Heart of The Death Bringers

Chapter 4: Strange Introductions and Terrible First Impressions Part 2

I stood there stunned as my mom hugged Raphael and Gabriel. All three were smiling at each other. When they stopped hugging I looked at my mom and said in a tone of voice that had a heavy dose of what the heck in it, "Mom, you know them?" I watched as my mom's face took on a guilty mask. 

"Yeah I've known them since they were itty bitty babies. They're the eldest set of twins from my best friends Amara and Ezekiel Lupo."

I just stared at my mom. Raphael and Gabriel looked back and forth between us before Raphael asks something that causes my mom to tense up completely. "Where's Julian? I don't see him anywhere." who is this Julian guy and why does the mere mention of his name cause my mom to tense up like there is a snake in front of her? What or who is he to her?  In a tense and slightly edge voice she replied "I don't know Raphael. I haven't seen him in awhile." 

I wanted to know who this Julian person was, but with how tense my mother looked, I knew I'd have to tread carefully. "Mother, who is Julian?" I saw her tense up even more and opened her mouth to reply, but surprisingly it wasn't my mother who answered my question, but Raphael and Gabriel. And boy was I surprised  to say the least.  "Julian is her husband and your father." 

Well then. 

This Julian man was her husband. 

.....

Wait. 

Did he just say father?!

"MY father?" 

I said just to be sure, looking at Raphael. When he nodded I turned to my mother and knew by the way she was avoiding looking me in the eyes that she knew I was livid, confused and hurt. But I won't freak out. Not yet anyway. She never told me she was married and even worse than that, she never told me I had a father who was still alive. She let me think for almost nineteen years that my father was some random and terrible guy who just disappeared after she got pregnant. 

I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Care to explain maman,  how complete strangers know more about you and my life than I do?" I said in a syrupy sweet voice. 

I watched as Raphael and Gabriel send questioning looks to my mother. I watched her take a deep breath and let it out in a sigh before turning to them.

"Boys, why don't you go to the sitting room?" She looked down at Custos, who was by my side just like his brother, like they almost always are. "Custos, can you take them? I need to talk to my daughter alone. You can come back after we are done talking and she calls for you." Custos looked up at me and I tilted my head, giving the go ahead. He reluctantly barked and lead Raphael, his brother and the rest of their group down the hall. 

Ten awkward minutes passed before she turned around and looked at me. I waited for her to speak first, but when it seemed like she wasn't going to say anything, I spoke first. 

"Why? Why did you never tell me I had a father who was alive? And more importantly why did you let me think he was just some jerk who got you pregnant and bolted?" By the time I finished talking, I was tense from holding back my anger and hurt from my voice.

 I felt a weight settle against my leg. When then pain and anger running through my body started to dissipate, I didn't have to look down to know that Exsequor had leaned himself against me, sensing my anger and pain and tried to make it better. I put my hand on his head to comfort him and myself.

I watched as my mother's face fill with sadness, pain, and regret. She took a deep breath before letting it out in another deep sigh. " I never told you because you weren't ready. And because it's easier than the truth." Ready? Ready for what? "What do you mean ready? Ready for what? And this time the truth. Something I deserve to hear from you, not complete strangers." I gripped Exsequor fur, in an attempt to be calm. She nodded. "Yes you do." She walks over to the facing chairs and falls into one of them before motioning me to sit in one of them. I sit down across from her and Exsequor puts his head in my lap, whining to be petted. 

"Do you remember the story I used to tell you when you were a little girl?" I nodded "Yes the one about the mage king and his mysterious love, the queen." She nods 

I sit back in the chair, thinking about the story I was told so often as a little girl that I was told so often. Why did she ask me if I remembered it? What does it have to do with anything? 

I sat there thinking, trying to figure out how it was relevant to what was happening right now.  And the more I thought about it, the more a crazy, or maybe not so crazy thought started to take root and form in my head.

I never found out the ending of the story. Never. 

I thought back to all the times I asked and begged her to tell it to me. Surely I heard the ending at least once. The more I thought about it, the more my certainty grew. Not once did I hear the ending of the story of what happened to the  Mage King, his Queen and their daughter after the Queen left her beloved world pregnant with their beloved daughter. 

The more I thought about it the more my insane idea started to become less insane and more sense.

Why I was never told the ending.

I realized their story hadn't ended.

I looked at my maman, who sat across from me, arms folded in her lap, back straight and legs lightly crossed at the ankles, patiently waiting. 

I took a deep breath and voiced the crazy idea that had taken root in my mind, all while looking her in the eyes.

"The story never had an ending. Because their story wasn't done. It was happening, its still happening."

"The story was about you."

She looked regal and beautiful, with the bearing of a queen.

Which would make perfect sense.

"Your the Queen."

She looked at me, proud, regal yet a sense of tiredness and sadness surrounded her.

"Yes"