Winter Affliction

Part 15

Alver never would have imagined that the count was this ignorant about his own precious son's secondary sex. Although, then again, Alver's own father didn't appear to know or care much about it. Alver had always thoughtlessly labeled Deruth as different though.

Perhaps it was a bias that built up from his childhood that he had yet to shake away but in Alver's mind's eye, he still saw Deruth and Jour as the ideal parents. He'd seen first hand how much they loved their son. How much they protected him and cared about him.

They truly weren't awful parents. It was just a blow to realize that they weren't the perfect parents. They had flaws and they made mistakes. In this case, a rather large and gaping mistake that left Alver with a headache the likes of no other.

He knew already that Deruth had his flaws. Cale's clear neglect after Jour's death was an obvious point in time that Alver still hadn't fully forgiven him for but Alver could rationalize that. Cale had lost a mother and Deruth had lost the person he loved. It was unmistakably awful to have left Cale to sort those emotions out alone but Alver could have some compassion that people who were grieving frequently made poor decisions and behaved in terrible ways. He knew that through his own grief he'd experienced heightened emotions and behaviors that were hardly appropriate.

The difference was that Deruth had learned all he felt he needed to know about Cale's 'condition' with a clear mind and even the help of his wife, a woman who Alver still struggled to acknowledge the flaws of. Jour had been something like a second mother for Alver and he was loath to accept her flaws. Yet, they had clearly made mistakes and done so without the excuse of grief.

The amount of time that he had to spend patiently explaining to Deruth the actual facts surrounding what it meant to be an omega was alarming to him. He was grateful for Violan though, she was quite a bit more receptive to what he had to say and it appeared that she would be ensuring that the count listened to his advice.

Alver had never fully grasped that the entire reason for their engagement was just this either. With the opportunity presenting itself to him, Alver proposed an annulment to the engagement while he was at it. Deruth wasn't as receptive to this as Alver would have liked but he did what he could and left the rest in Violan's capable hands.

It made no difference ultimately. Alver would have the power to one sidedly annul the engagement once he was crown prince. He was only taking an opportunity that presented itself unexpectedly.

All the same, he found himself wandering the halls in search of Cale. With the potentiality existing that this could actually be the last year he spent here, Alver wished to spend a bit more time with him.

He found Ron first and the kindly old butler's benign smile looked particularly icy as he directed Alver to Lily Henituse's nursery. Alver didn't have a strong impression of Cale's step-family. Cale avoided talking about them most of the time and they were never overly eager to interact with Alver. They appeared a respectable lot and Alver certainly had a new respect for Violan.

Lily was an existence that Alver hadn't given any thought to at all. He knew about her, of course, he still kept tabs on the Henitus family and territory and the birth of a healthy baby girl was certainly news worth hearing but that was the full extent of it for him. Cale had a half sister, that was all.

Alver entered the nursery quietly, mindful that if the infant was napping then he ought not to make a sound.

He wasn't ready for the sight presented to him inside.

Had he ever seen Cale smile so tenderly before?

The boy was seated alongside his baby sister, her tiny hand clinging to his finger as he rocked her crib gently, a smile of pure love and adoration making him look so much younger and sweeter than he was.