Chapter 25 #2
She took a deep breath, feeling the air fill her lungs—those incredible lungs that he had given her, that had saved her life more times than she could count, that had allowed her to dive deeper than any human and sing with the voice of the sea.
“You broke me.” She kept her voice steady, even as her own eyes began to burn. “You treated me like an experiment, like a commodity, like a thing to be bought and sold. And I will never forget that.”
He flinched as if she’d struck him.
“But.” She held up her hand when he tried to speak.
“You also saved me. When I was dying as a child, when no one else could help, you found a way. You gave me this body—these gills, this Song, this ability to survive in a world that wasn’t made for me.
” Her voice softened, just a fraction. “Both things can be true, Father. You hurt me and you saved me. The question is, what do we do now?”
“I don’t know.” The admission seemed to cost him everything he had left. “I don’t know how to be your father anymore. I don’t even know if you’d want me to try.”
A small hand tugged at the edge of Ariella’s fur wrap.
She looked down to find Lilani standing beside her, still rumpled from sleep, her golden eyes fixed on Anton with open curiosity.
“Who’s the sad man?”
The question was so innocent, so purely childlike, that she felt something loosen in her chest. She crouched down, bringing herself to Lilani’s level.
“This is my father. He came to make sure I was okay.”
Lilani studied Anton with the unnerving intensity of a child who has not yet learned to hide her thoughts. Then she walked over to him, her bare feet padding across the stone floor, and reached up to pat his hand.
“Don’t be sad,” she said solemnly. “The Star Lady is okay now. Papa takes care of her.”
Anton stared at Lilani, at her golden Vultor eyes, her human-shaped face, and her absolute lack of fear, and something shifted in his expression. He looked from Lilani to Valrek to Ariella, and she saw him finally understand the shape of what she had found here.
A family.
Not the cold, clinical partnership of scientist and subject. Not the transactional arrangement of debtor and debt-holder. But a real family, messy and complicated and fierce and real.
“You love them.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yes.”
The answer came easily, naturally, without any of the hesitation that had marked so many of their conversations over the years.
She looked at Valrek, still standing guard behind her, his beast barely leashed and his golden eyes burning with protective fire.
She looked at Lilani, still patting Anton’s hand with the guileless kindness of a child.
“I love them,” she repeated. “And I’m staying here. With them.”
Anton nodded slowly, as if he had expected nothing else. “The lab—”
“Can you run it without me?”
“I… yes. The basic operations, at least.” He seemed to shrink in on himself. “Without Merrick’s funding, I’ll have to scale back considerably. But there are still contracts, still work to be done.”
“Then do it.” She pulled the fur more tightly around her shoulders. “Build something new. Something that doesn’t require selling your daughter to finance it.”
The words were harsh, but he accepted them. He accepted the truth of what he had done and what it had cost.
“I want to try.” His voice was barely audible. “To be better. To be a father again. If you’ll let me.”
She didn’t answer right away. The anger was still there, buried beneath the exhaustion and the relief and the tentative hope. She didn’t know if she could ever fully forgive him. She didn’t know if their relationship could be repaired or if it would always carry the scars of what had happened. But…
“Come back in a week.” The words surprised her almost as much as they surprised him. “We can talk. Figure out what this looks like going forward.”
The hope that flickered in his eyes was painful to witness.
“Thank you.” His voice cracked. “Thank you, Ariella. I’ll do better. I promise.”
Valrek chose that moment to step forward. He moved with the silent grace of a predator, crossing the distance between them in three long strides. Anton shrank back instinctively, his face going pale, but Valrek didn’t stop until he was standing directly in front of the smaller man.
“You need to understand something.”
His voice was low and controlled, but she could hear the beast growling behind every word.
“Your daughter is mine. She is my mate. The mother of my child.”
Mother of his child.
The phrase sent a pleasant shiver down her spine. She looked down at Lilani, who had moved to stand beside her, one small hand clutching the edge of her fur wrap. Yes. My child.
“Whatever happens between you and her is her choice to make.” Valrek continued, his golden eyes never leaving Anton’s face.
“But if you ever try to hurt her again… If you ever try to sell her or cage her or treat her as anything less than the extraordinary woman she is, I will hunt you to the ends of this world.”
His voice was absolutely calm, absolutely certain.
Anton, to his credit, didn’t try to argue or defend himself. He simply nodded, accepting the terms of his daughter’s new life.
“I understand.”
“Good.” Valrek stepped back, his hand finding hers. “Then we’ll see you in a week.”
The dismissal was clear.
Anton hesitated, his eyes finding her one last time. There was so much there—regret and hope and fear and love, all tangled together in a knot that might never fully unravel.
“I’m glad you’re alive,” he said roughly, his voice raw. “I’m glad you found this. Found them.” He gestured vaguely at the cave, at Valrek, at Lilani. “You deserve to be happy, Ariella. I know I never gave you that. But I hope they can.”
Then he turned and began the slow, careful climb back down the cliff path.
She watched him go, feeling Valrek’s warmth at her back and Lilani’s small hand still clutching her wrap. The sun was rising properly now, burning through the last of the storm clouds, casting the ocean in shades of gold and rose.
“Are you all right?”
Valrek’s voice was soft, meant only for her.
“I don’t know.” She leaned back against his chest, letting his arms wrap around her. “I thought I’d feel more. Anger or relief or… something. But mostly I just feel tired.”
“Then rest.” His lips brushed her temple. “We have time now. All the time in the world.”
Lilani tugged at her wrap again.
“Star Lady? Are you really going to be my mama now?”
The question was so hopeful, so fragile, that she felt tears prick at her eyes. She crouched down, bringing herself to the child’s level, and cupped Lilani’s face in her hands.
“Would you like that?”
“Yes.” The answer was immediate, emphatic. “I want you to stay forever and ever and be my mama and teach me to sing like the fishies and—”
She pulled her into a hug, cutting off the torrent of words.
“Then yes.” Her voice was thick with emotion. “I’ll be your mama. If your papa says it’s okay.”
She looked up at Valrek, who was watching them with an expression she’d never seen before. His golden eyes were bright, almost luminous, and his beast was practically purring beneath his skin.
“Of course. You are my mate.” His voice was rough, reverent. “The mother of my child. My family.”
The words settled around her like a blessing.
Later, there would be complications. Search parties to avoid, legal tangles to navigate, and possibly a father to reconcile with. Later, she would have to figure out how to build a life between two worlds—the sea that called to her blood and the cliffs that had become her home.
But for now, wrapped in Valrek’s arms with Lilani pressed against her chest, she let herself simply be. Let herself be loved. Let herself be free at last.