.
He doesn’t speak unless spoken to, and he puts himself in the background of our everyday lives.
He doesn’t seem to have acclimated to the change, but I can’t draw him out of his reticence.
I don’t know the direct cause of it, and don’t want to force it out of him.
I want to get to know him but trying to draw anything out of him is like pulling teeth.
I think he may not trust me, but time will prove that I mean to keep them both.
After all, I’ve claimed them.
They became mine the moment I answered Felixia’s knock.
Because of my reputation within the non-human community, every boy I claim is respected as a member of my household and a citizen of my domain.
I have a unique standing in the non-human community: I am recognized by the ruling bodies of other species, including the Naiads, as an independent self-governing entity living under the jurisdiction of the Houston Hub of the Non-Human Community.
Hubs exist all over the world and are basically independently owned businesses that act as a kind of Switzerland among the realms, kingdoms, and governing bodies of non-human species.
They provide non-humans living outside an established government a place to register as citizens.
Most non-humans fall under the governance of their species, but Naiads, and most Nymph species, don’t recognize their sons as members of their species because they don’t have the magic that connects them to their elements.
Any son of a Naiad that manages to escape their mother can register for citizenship with any of the Hubs world-wide, thereby putting themselves under the protection of a government that recognizes their personhood.
Plenty of non-humans live under the protection of a Hub as citizens, but not everyone living under a Hub’s purview are citizens of that Hub.
Non-humans who belong to another governing body and live in an area that falls under a Hub's purview must register as residents of the Hub to enjoy the protections and benefits that the Hub offers.
Some Hubs require registration, some do not. Houston’s Hub doesn’t require registration, but hefty fines exist for those who don’t register and need the Hub’s interference in their lives.
I am registered as a resident of the Houston Hub, but I have also established my own domain: The Demesne D’Aquino.
I am technically the dictator of my own land, a king, president, whatever.
My domain exists within the borders of my property lines.
The only law I’ve put on the books is that anyone living or who has ever lived under my roof is considered a citizen of the Demesne D’Aquino, unless they decide to revoke their status.
However, because my domain was established under the dictates of the Houston Hub, my domain is under their jurisdiction and protection.
I can create my own laws for the people within my borders, but I must obey the laws of the Houston Hub, and any crime I commit against the Hub’s laws is prosecutable by the Hub.
It’s kind of like being a protectorate nation, except not really.
“Papa.”
I look up to Colt standing in the doorway in his pajamas, his hair sticking up in weird ways. Setting my book down, I pat the couch beside me, inviting him to sit. “What’s going on?” I ask.
Colt sits cross-legged, gangly now that he’s a teenager and has started growing in earnest to his adult height. “I had a dream.”
My stomach drops. Colt is a Diviner, right now his magic hasn’t matured fully and he only exhibits the powers of a subset of Diviners called Dream-Catchers, one of the less powerful psychic branches with the ability to see some aspects of the Strings of Fate through dreams. Diviners in general tend to work as shamans or psychic readers and can come from any species. Though they have a ruling council that dictates the laws regarding the use and abuse of their powers, Colt still falls under my rule of law because he is still a minor for a little less than three years. He won’t come into his full powers until around his sixteenth year, at which point the Council of Diviners will register him and he will fall under their purview as well as mine and the Houston Hub’s, if he chooses to remain under my domain. At this point he only dreams of future events, he hasn’t come into his full powers yet, but he has yet to be wrong about any of the future dreams he’s had.
“Tell me,”
I instruct him, ready to listen and act, which is what he expects and why he came to me.
“Matt was at the stream, on the bridge. He jumped in and didn’t come back up.”
I can hear the tears that choke him even though he tries to tough it out. He may not like most people as a general rule, but death isn’t something he takes lightly.
“When?”
I whisper, trying to control my fear response so that I don’t scare him.
“Tonight, I think. He’s not in his room. I checked.”
“You know I love you, and that I need to go now, right?”
“Yeah,”
he nods, wiping his eyes and standing.
I follow him to my feet, brush a kiss to his forehead, and dash out of the house through the back door off the kitchen, running as fast as I can to the path that leads to the bridge over the stream that flows through my property. Every second of that five-minute run hammers terror into my brain.
The pale moonlight guides me to the bridge along the path I know intimately. I see Matt’s figure slumped over the railing from a distance too great for me to do anything about it if he does jump. As the yards between us grow fewer, Matt stands up straight, staring at the river.
A glow from the river lights up the space in front of him, and then I hear a Siren call. “Poor, abandoned boy. Come play in the river. Come play in the river.”
Panic moves my legs faster as I watch Matt, mesmerized by the Siren, climb up onto the railing. Ten yards away, I call to him, but he can’t hear me over the Siren in his head. Two yards away, I jump for all I am worth, tackling his waist and pulling him back just as he stands up on the railing.
He lands on top of me, but I refuse to lessen my grip on him. I roll him to his side, lifting my eyes to where the Siren calls from the river. I touch the ball of magical power housed within me and shout, “Let the waters reject you! Let the land embrace you!”
A black ball of tarred magic shoots out of me, attacking the Siren. She screams in agony from the water as the river spits her out onto the bank. The earth beneath her trembles open, swallowing her screams from one moment to the next, then silence abruptly descends.
It was quick and dirty but fuck her. No one comes into my domain and tries to kill one of my boys. Non-humans the world over know better than to fuck with me. I’m the Maledict, a Curse-Weaver—no, the most powerful Curse-Weaver in existence. My words kill at my will. That Siren should have known better than to come into the Demesne D’Aquino with malicious intent.
I hug Matt tightly, wrapping all my limbs around him. “Don’t ever go out without telling me again,”
I order him, my voice shaking from the adrenaline.
“What was that?”
he whispers.
I notice then that his entire body locked up at some point, and tension bleeds out of him like the steady seeping of an abdominal wound. He smells like himself, but sour fear taints his normal scent. “I’m sorry, Matt. That was a Siren. You’re fine now.”
I assure him. “She can’t call you anymore. Are you ok? Did I hurt you?”
Matt shivers, then shivers again until his body starts trembling like an autumn leaf—an after effect of a deadly Siren call. “W-w-what?”
he stutters before suddenly going limp in a faint—another after effect of the Siren’s call.
I let go of my grip on him, pursing my lips with a vague sense of discomfiture gnawing at me as I consider what to do with him. I’m strong, supernally strong, but Matt is past the limit of my strength. He’s big, but more than that, he’s fucking solid. Dense and easily three hundred and fifty pounds, but probably more. If I didn’t have inhuman strength, there’s no way I could move him, but as strong as I am, he’s too much for me to carry back to the mansion.
He wakes up while I’m contemplating my options, so I help him to his feet and keep a steadying arm under him as I look up at the surprisingly tall teen. I’ve been in the same house with him for a week, but this is the first time I’ve stood close enough to feel the difference in our height. He has at least eight inches on me, and I’m tall.
“Take your time. Your legs might feel a bit weak, but they’ll wake up pretty quickly.”
Matt’s impenetrable gaze shifts over to me, even the darkness of the night unable to mask the fear in that expression. “What. Happened?”
“A Siren called to you from the stream. Normally the stream’s waters are clear; the reputation I have deters most invaders of my domain. Since she trespassed and then tried to kill you, I executed her. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry this happened to you.”
Matt pulls away from me, stumbling for just a moment before regaining his bearings. “I think that you’re assuming I have information that I don’t have. I know what a Siren is from my freshman English course, obviously. It’s a Greco-Roman myth. I’ve read the Iliad and the Odyssey. But you’re talking like they’re real and you’re some kind of king or something.”
“They are real, and I am something like a king. Didn’t Felixia teach you anything?”
I ask, shocked that this boy doesn’t know some pretty basic information.
“Felixia was my old man’s girlfriend. I’ve only known her for about three months. Our father died two weeks ago, and she brought us here as soon as the funeral was over. Felixia didn’t tell us anything about Sirens, or you, or anything.”
His deep voice sounds on the edge of fear as he speaks more in one breath than he’s spoken in all of the last week of his stay with me.
Anger erupts in my chest toward Felixia. “That bitch!” I swear.
“Are you going to kick us out now that you know we aren’t your real nephews?”
he questions, stress and worry overflowing from him.
I frown at him, as a fresh wave of anger slashes through me. “No! I already knew you weren’t Felixia’s! You are mine. I won’t give you up to anyone for any reason. I don’t care if you’re blood related or not. You belong in this family now,”
I inform him vehemently, but now concern fills me with just how problematic him not knowing the situation is. “Unfortunately for you, it also means there’s going to be a steep learning curve because you’ve been raised in the human world, and no one in this family is human.”
Matt’s shocked eyes stare at me. “Not human?”
I take a moment to evaluate my best course of action before I start walking back to the house, talking as I go, hoping the words are enough to make him follow. “My mother and all of my sisters are water nymphs—Naiads. They live for fun and games, they play with whomever they can find, often those games are cruel. Sometimes they have children, more often than not, those children are male. They treasure their daughters, but their sons are considered less than. In most families, sons are usually abandoned when the mothers get bored of the child. My mother abandoned me when I was twelve, which is a lot older than I should have been. All of my sons are the abandoned sons of Naiads. We all have powers. I happen to have the ability to create curses. The title given to me by the non-human community is The Maledict because of that ability and the way I have used my power in the past. It’s well earned, and not important at this moment why, but I’ll explain some other time. Colt dreams of possible futures, which is why I knew you were in trouble. Kendall is a touch telepath. The others are too young to have come into their powers.”
He follows, coming abreast of me almost as soon as I start talking. “If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes…”
“I know,”
I nod. “It’s ok. We rarely have any trouble here. It’s a generally peaceful life we live. I truly am sorry about the Siren. The land that I own is my demesne and I am the ruler of it. You living with me changes your citizenship from the human world to mine. I don’t care if you’re human or not, you are now part of the non-human community and specifically a citizen of the Demesne D’Aquino. I’m a benevolent ruler, so you don’t have to worry about that,”
I tease, shooting him a smirk.
He stops walking, clenching his fist as his worry passes across his normally subdued features. “We’re not your real family.”
Compassion fills my heart and I pull him into a rough hug, holding him as tightly to me as I can without crushing him, though I am beginning to doubt that I could actually do that. “You are part of this family now, no matter what brought you here,”
I whisper fiercely. “You’re mine.”
A shudder wracks through him as he hugs me back, those huge arms holding me as tightly as I hold him. “But we’re just human.”
His fears make my heart clench while growing bigger, big enough to choose and cherish him. “My heart is big enough for you. I don’t discriminate based on species,”
I zealously whisper.