How Divine is Thou?

Forever 2

I am a good person. I have to be. I can't be lumped together with those hellbeasts that I have to call family. So why are the gods punishing me? The worst day of my life officially started when my lifelong maid, Mary, knocked on my door. "Madam Hyfled? Your father has requested your presence."

"Thank you, Mary," I replied cheerfully. I was so certain this had something to do with my twenty-first birthday. I loved my father, but he had been insistent that once I turned twenty-one, which was hardly three weeks away now, that I would be arranged a marriage. I didn't really care. He offered to give me the decision of which prince I wanted. It was better than Samantha's option. She just wanted to marry me off to whatever rich fuck wanted me.

I walked through the palace. I never quite liked The Golden Palace. It was too bright. Too shiny. And definitely too perfect. I just put up with it for Father's sake. His health had been rapidly declining for years now. I was not going to pester him with my complaints.

I knocked gently on his door and said, "Father, Mary said that you requested me?"

Loud coughing echoed through the room. Father took a bloody handkerchief from his mouth, scowled at it and set it aside. A broad smile formed on his face when he saw me. "Vynaria, my lovely daughter. Yes, come sit. I wish to speak with you."

Before I could take a second step he said, "And, I'd appreciate it if you closed the door. There is no one else in the palace that needs to be a part of this."

I did as told and sat beside him. Father had once been a strong and powerful man. Now, he was reduced to a frail version of himself that could hardly leave bed. I was conflicted between wanting him to live and die. He was in so much pain, but I couldn't bear the thought of him leaving me.

"What is this about?" I asked him. Another fit of coughing racked through his weak body. More blood on the handkerchief.

"This is about what is to happen once I pass," he told me. Before I could protest, he continued, "My doctor was in here this morning. He says I only have about another week."

"That's bullshit!" I yelled out. Quickly, I clamped a hand over my mouth, praying Samantha hadn't heard. She hated my swearing. A young lady about to marry shouldn't say such vulgar words. She had spent hours yelling at me about it. "Forgive me, Father."

He chuckled, then coughed. "You needn't apologize for such things. I am the one who taught you such words." This made me smile. Sometimes I forgot parents could be nice.

"What is it you want?" I asked him. "And why don't you want Samantha knowing?"

The best part of Father, he had never forced me to call that woman mother. She was not my mother and never would be, no matter how much this pissed her off.

"Because it involves your brother," he told me, his voice lowered. Samantha hated any mention of my brother, although I'd never met him. And she was not above yelling at a dying man. "My biggest regret was remarrying Samantha. And not because she's insufferable." I snickered. "Not only did I lose your mother, but I lost your brother too."

"What does this have to do with me? This was nearly ten years ago," I questioned.

"Well," Father got a mischievous glint in his eye he only got when up to something, "at the end of the month, the king of The Crystal Kingdom will host a ball in my honor. I want your help in one final jab at Sam for her torment."

"You want to invite Nyxion?" I guessed, already liking where his plan was going.

"Please darling, just Nyx. He hates his full name. But yes," he confirmed. "He recently became warden of The Boiling Desert prison. But a little birdie has told me that he's gotten involved with the gods and Titans conflict, and he's currently camped in a small town in The Whispering Meadows. And you know how Sam views the gods."