The Darknight Chronicles: Book of Genesis

Chapter 10

"Cyrus, if we're going to have a long discussion, can we have food while we talk? I didn't eat much of anything before we went to the Court. Too nervous to eat, I guess." Cyrus chuckled softly, gesturing with his hand, conjuring up a table laden with all of Eve's favorite foods.

"You poor darling. You should have said something sooner." Eve blushed a little and smiled as she got up from his lap. 

"Well, I'm saying something now so my stomach doesn't interrupt us later by growling." He laughed as he pulled out her chair for her then sat next to her. They ate in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Eve looked up at him, a thoughtful look in her eyes. "Cyrus, you said you knew a bit about my father… my biological father. Can you tell me about him now? I've only ever heard of the one bad thing, and rarely of the good things he'd done. Mama never speaks about it, and papa is the same." Cyrus sat silently, a bit of a smile on his face as he thought of the letter that Lady Marie had given him, nodding to himself when he'd figured out where to begin.

"How much do you know about your biological father's people?"

"Not a whole lot. I know that he was a Kukan kitsune shifter.  I have a lot of the same powers, though the Fae magic boosts it tenfold… I can manipulate the space around me to make a mere cabin on the outside become almost a mansion within, I can open and travel through portals, and shapeshift…" She bit her lip, thinking. "Aside from my shared powers, I don't know much else."

"The Kukan people have a rule that their younger royals, before they can start their official training to rule their kingdom, must first serve their neighboring kingdoms, living as commoners would. They do this so they will see what it's like for their subjects so that they might become a better ruler for the experience. Your mother's bodyguard was one such young man."  Eve looked at him in surprise, the food in front of her completely forgotten.

"No… wait, I remember you saying something about that. You said both of my biological parents are royalty, right?" Cyrus nodded, but remained quiet as she considered the information further. "And you said he's a royal of the Kukan people…" She looked down at the table, thinking hard before she realized that she knew who her biological father was, if only his name. "Prince Torren? Torren Woodshadow? I remember something was said amongst the servants when I was little that he had gone out on his own to beg for atonement from his father and his gods for something, but they never said what when I was around."

"Got it on your first guess, my love. Prince Woodshadow was your mother's bodyguard. On his last week here, unfortunately, he'd gotten overly drunk at a midsummer celebration. You were the result of that night." He smiled at her, then, because he caught her frown and heard a hint of her thoughts. "Don't you dare think that you were a mistake, Eveningstar Rose. You were a blessing. Not only to your mother and father, but to me as well." He kissed her forehead, a sigh escaping. "We seriously need to work on your confidence, darling. I know that your past has shaped you, but don't let it also define you."

"I'm trying, Cyrus." She stood, pacing as her thoughts raced through her head. "I know momma and daddy tried to give me the confidence I needed, but after the early years of my uncle's verbal assault and the people whispering things that they believed to be the truth, one tends to start to believe that the whispers and mean words about oneself are the truth."

"I know, love, and I can respect that. I fear that when I was about your age… you can stop smirking, miss. Yes, I was once five and twenty." Eve blushed and laughed softly. "As I was saying, I was once very like you. I was once very self conscious, believe it or not."

"How did you end up getting over that? I know it couldn't have been easy."

"I surrounded myself with those who were supportive, I worked on my craft, and the better I got at magic, the more my confidence grew. I would never have reached the Praetorship or the level of Master Mage that I have reached if not for the support of my friends, and later my first wife. She showed me how to use Celestial and Old Magic. Before she was taken, she passed all of her Celestial Magic to our daughter." He smiled, a little saddened by the memory, but proud of his late wife, too. "The demon who enslaved her wanted her for that magic, but she wouldn't let him corrupt it. Seraphina was almost beyond me in her talents by the time she was two because of her mother's actions."