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I realize Darwin never told me his mother’s name. Maybe Callan doesn’t let it be spoken the way Da doesn’t let mum’s name be spoken. But that doesn’t ring true in my head. Callan doesn’t seem like that. He’s not the same sort of monster as Da.
“I’d lost Cathal’s mother, giving birth to him,” Callan continues. “I raised Cathal alone. I was ready for another family when Noinin came to court. She refused to handfast with me because she didn’t want to be a princess. I was so stupidly happy with her that I agreed to anything she wanted. She hid her true nature from me all while we were together. I believed her when she denied the court rumors. I let her move our children to my holdings at Inverness when she said court life made her miserable. I gave her everything she asked.”
“And she betrayed you,” I say, seeing some of where Darwin’s fear of his father discovering his Empyrean spirit comes from.
“She lied to me, yes. Betrayed me? No, I never felt betrayed. Only hurt. Only regretful she never trusted me as completely as I trusted her. Things might have been different if she’d trusted me.”
“Would it have saved her life?” I ask.
Callan’s brow beetles. “Noinin’s not dead. Or ... did Darwin tell you she died? He might feel it, or perhaps her family is in touch with him?”
I shake my head. “I’m an idiot. I just assumed.”
“Ah. No, not an idiot. There are too many secrets in our family. My current princess, Darwin’s stepmother, is a very forceful persona. She challenged Noinin. Over me.” Callan gives a short laugh. “You wouldn’t think I’m such a prize, would you?”
I tip my head at him. He’s still a prize. I’m not surprised women fight over him.
“Noinin lost?” I ask.
“Worse. She ran away. She abandoned our children. She abandoned me. She left our children with their nanny one day while I was away at court and disappeared.”
“But she was a Black Empyrean. Why would she run away?”
Callan twirls his empty beer glass around on the counter. “Darwin told you. I’ll admit I’m surprised.”
“I told you we don’t keep secrets from each other. Why would you be surprised?”
Callan sighs. “I forget, sometimes, how different it is out in the mortal world. I’m very glad I sent him here to school. Did I tell you that in the future? How glad I am that Darwin’s always hated court life and settled in here? It’s better for him. I wish I’d sent my other sons away from court to grow up free of the prejudices that run too deep among our people. Most of the high fae fear and despise my son because of who his mother turned out to be. I can’t find matches for the twins because of it. But you don’t fear Darwin’s heritage. You judge him on what you see and feel. And what you see and feel is my uncorrupted son.”
“Uncorrupted?” I frown at the odd word choice.
“That’s what Black Empyreans are, my dear. Destructive, corruptive energy.”
“No,” I say, feeling my way around everything I know and love about Darwin. “That’s not right. The world twists Darwin’s energy, makes it destructive. But that’s not what he is at heart. He’s pure. He’s—”
“Shh, Teddy,” Callan cautions. “You never know when unfriendly ears might be listening.”
Darwin’s wrong about his father. Callan knows the ritual didn’t work. He’s always known about his son’s Empyrean spirit. And he’s also always known that Gold and Black Empyreans are just two sides of the same coin.
I sit down in one of the dining chairs and tap my fingers on the table. “Okay, I was wrong. We can be friends now.”
Callan’s eyebrows shoot up into his hairline. “I’m honored.”
His tone suggests he’s more suspicious than honored.
“I reckoned you didn’t love Darwin. I couldn’t understand how someone who loved him could hurt him the way you did. But I get it. I don’t agree with your methods, but I get it.”
Whether he was trying to appease his court or his princess or whoever, everything he’s done has been to protect Dar. It’s not Callan who would kill Darwin if the truth of his Empyrean spirit got out, but there would be a witch hunt. And Callan would have to choose between his people and his son.
“Thank you, Teddy,” Callan says with a real smile. “It might surprise you to learn that I don’t want Darwin to take the throne. Ineedhim to. Our people need him to. And someday, I think Darwin himself will need to. But I don’twanthim to. I want him to be free to live and love the way he wishes. The life of a ruler of any sort is one of compromise and duty. No father wants that for his son.”
I shake my head slowly. It’s not that I disagree with him. It’s just that I honestly thought I’d never find any common ground with this Callan.
“I get it,” I repeat, breaking off when I hear the thunder of the boys coming up the back stairs. I grimace at the noise.
Callan chuckles. “You’re very brave,” he tells me. “Taking on the taming of three young men.”
“Or very stupid,” I say. “Want another beer before they sup it all?”
