Chapter 27 Roles Review #2
“No!” Rosaline shouted, once again struggling against the creature. “He’s Joe! Just Joe!”
“Believe what you want, but you will consume this vial of ash, or I will destroy your life. And if you try to get rid of that child, you will wish for death. Understood?”
Tears were overflowing Rosaline’s eyes.
Why? Why did this have to happen to her? What had she done that was so wrong?
“Nothing you say will change this.” The creature’s three pupils spun faster, and Rosaline realized with surging dread that she was utterly helpless against this thing.
But there was one thing she could control. And it was the lone thread of control that she grasped with all her might.
I… Can never love this child. And damn the Goddess for giving me such a horrible fate.
★ ★ ★
Present day…
Tam felt sick.
He reached up and rubbed his mouth, feeling the tremor in his fingers.
Even Eli was silent.
Rosaline stared at the table in front of her. “I’ve hated you for a long, long time, Lord Tamlin.”
Tam couldn’t bring himself to speak.
“That… That boy. I owe nothing to him.” Her voice rasped.
“I did not want him. I didn’t want any of what happened.
And now that I’ve told you, I’ll probably find some other horrible thing coming after me, won’t I?
Now that you know what he is. Now that you know that child should be locked away, or—”
“Stop… please,” Tam whispered brokenly. He dragged his hands over his face before forcing himself to speak again.
“Rosaline, I am… I am so sorry for what you went through. That you were doing all of this alone. Under duress. That you were threatened to… to have Luca. If you need anything, the Ashowans will provide it.”
“I don’t want anything from you,” Rosaline informed him quietly; his horrified reaction to her trauma seemed to gentle her a fraction.
“I wasn’t finished,” Tam said calmly. “Please don’t ever repeat this story to anyone ever again.
Luca isn’t the devil. He isn’t evil. The imp was wrong—that was the creature that made you do this, an imp.
” Rosaline tensed, but Tam continued. “He… Our son… He’s just a child.
You never have to see him again. You never have to do anything for him again.
But he has no fault in this. I’m the one you should keep hating.
The enemies of my family did this to you, but that isn’t Luca’s fault.
So please don’t… Don’t talk about him like that. ”
Rosaline’s breathing quickened as her eyes grew red. “What about his dreams, hm? His nightmares? He dreamed of those beasts. Beasts like the one that came and made me bake those damn ashes into bread and eat it.”
“He would have heard stories of ancient beasts. Children have nightmares,” Tam explained gently.
“No. No, I… I know children. I’ve seen children. He is not a normal child. He isn’t right. The way he just knows what kind of person someone is at a glance…” Rosaline shook her head.
Tam’s hands gripped into fists that he forced himself to release. “Rosaline, that’s because of something else.”
“Liar.” She choked on the word. “I birthed him. I raised him. I may not like him, but I know him. And I know what he is.”
Tam was finding it hard to control his emotions. “Rosaline. I’m the one like that. He’s… He’s just like me when I was a kid.”
Rosaline stared at him. Anger and pain practically pulsated from her. “I’ve not told people what that boy is before, and I’m not about to start screaming it in the streets now. I’m free of him. At last. Believe or say what you want, but I don’t want to see you or him ever again.”
Tam couldn’t say anything more to that.
So he stood, his entire body numb. Eli joined him.
They descended the stairs, leaving behind Rosaline in her office, and headed toward the door. The luncheon patrons chattered jovially around them, a jarring brightness against the dark cloud that clung to Tam as he wove around tables.
“Dad?”
Tam stopped. His eyes ripped up from the floor to see Luca standing in the doorway of the tavern with Penelope at his side.
His heart was still stinging sharply from everything he had learned.
Luca shouldn’t be here. He shouldn’t have to see the people who hated him.
Eli moved first. She swooped down and grabbed Luca, hoisting him onto her hip as she hurried out the door. “Don’t look back, Luca,” Tam heard her whisper urgently. “Just hang on to me, alright? Don’t ever look back here.”
Tam raised his shaking hand to once again rub his mouth as he continued toward the door with heavy steps.
Penelope grabbed his dangling arm, and then she slipped her hand into his.
This small gesture made Tam look down and see her concerned brown eyes as she peered up at him. She had changed so much since they’d found her. Her face had softened. Even her eyes seemed to have widened as she glared less, and their shade of brown seemed warmer.
Tam stooped down and picked Penelope up as they continued down the street.
“Luca said we were near where his mother lived,” Penelope explained with a hint of nervousness. “He was just going to show me the tavern quickly. Grandma is standing over there to watch us.”
Tam looked with a start to see that his mother was indeed on the other side of the road. There was a knowing gleam in her eyes as she studied Tam’s face.
He held her gaze, then looked at Eli who had reached the duchess’s side once she, too, had spotted her. He saw in Eli’s expression complete understanding of all he was feeling and thinking. He wasn’t sure if that made him feel better or worse.
Then Eli turned to look at Luca in her arms, and surprising them all, she leaned over and blew a raspberry on his cheek, resulting in him shrieking in surprise and giggling.
The playful move made Tam blink. He stopped a short way from his family as Eli set Luca back on the ground.
Then she did the unthinkable by gently cupping Luca’s face, forcing him to look at her, and saying, “I am the luckiest mother in the world, having a son like you.” The barest hint of tears shone in her eyes, but they quickly vanished by the time she looked at Tam and Penelope.
“And I am beyond grateful, Penelope, that you are our family now, too.”
The little girl wriggled in Tam’s arms. “You haven’t officially adopted me yet… But… it will be good when you do. Someone has to take care of all of you.”
Tam managed a small smile. “Well, I know my mother, for one, will appreciate that very much.”
Penelope smiled shyly in response.
Clearing her throat, Annika stepped forward. “Alright, everyone. Let’s have lunch, and then I’d best be off to see the king.”
Tam bobbed his head and continued walking away from The Rosey Glass with Eli at his side.
He doubted he would ever be able to forgive himself for being a part in Rosaline’s suffering.
He had no idea how to come to terms with the fact that he was still grateful beyond words not only to have Luca, but also to know he had been right.
Luca was his. His own flesh and blood… He just also happened to be the devil.
But really, who didn’t have a little devil of their own?