Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Two
Sierra
Fadon only blinked, lips pressed tightly together.
“It’s true,” I said as gently as I could. “That was why I ran from him in Ghypsom City. I—I saw it. In a vision.”
“In a vision.” Fadon turned his head slowly my way, looking blankly at me.
“I went through the rite with the Sapera in Ordelpho and saw your father. The resemblance…”
“My father?” I’d heard Fadon scoff before, but the sound he’d just made was full of vinegar. “My father loved my mother with his every breath. Trust me, there is no way you are my father’s bastard, Lucius. Unless you’re suggesting we share a mother? That my mother was a whore and it was some tryst she’d had, and what, got pregnant, had you and hid you all this time? Please. This is absurd.”
Wincing, I reached over and touched Fadon’s bent knee. “In my vision, I saw your parents, Fadon. King Gregoras looked at me in the banquet hall of Goth Mor Helle. He was mighty handsome, just like his sons.” I smiled at him, but he didn’t return it. “In his face I saw you, your siblings, and Lucius.” I looked at Demos and he nodded. “If you don’t believe me, ask Phobius. He was there. In fact, he married them.”
“What?” Lucius asked. “What do you mean Phobius was there? He’s too—”
“Not too young,” Demos answered. “He’s over five centuries old. And not only that, he’s my brother.”
Fadon swept a hand in the air. “Not that that’s not interesting news, but let’s go back, shall we? You believe that my father, Alpha King Gregoras, was unfaithful to his wife, my mother, and had a love affair where you were the result?”
Lucius nodded. “He was my father, yes. As to a love affair—”
“That’s ludicrous. How fucking dare you?” Fadon stood, his face a mask of fury. “I’m sorry, Sierra… I—I don’t think I can do what you’ve asked. I’m willing to be honest, to listen. Ongar, I can even accept the fact that men can turn into birds and that elementals exist, but…” He pointed at my husband. “To believe his lies? He has no respect for anyone or anything but himself.”
“Fadon, why would he—” I started but he cut me off.
He laughed. “Why would he lie? Sierra, he’s saying he is the heir to House Trajan, which would make…” His eyes widened. “Ongar, that makes him king! My king! He’s younger than Mari. Of course he’d lie about something like that.” He leaned forward and got in Lucius’ face. “There is no length you’ll go to, is there? First you steal Sierra from my brother, then try to sell her to those fucking Owl Serva…”
He didn’t get to finish before Lucius was on his feet. In a rush, he threw his fist into Fadon’s jaw. I stood up and got right between them, putting my hands on their chests in a futile attempt at separating them.
“Enough! Demos, go get Phobius.”
I didn’t take my eyes off the two hot-blooded men long enough to see if he had left to do that very thing or not.
“I knew you were nothing but a piece of shit, Lucius. But this? I almost believed you loved Sierra.”
“Which you obviously don’t because you are still trying to use her as a pawn. Forcing her to marry you!”
“Excuse me?” Fadon practically spat.
“Gentlemen. Please,” Phobius drawled, coming into the tent. I looked at him in desperation, hoping he’d clear all this up and fast. “Sit down and listen. Both of you.” He spoke so sternly that even I obeyed.
“This is ridiculous,” Fadon said, shaking his head. But at least he was sitting again, this time as far away from Lucius as was possible.
Phobius didn’t speak for a moment or two, instead watched his brother intently. I could have sworn they were communicating without words. Knowing all kinds of mysterious things were possible, I wouldn’t find it the least bit shocking if they had some kind of mental link.
“Several times in my life I’ve been a Servant with the Owl. So has Demos.” Phobius nodded respectively at his brother. “One of those times was during your father’s reign. He had come to our Supreme at the time and had requested the Fealty for his brother, Philios. I was that intermediary. When Gregoras Trajan set eyes on your mother, Fadon, he reneged his promise to his brother, and instead, married the Omega himself.”
“She was a Fealty Bride?” he asked.
“She was. But only I and the king knew that. I found your uncle another bride to replace the real one, then changed the scroll to show the appropriate names.” He waved a hand. “None of that matters. I married them and stayed in touch through the following years. At some point your father asked me to join his court as an advisor, not remembering me. I had a new name then. It was a temporary position, serving by his side. Such things were common among the royal courts, both Ongahri and non, in those days. A Servant in every House, even for the Constants.” Phobius inclined his head to me, being that I was daughter to one myself.
I shuddered. Thank the gods that tradition had been obsolete by the time I was born, I thought. Knowing my innate fear of the Owl, I couldn’t imagine sitting down to dinner with a Servant every night.
“So you knew my father,” Fadon said with dripping disbelief. The left side of his jaw was red and swelling, and there was a trail of drying blood on his lip, which he’d plainly ignored. “How come I didn’t recognize you? There once were a few times when Father had a Servant at his side… But he didn’t look like you.”
Phobius inclined his head. “As I said, it was temporary. At that time I went by Servant Remius.” He waved a distracted hand. “I’ve had many names in my lifetime. But I knew your father very well, Fadon. The last time I saw him, he was on his deathbed.”
“Impossible. I would have seen you.”
“Among all the people who came calling that week, Fadon? Surely you aren’t omnipresent.”
Fadon’s jaw clenched. “All right. Where was he, my father, that week?”
Phobius was undaunted. “He wished to spend his last days in Lake Poseidon, where he shared many a day with his wife. The villa he called Seascape, I believe it was.”
Fadon seemed to pale, his lips parting on a wordless statement.
“Astra inclinant, sed non obligant,” Phobius said, and I heard Fadon’s harsh intake of breath. It was a sound one would make when punched in the gut.
The stars incline us, they do not bind us. Words in the old tongue, obviously holding a meaning for Fadon, to affect him like that.
Phobius smiled sweetly, looking as if he took no pleasure in seeing Fadon come to terms with learning his father was a man he’d never truly known. “I was also there when he met Lucius’ mother. A young Omega who had caught his eye on the way to the Consortium over sixty years ago. She had your eyes, Lucius.”
Lucius was leaning forward, as if he could catch in his hand every word, every crumb Phobius offered in the retelling. “I’ve been told she was the most beautiful girl in that part of Titus and beyond.”
He nodded. “Yes, she was lovely. So lovely that the king had to have her. Not to keep her, not to love her, but to take her by force. And the next morning, he left her and never saw her again. The result was a child whose father never knew existed, not until the last. I kept tabs on this child over the years, and when the king lay dying I told him about you, Lucius. He begged me to reveal nothing. And until yesterday, I haven’t. Not until Sierra finally saw the truth have I ever spoken of it.”
The two half-brothers and I sat with Phobius’ words echoing in the tent, whether coming to terms with them or just pondering on them. There was no denying these truths anymore, and I wondered how the men would take it.
Lucius was the first to respond. “So if you two are brothers,” Lucius said to Phobius, “does that mean you’re an owl, too? Might as well come clean too. Fuck, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were just a ghost at this point.”
“Not an owl, no.” Phobius grinned, then before our eyes and without preamble, he transformed into a crow and flew out into the night.
After a few minutes, Fadon stood slowly, not looking at anyone. “I need some air.” My heart went out to him.
“Do you want me to go with you?” I asked, standing as well. I walked up to him and touched his cheek. He hadn’t shaved in quite some time, and I found to my surprise that I liked the feel of him, so rough and rugged.
He kissed my palm. “Not right now, no. I—I need some time to process this. I know you wanted us to clear the air but…” He let his words fade off.
“That’s fine, Fadon. Take all the time you need.”
I watched as he walked out of the tent, my heart hurting for him.