27. Chapter Twenty-Seven #2
“Haden was furious, of course, and did his best to protect me, but Cole’s penchant for violence and discord spoke to so many of the daemons’ baser instincts. It was a lean year, and people were hungry. They wanted someone to blame, and as it often is for daemons, they chose to blame witches.
“One night, I overheard Cole and Haden get into a fight. It turned physical, and they screamed at each other. Cole threatened to kill him—to kill me and the baby—if I stayed. He had always been jealous of Haden, and resented the way he tried to run the Underworld, but this…this was a whole new level.”
Kaya paused, looking up at Ty then with tears in her eyes.
“Haden didn’t want me to, but I decided on my own.
It wasn’t safe for me there, and my presence would have made you unsafe too.
So, after I gave birth, I left. I wanted to bring you with me, but…
I had nowhere to go. I knew you would be better off with Haden, with others of your kind, than banished from both worlds with me. ”
Tears fell down her cheeks as she spoke, and Ty could tell this was hard for her. He felt a lump rise in his own throat, his heart tightening as he registered the pain in her voice.
“I snuck into my Coven one last time, to take the journals and the books I gave to Petyr, as a sort of ‘fuck you,’ knowing that I was laying the groundwork to reveal the witches’ darkest shame.
I knew it was bullshit that the binding spell had been done in the first place, and that daemons—as cruel as some of them could be—didn’t deserve it.
“After that, I fled. I didn’t know where to go, and I was in so much grief, so much pain and shame for everything that had happened, so I wandered into the Chasm Mountains—alone, expecting to die, knowing nothing except that I just needed to get away from everything and everyone, including myself.
I was near death and starving when the stryx found me.
Welcomed me in. And the rest, as they say, is history. ”
Everyone was silent as Kaya finished speaking. And Ty…he could not have spoken, even if he tried. He felt frozen, shattered by this knowledge, and he didn’t know how to begin.
Because it was him—his birth, his existence—that had caused so much pain. He’d hated his mother for so long for choosing to leave, but he should have realized—it had never been a choice for her. It had been a necessity. It had been life or death.
She hadn’t abandoned him. She’d been taken from him—by Cole. Not directly, but through coercion, and threats, and manipulation. Just the way Ena had been taken from him all those years ago.
Ty wanted to rage, to punch something, to feel the man’s neck snap in his hands. But more than that—he wanted to cry. For the first time in so long, he just wanted to cry.
Because he had missed out on so much, had so many things taken from him. Time with his mother, time with his father, time with Ena. He had lost so much.
But no longer.
Ty moved over to where his mother stood, and slowly, awkwardly, wrapped his arms around her. He didn’t exactly know how to do this, but it felt right.
Kaya embraced him back, tightly—as if she’d been waiting for this moment for so long, and she clung to him with all her might as tears streamed down her face.
“I am so, so sorry, Ty. I have missed you your entire life,” she said, her voice choked with sobs.
“It’s okay, Mom,” Ty said soothingly, but with an edge to his voice as he felt an answering tear slide down his cheek. “We’ll make him pay. For all of it. I promise.”
After a few minutes, they broke apart, and Ty found her eyes—the ones so similar to his own.
“I’m with you,” she said with steel in her voice. “If you all go back, I’ll join you. I can’t speak for the stryx, but I will help you in any way I can. I just needed you to know the truth of what you’re dealing with.”
Ty nodded, feeling a sense of…pride almost, in this person who in so many ways was still a stranger to him, and yet he saw in such a new way now.
“I will stand with you too,” Max said. “Because where Kaya goes, I go. I can’t speak for everyone, but I will do my best to help them see that this is right path for us. For our survival, and yours.”
Ty moved towards him, and clapped the man on the shoulder in thanks.
“Are you going to wait until Ena gives birth?” Kaya asked, looking over at the woman in question.
“Yes,” Ty said. “We don’t want to risk traveling with her so close to the birth, but once she does, and is well enough to travel, we’ll leave.”
“Where will we go when we arrive there?” Kaya asked. “I assume we’ll need a safe place to gather and plan. Have you given that much thought yet?”
It was a fair question, and one they hadn’t truly fleshed out yet.
They couldn’t just all descend on the Underworld as soon as they arrived.
They’d need a place to rendezvous with their allies—including Steig, hopefully, so they could understand the state of the Underworld—and regain their strength after the journey while they came up with a plan of attack.
“We should go to my Coven,” Ena said. “My sister is the matriarch, and if we have a chance at being accepted anywhere, it’s there.
I know she’s already begun to break the news to them about the binding ritual, and hopefully…
they will accept us all. It’s not a sure thing, but it’s the best option, I think. ”
“Too bad you already used your vial of water from the Sacred Pool, otherwise you could warn her about us coming,” Turner said unhelpfully.
“Are you talking about a blood-to-blood spell?” Kaya asked.
“Yes,” Ena replied. “My sister gave me some water from the Sacred Pool to communicate with her, but I used it after Ty was lost.”
“Well, you’re in luck then,” Kaya answered, a kind smile warming her face. “We have an entire lake filled with sacred water on this side of the Chasm Mountains.”
“The cloud lake?” Ena asked excitedly, referring to the spot where Xena had had her Awakening.
“The one and the same,” Kaya replied.
“Sounds like it’s settled then,” Ty said. “We’ll go to the cloud lake and send a message to Greya, to warn her of our arrival in a couple months’ time.”
And then, once the baby was born, they’d take out the bastard, removing the rot that he’d caused, once and for all.