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I would too.
“Did you know Solon had been watching me my whole life?” I ask quietly.
My parents exchange a glance. My mother nods. “Yes. We did.”
“We didn’t know for sure at first,” my father adds, clasping his hands together. “We thought perhaps he was watching the two of us. He knew what we did was unsanctioned, and even though we granted him clemency, we didn’t trust him not to report us. Or kill us. Hand us over to the vampires. He’s so duplicitous, you can’t predict what he’s going to do.”
“But then, after a while,” my mother goes on, “we realized he wasn’t watching us in order to harm us or turn us in. He was watching over you. He was curious, that much we could tell. We figured he knew you were Alice and Hakan’s, so we thought maybe he’d try and take you from us, but he never did. He kept his distance, though we knew he was just biding his time.”
“You know he was human once,” I tell them.
“Yes,” my father says. “Son of Skarde. There are many legends about him.”
Legends about Solon? How I would love to hear them all.
I glance at my mother. “Why did you think he’d use me to try and take down his father?”
She shrugs. “Just a theory. We knew he was Skarde’s first made, we knew that there’d been a falling out, that they became enemies. When he too
k you, I figured he took you because he saw the power you had inside you, that you were half-witch. Then when I learned you were the daughter of Jeremias, then I thought it might be true.”
“So you think he had been watching over me because he wanted me for some underground army?”
“I don’t know anymore,” she says with a sigh, “I really don’t. He seemed adamant that wasn’t the case, and now I’m inclined to believe him. What do you believe?”
I reach for my necklace, feeling the ruby between my fingers, disappointed at how cold the stone is. “I think it’s crossed his mind. I think that’s probably why he took me. But I also know he won’t ever put me in harm’s way. He does want me to develop my magic, I know that much. But it’s been tough going.” I glance at my mom, then my dad. “Though you could teach me.”
“You’re right,” my father says, patting my leg and getting to his feet. “We could. And we should. There’s no point in you only leaning into your vampire side. Absolon only knows parlor tricks, magic that was given to him. He can’t create it or shape it.”
“Can you teach me how to snap my fingers and create fire?” I ask hopefully. “Because it makes me really jealous that he’s able to.”
He laughs. “Yes, daughter. In time. This won’t happen overnight. You’re unskilled. You saw what happened with the earthquake.”
“I still don’t know what I did.”
“You accessed the well on instinct alone,” my mother tells me. “The moonlit one inside you. It’s the same well in all of us.”
“So then how do I do that again? I know the well, I see it. I may have even used it before, but lately when I try it…nothing happens.”
“Because it scares you,” my father says, holding out his hand and helping me to my feet. “It’s a good thing, in a way. It’ll make you respect it. And now, with what you know about Jeremias, and the black magic, it probably scares you even more. Because the black magic is in the well too. You just have to figure out how to separate the two. Remember, just because you’re predisposed to black magic, doesn’t mean that’s all you have. It’s still magic in the end. You can use it for good. You can call upon it to help you with light instead of dark.”
He glances at my mother and they exchange a wordless conversation. Then my mother gets to her feet.
“I think it’s time you go, sweetie,” she says putting her hands on my shoulders.
“Why? I just got here.” I feel a pang of rejection.
“We’ve been talking a lot,” she says. “And as much as you think Absolon hates you, you still belong to him now. That doesn’t change. He’ll get over it, you’ll see, and I don’t want that vampire showing up in this house unannounced and uninvited, okay?”
I nod, hoping my mother is right about that. I still belong to him, don’t I? Or will I return to the house to find his heart frozen over even more so, never to thaw?
For the ages, he had told me. I was his for the ages.
What if he changed his mind?
“I’m going to drive you,” my dad says, snatching up his car keys.
“Dad,” I protest. “No. It’s like ten blocks. I’ll walk. Or I’ll take the Black Sunshine.”
