Chapter 18 #2
In the aftermath he washes me once more, kissing me softly on the lips, and then washes his own hair while I soap his body.
The glass of the mirror is fogged but I still catch a glimpse of my face as Zak wraps me in a towel, my blue eyes the same as Papa’s, the points of my ears still so foreign to me.
Despite the pleasurable start to the day, all the worry floods in.
It must be on Zak’s mind too, for he begins to relay the most important information that I missed whilst sleeping, namely the confirmation that without a doubt, Ellie is my sister. “Apparently her mum recognised your dad immediately, and had a few choice words to say about it.”
I play with the edge of my towel as I try to formulate a response to that. “Papa very much loved my mother, so it’s difficult to reconcile that notion with the fact that he has gone and…” I gesture wildly for a moment, “procreated with another woman.”
“I guess the thing is, Ellie was born in 1995, I think Evander said. I don’t want to upset you by bringing up the sad stuff, but…”
I nod, my heart breaking anew. “I know what you’re saying.
Mama must have passed many decades earlier, and it wasn’t uncommon for people to marry again in my time, but then this wasn’t that.
And I know I’m being very hypocritical right now, given what I’ve done in my life, but this is my father that we’re talking about.
I don’t particularly want to think about him bedding countless women. ”
“Or men, you never know,” Zak adds with a shrug. “I know it’ll be a mindfuck for you. No one likes to think about their parents banging.”
“Immaculate conception is the preferred explanation for one’s own existence, I suppose,” I say dryly.
I hesitate, mouth opening and closing, because I’m almost afraid to speak the next words into existence.
“I always thought he was a good man. He was always so good to us girls. And yet he was different from the other men around us in that he did not police us the way other girls were policed by their fathers. He had me come work for him in the bookstore. He encouraged me to read widely, things that were considered lewd or offensive to many. He turned a blind eye to my flirtations. He disliked the Church, and we as a family only partook in aspects of it for show so as not to be completely alienated by our peers. Mama had her beliefs and he respected that, but his influence on me meant I did not follow in her footsteps when it came to worship.”
I follow Zak out of the bathroom and climb back onto the bed, still wrapped in my towel, watching him as he crouches, rifling through a couple of large bags sitting on the floor. He pulls out what looks like a scrap of fabric and tosses it my way.
“What I’m saying is that perhaps there were signs that I missed…” I continue, lifting the triangular item. There’s a small card stitched to one corner that reads Comfort bikini brief $4, accompanied by a strange rectangular stripe pattern that makes no sense to me.
“That he was different? As in, not human? Sorry, Zara went shopping for us first thing this morning, apparently; lucky Kmart is twenty-four hours, eh. That’s a pair of undies for you. You know, instead of the crotchless getup you usually have.”
He’s teasing. “Yes, I was just coming to that conclusion. But why is it that yours are longer, down the leg, and these are…?” I hold it against me.
I’m not sure how I feel about the comfort label.
“Doesn’t it get overly warm down there with these on all day?
And yes, going back to my father, that he was different, that he thought differently.
You say Evander thinks the ward he felt around my home belonged to my father…
if this is all true, then how much did he know?
That part is bothering me significantly. ”
Zak is quiet for a moment, his brows furrowing as he clutches a pile of clothing to his bare chest. His towel has lost the battle against his hips, and slides to the floor, leaving him nude as he rises to his full height. “Because that would mean he lied to you?”
“Precisely. And to hear that these fae — of which I am apparently one — are evil, and they’ve been trapping people like me and doing god knows what… I sit here thinking, how could he not have told me what I am? Look at me. Look at my ears. And I had the antlers last night, didn’t I?”
“Yeah, you did.”
“It’s very overwhelming, all of this,” I admit.
“I’m not ungrateful — this is a miracle, and I…
” The events of it all must finally hit me, because suddenly my throat is tight and I’m speaking through tears.
“I’m so thankful for you, Zak. That you saved me.
That you love me. But I’m still so scared because I want so badly for my father to be alive, and now…
” I look around, remembering suddenly that Zak had warned me that the wolves guarding us have excellent hearing, and that they may be privy to our conversations.
Zak recognises the issue and crosses the room to kneel in front of me as I wipe my tears.
“What if the wolves want to harm him?” I whisper into his ear. “What if they view Papa as the enemy?”
Zak brushes away my tears with his thumbs, trailing his hand back through my damp hair.
“This is why we have to talk to your sister,” he says quietly.
“I don’t know her well, but I have a feeling she’s going to have opinions about things, and I get the vibe that her husband will be inclined to listen. ”