Chapter 52 A Familiar Friend
Nothing Hits Like Home
At first, it seemed like the dreams he had experienced before that had revealed snippets of the devil’s past… But this was different.
Tam stared in confusion at the man standing in front of him. His black hair just brushed his broad shoulders, his hands were in his pockets, and his pale face was mostly turned away as he stared at something deeper in the Forest of the Afterlife.
Tam looked down at his body, then around himself. Hadn’t he just been facing the Gods? Where was Kasha?
“Dad?” the young man’s voice called faintly.
Tam startled as he looked back, and found himself staring into dark-brown eyes that had gone wide upon seeing him.
For good reason, too! The young man was almost identical to Tam in appearance.
The only differences were perhaps the other man’s sharper chin, his ears pinned a bit closer to his head, and his leaner muscles.
Tam blinked in confusion. “Uh.”
“So even with your memory intact, you feel the same way?”
Both Tam and the young man’s heads snapped round to see the Goddess and Green Man standing side by side watching them. They’d seemingly appeared out of nowhere, and the instant Tam acknowledged them, his senses were nearly overwhelmed by the potent sadness and love emanating from them.
But wait… Memories?
The devil’s memories?
Tam looked back at the young man, realization washing over him.
“Luca.”
He watched, stunned, as the young man broke out into a smile and bolted straight for him.
Tam only had a moment to react, but that was all he needed before pulling his son into a hug.
“What is going on?” he asked with a laugh before pulling away and studying Luca’s adult face. “You’re just a kid back home!”
Luca beamed at him, his eyes warm as he released Tam and stepped back before looking over at the Gods. “They wanted us all to talk before you woke up.”
At this, Tam turned to face the higher powers more directly.
“The devil was meant to die with his sister and to aid the humans, but the death of Thomas Julian and your own actions remove that fate. However, he will still need to enter the Grove of Sorrows upon his next death,” the Goddess announced solemnly.
“Hang on—” Tam started, moving in front of Luca and pressing him even farther behind his back, only for Luca’s hand to appear on his shoulder.
“Dad, it’s okay,” he interrupted softly. “It isn’t hell. When I go… I can think about things.”
Tam looked back over his shoulder, his brows still lowered as he regarded his son’s partial smile.
“We still have our time together, I promise.”
Tam tried to swallow past the lump in his throat, but he couldn’t. “Luca, I don’t know that you deserve—”
“Dad, no matter how hurt I was as a child, I still made my choices as an adult in the many lives I had as the devil. For centuries. I should face some consequences. To even get a single life with you and Eli? Our family? It will help me better understand what I did. I was not wrong to struggle with my fate, and… and you taking that from me, I…” Luca trailed off, visibly fighting against the tears coming to his eyes.
Tam hugged his son again. He didn’t know what to say. Technically he had failed in dissolving the devil’s fate, and instead Thomas Julian had paid the ultimate price. But… he didn’t want to give Luca yet another burden to carry at the same time.
He felt Luca take a shuddering breath beneath his arms, so he hugged him tighter.
When they separated once more, Luca set to instantly wiping the tears from his face as he slowly turned to the Gods. “Is Aradia already in the Grove of Sorrows?” he asked.
The Green Man bowed his head in confirmation.
Luca’s eyes fell to the ground. “Did you tell her the truth about what Tam did for me?”
At this, the Green Man spared a small smile, though his own eyes looked misty. “I did not. My thought was that the two of you might have a good conversation when you’ve finished with the Grove of Sorrows.”
Luca nodded, his next words quiet. “I’d like that.”
The Goddess stepped forward, her otherworldly gaze tracing the lines of Luca’s face lovingly.
“My son,” she said, her voice as soft as dandelion wisps. “I am sorry for the suffering you endured. We had hoped that if the humans named you and raised you as their own, you would be able to both feel with them and guide them.”
Tam noted the way Luca’s hands momentarily balled into fists in his pocket before he responded with, “I wasn’t human. I couldn’t sense my own feelings through the haze of everyone else’s. I told you this. For centuries.”
The Goddess did not move to touch Luca, but Tam could see in her glowing eyes that she longed to.
“I know. However, fate cannot be untied easily, my son. You know this. Which is why…” She turned her sights to Tam, and he was once again plunged into feelings of peace and warmth.
“We worked for a long time to find you humans to do what none other could.”
Luca looked at Tam, his eyes red. “I… I never thought I’d want to spend a lifetime I didn’t have to among humans. But, Dad, I… I really want to go home. I want to go see Mom, and Penelope. And my new sister.”
Tam bowed his head with a smile. His next words were a rasp. “Let’s do that.”
However, before Tam could do anything more, Luca addressed the Gods again. “Rosaline Evans. The woman who… who birthed me after consuming my ashes. Bless her with only the best. The absolute best. I know I will pay for what my imp did to her once I’m here again, but she deserves peace.”
Tam’s stomach churned horribly at the reminder of what Rosaline had endured.
The Gods both lowered their chins, their expressions somber. “We will help the memories and pain fade for her, as well as bestowing her with as much goodness as we can. She will have great peace and favor here.”
Luca nodded before reaching up with a shaking hand to rub his mouth.
Tam saw the sickness of guilt writhing behind his eyes.
He moved a hand to his son’s shoulder and asked the Gods another question. “Luca won’t remember his past in this life, right?”
The Goddess lifted her gaze to his own. “He will remember only small pieces. In the interest of fulfilling your request that Luca have a proper childhood and life, we will allow him to atone for his sins when he has returned to the Forest of the Afterlife. He will not understand or know the magnitude before then.”
Tam nodded stiffly. “Thank you.” He turned to Luca. “Let’s go home, hey?”
Luca couldn’t quite raise his eyes again, his conscience still visibly buckling under his remorse.
However, Tam didn’t have to worry for long. By his next breath, his body felt light and relaxed, and darkness once again crept into his vision.
He was ready to wake up and see his family again, and at long last leave the heartbreak behind.
★ ★ ★
The first thing Tam felt was throbbing pain.
In his ribs.
And it kept pummeling him.
He coughed and choked at the same time.
“GODSDAMN FINALLY!”
He felt like vomiting. Though when the blows stopped the pain remained. Which told him that if he did lose whatever remained in his stomach, it would be a torturous experience.
“Water! Get him water!”
“What’re those markings on his face?”
“What markings?”
“The ones under his beard.”
“I can’t see.”
“Tam? Tam can you hear us?”
Tam’s head ached, and his eyelids had taken it upon themselves to gain fifteen pounds since he’d last tried to open them.
Despite only being able to open them a small slit, however, he did manage a weak, breathy, “Yeah.”
“Good!” came the unmistakable bark from his sister. “You are so damn slow, you selfish turd! I’m traumatized! Da’s traumatized! Mum’s traumatized! We’re all traumatized, Tam! Because of you! The least you could do is wake up a bit faster, you ungrateful shit!”
“Kat!” Tam heard his mother’s whispery voice, which came out as a croak with an undisguisable note of relief.
“He’s awake! He can deal with being told what an arse he is! Actually, you know what? Me just shouting at him isn’t enough. Kraken! Where’s Kraken? Kraken needs to sit his fluffy arsehole down on his mouth.”
“Kat… Did you…” Tam struggled to draw a clear breath. “Break all of my ribs?”
“Well excuse me! I was trying to keep blood circulating so you wouldn’t become a useless turnip!”
The chilled edge of a ladle pressed against Tam’s lips, and the next thing he knew, cool, refreshing water trickled down his parched throat.
“Where’s Luca?” Tam managed once he’d taken in three mouthfuls of water.
“He and Penelope are supposed to be with their cousins, sleeping,” Annika informed him quietly.
Tam tried again to open his eyes and was moderately more successful this time. He managed to raise his lids halfway up.
He found himself in the same sickroom Eli had been in previously. His father, mother, and sister sat around him, illuminated by a small fire flickering in the hearth.
Though for some reason they all went still when he looked at them.
Fin broke the tentative hush. “You met with the Gods.”
Tam shifted his head on the pillow to better look at his father.
“Your eyes,” Fin said as an explanation. “Because your eyes are darker than my own, it’s easier to see the light and dark lights flickering behind them.”
“Ah.” Tam closed his eyes again and refocused his efforts on breathing. Then, when he had stored enough energy, he opened them again and regarded his family. “I am sorry I had to hurt you all that way. There wasn’t any other… Any other possibility of saving Luca.”
“A heads-up would’ve been nice!” Kat informed him acidly.
“You would’ve… tried to talk me out of it. Just like Eli did. Then… we realized… there wasn’t another way for… his fate to die.” At his mention of death, Tam jolted a little as his memories surged back. His eyelids dragged themselves back. “Thomas Julian.”