- NINETEEN #4
"You know it's funny," he said, leaning back against a tree. "A couple months back, maybe a few days after your little firecracker and mutt dragged you out of the dungeons, something happened."
"Seriously don't have the patience for some long, drawn-out story."
"It was like a switch was flipped. I was crippled by it, fell down to my knees in the middle of the hallway it was so overwhelming."
I felt some of the frustration ebb away, replaced with curiosity. There was something different about him, in his carriage, in his eyes. "Mom had Baba Yaga lift the curse."
"Baba fucking Yaga," he said, shaking his head at the very idea. "How did you know about the curse?"
"Cece ended up at her cottage. Mom was there. We had a little... chat."
"I'm shocked my skin didn't start melting off."
"Me too," I said, knowing how pissed Alex had been about what he had done to me.
But if there was one thing that Baba Yaga was good at, it was knowing what would be the most torturous form of punishment for each individual man.
Maybe she figured that giving my father back his full spectrum of emotions would be the worst misery possible, to feel regret, shame, and sadness for all the bad he had done. "She gave you your feelings back."
"Imagine what it was like to feel the repercussions of all the horrible acts you've committed in your life come back to haunt you in one giant wave."
"Nothing less than what you deserved," I said with a shrug, moving to brush past him.
"It's been a busy day at this entrance, you know," he said, the words lingering like he was waiting for me to beg him to tell me what he had seen.
I didn't need to. I already knew. "You know, eyes aside, she looks nothing like Cass.
But she's the spitting fucking image of her mother," he said, effectively stopping me in my tracks.
"Her mother?" I asked, turning back.
"That's why Opal wanted her. I don't think she had any clue that Cass was her father, but she sure as hell knew that Dany was her mother."
"Dany? As in Danburite? The Light princess?"
"Well, not anymore," he said with a shrug.
"You're telling me that Cece is a child of both Courts? How is that possible?"
"I don't know how it's possible. I just know that's how it is.
Now if Cass is taking Cece against her will, I'm going to assume that the Light will have something to say about that.
Cass has an heir already, the Light throne is up for grabs.
And you know they prefer women on that throne.
Cece can fill that role. And if Cass plans to drain her like he does with the rest of his pet projects, it will mean war between the Light and Dark. "
"Why are you telling me this?" I asked, feeling hope start to break open in my chest. "You're Light, but you're close with Cass."
"Let's just say a war between the courts is the last thing any of us need. The Light need an heir. I can gain their favor again. Besides, I think my life can use a little atonement."
"Don't start going all mushy on me, Dad. I don't think I can handle that shit right now."
He let out a snort of breath, shaking his head.
"I'll never be that man you saw inside my head, Jasper.
That man got buried for almost two decades.
And regardless of the ability to feel anything other than the rage and despair, that doesn't change that I have become someone other than who I was.
I won't be getting mushy on you. I'm not even going to apologize.
But I am offering you a way to get the woman you love back.
Think of how differently my life might have gone if I was given a real chance to stay with your mother. "
"You could have. You chose not to."
"Don't speak of things you don't understand, Jasper.
Could I have turned my back on my ancestry, my inheritance, my good standing for Alex?
Yes. And I would have. I would have made that decision without thought.
Opal, the conniving, evil woman she is, had other tricks up her sleeve.
This was the only way, whether you would like to accept that or not.
And I have to sleep in this bed I have made.
But you don't have to. Do what you need to do so you don't have regrets so heavy on your shoulders that they could make your knees buckle even twenty some-odd years later.
Go to the Light. Let them handle this for you. "
With that, he turned to walk away. "Dad?"
He looked over his shoulder at me, brow raised. "Think maybe more of that atonement might lead you in the direction of Baba Yaga? I know Jade is of the forgiving sort."
He nodded a little solemnly and kept walking, but if I wasn't mistaken, he took a direction that led away from his home and toward Baba Yaga's.
I took a deep breath, trying to convince myself not to over think the conversation with my father.
He was right when he told me he was never going to be the man I saw inside him.
Even with a conscience back and the ability to feel joy again, he was forever changed by the darkness that had consumed him for so long.
He would never be the man he could have been.
I didn't need him to be. But Jade, yeah, she could use all the good men she could get.
I hoped for her sake that he could step up and at least try.
For Amy as well. She deserved a father who gave a shit.
For me, yeah, I had other things to worry about.
Like how to convince the guards at the Light court to let me in to see the Seelie queen.
Then somehow convince her that she had a granddaughter that was half Dark royalty and that the Unseelie king was keeping her prisoner for experimentation.
All of that without getting myself dragged in and locked away for being out of my fucking mind.
But at least I had a three day walk to think about it.
All the while worrying myself sick that Cece might not live long enough to be saved.