22. Brakkus
Brakkus
Otto threw a blueberry at my head during breakfast and hit me squarely between the eyes.
Hannah gasped. Then she pressed her lips together so hard I could see the smile trying to fight its way out.
I sat very still with a smear of blueberry skin stuck to the bridge of my nose. Otto stared at me from his high chair, both little green hands buried in his breakfast, his amber eyes wide and fascinated by his own success.
“Was that funny?” I asked him.
He slapped the tray.
“Betta,” he said.
“That was not better. That was assault.”
Hannah lost the fight with her mouth and laughed into her coffee cup.
The sound went through the kitchen softer than the morning light. She was sitting at the table in one of my Brute Squad T-shirts, her hair piled up with a clip that was losing the war against it. She had oatmeal on one sleeve from where Otto had grabbed her earlier. She looked warm and happy.
Mate.
The word came easy now. It no longer surprised me. It hurt in a different way now—quiet, constant, settling deeper every time I looked at her. She still hadn’t fully chosen the bond. All I could do was wait for her to accept it.
I picked the blueberry off my face and set it on Otto’s tray. He immediately grabbed it and shoved it into his mouth.
Hannah laughed again, and Otto laughed because she did. I wanted to pull her across the table and kiss her. I wanted to carry her back to my room and lock the rest of the world outside. Instead, I drank my coffee and let my son smear fruit across his face.
A notification buzzed on my phone from the front gate security system. I frowned and opened the screen. A dark sedan sat at the gate. A human man in a gray suit sat behind the wheel, looking directly at the camera.
I toggled over to the intercom controls. “State your business.”
“Brakkus Drakkar?” the man asked.
“You’re talking to him.”
“I have formal papers for personal service.”
The kitchen went quiet around me. I looked at the screen for another second. He had the blank, patient face of a man who got paid to put bad news into people’s hands. I grimaced and buzzed him through.
“I’ll be right back,” I said.
I walked to the front door and opened it before he rang. The process server stood on the porch with a bulky envelope.
“Brakkus Drakkar?”
“Yes.”
He held out the envelope. “You have been served.” I took the packet, anger and anxiety rising in my chest. He stepped back. “Have a good day.”
I shut the door, carried it to my study, closed the door, and sat behind my desk. Taking a deep breath, I opened the envelope and read the top sheet.
BEFORE THE OLD QUARTER ORC CLAN FORUM MATERNAL-LINE REVIEW DIVISION
IN RE: OTTO VOSSIC DRAKKAR, A MINOR ORC CHILD OF THE VOSSIC MATERNAL BLOODLINE
THERON VOSSIC AND ORSALA VOSSIC, Petitioners,
v.
brAKKUS DRAKKAR, Paternal Parent and Respondent.
FORMAL PETITION FOR MATERNAL-LINE INTERVENTION, TEMPORARY HOUSEHOLD RESTRICTIONS, AND EXPEDITED CLAN REVIEW
My hand went still on the page. Temporary household restrictions? Expedited clan review? They had started a formal process of taking custody of Otto from me. I turned the page.
TO THE HONORABLE ELDERS OF THE OLD QUARTER ORC CLAN FORUM:
COME NOW Petitioners, Theron Vossic and Orsala Vossic, maternal grandparents of the minor child, Otto Vossic Drakkar, and recognized elders of the Vossic maternal line, and file this Formal Petition for Maternal-Line Intervention, Temporary Household Restrictions, and Expedited Clan Review.
I read faster.
They asserted a legal custodial claim through Nadia. They called Otto a child of the Vossic maternal bloodline. They claimed he was being raised outside proper orc formation, outside maternal-clan guidance, and inside an unstable paternal household damaged by public scandal.
Then I hit the first requested restriction.
Petitioners request that Respondent be temporarily restrained from permitting unrelated household employees, romantic partners, or non-clan persons to exercise unsupervised caregiving authority over the minor child pending review.
Respondent shall disclose the nature of his relationship with any live-in caregiver, employee, or romantic partner exercising daily care over the child.
The next page was the exhibit list.
EXHIBIT A: Cryptid Confidential article titled “The Brute’s Forgotten Boy.
” EXHIBIT B: Photographs of the minor child published by Cryptid Confidential.
EXHIBIT C: Public commentary concerning the minor child’s welfare.
EXHIBIT D: Public photograph of Respondent, minor child, and Hannah Brooks outside Breakstone Apothecary.
EXHIBIT E: Affidavit of Orsala Vossic regarding maternal concern, household instability, and substitute-maternal attachment.
Cryptid Confidential’s logo sat at the top of the exhibit packet.
They had included the tabloid article and all of Brielle’s photos.
Every image she sold was there with the captions the tabloid had written.
The pages showed Otto in pain, Otto crying, and Otto during some of the hardest weeks after Nadia died.
I shoved the pages aside and opened Exhibit D.
One photograph showed Hannah, Otto, and me outside Breakstone Apothecary in the midday sun.
The old stone storefront stood behind us.
A few blurred faces appeared in the background, probably locals who had taken out their phones when they recognized me.
Hannah stood beside me with Otto on her hip.
His cheek was pressed to her shoulder. My hand rested on his back.
Hannah’s hand was under mine, and her fingers were curled lightly into the fabric of his shirt. Someone had circled our hands in red.
I stared at the red circle. I couldn’t believe they’d used such an important day for Otto’s healing as evidence against us. I took a deep breath and turned the page.
Summary of Substitute-Maternal Attachment Concerns.
Ms. Brooks is a twenty-nine-year-old human female employed as a live-in nanny by Respondent. Available evidence indicates Ms. Brooks has assumed extensive daily care of the minor child, including feeding, medical support, sleep routines, emotional soothing, and physical comfort.
The minor child appears to seek Ms. Brooks for regulation and attachment in a manner consistent with primary maternal bonding.
The attached public photograph further suggests a physically familiar relationship between Respondent and Ms. Brooks, raising concern that Respondent’s romantic or sexual involvement with an employee is being permitted to overlap with the child’s bereavement and developmental care.
Fuming, I turned to Exhibit E.
AFFIDAVIT OF ORSALA VOSSIC
I, Orsala Vossic, being duly sworn according to the laws of this Forum and the obligations of my bloodline, state as follows:
*I am the maternal grandmother of Otto Vossic Drakkar. My daughter, Nadia Vossic Drakkar, died approximately six months ago. At the time of her death, Otto was in my care at the Vossic family residence in the Old Quarter. *
*Since Nadia’s death, I have had grave concerns regarding the child’s care, cultural formation, and emotional welfare in Respondent’s home.
Respondent has refused or limited reasonable communication from the child’s maternal family.
Respondent has relied upon paid caregivers to perform essential parental and maternal functions. *
*One such caregiver sold or transmitted photographs of the minor child to the press, resulting in public humiliation and exposure of the child’s distress.
Rather than accepting maternal-line support, Respondent replaced that caregiver with another unrelated human employee, Hannah Brooks.
Based upon the public record, attached photographs, and available household information, I believe Ms. Brooks has assumed a maternal role in the child’s life while also occupying an inappropriate personal position with Respondent. *
I believe the child is at risk of cultural displacement, emotional confusion, and further traumatic loss if Ms. Brooks’s employment ends or if Respondent’s relationship with her changes.
I request immediate intervention to protect my grandson and preserve his connection to his deceased mother’s family, species, and heritage.
I turned to the final summary.
Petitioners respectfully request that the Forum:
set this matter for expedited clan review;
recognize Petitioners’ maternal-line standing;
prohibit Respondent from permitting Hannah Brooks or any unrelated live-in employee, romantic partner, or non-clan person to provide unsupervised care for the minor child pending further order;
require Respondent to disclose the nature of his relationship with Hannah Brooks;
require production of all childcare, medical, developmental, staffing, and household-security records;
grant Petitioners temporary maternal-line access, oversight, and participation in decisions regarding the child’s medical, cultural, developmental, and educational care;
authorize removal of the child to the Vossic household in the Old Quarter should the Forum determine that the paternal household is unstable, culturally deficient, or contrary to the child’s maternal-line welfare.
I looked at item three until it burned itself into my head: Prohibit Respondent from permitting Hannah Brooks to provide unsupervised care. That was the trap. If Hannah stayed, they would point to her as proof I had replaced Nadia with a paid human caregiver I was sleeping with.
If Hannah left, Otto would lose the person who had steadied him, and they would point to the wound as proof that I had let my son attach to someone temporary. Either way, they got to use her. Either way, Otto paid for it.