My Not-So-Secret Life

Chapter 11: Family Secret

Arcana's P.O.V: "Do you think we should tell her?" I asked my husband. I had woken up early with this thought swimming through my mind, and it made me restless. "She's almost 15, a woman, don't you think she's ready to know the truth?" I looked at Naveen, my mother, and grandmother, who all sat around a table, looking as troubled as I did. "Don't you think you should wait till she's much older? Maybe 18 or 21?" mother stated. "Arcana, maybe we should wait until she's past 16. Once she's lived long enough to know how to cope with what she is." I glared at my husband. "She's known what she is for a very long time!" Naveen shook his head at me. "Knowing it and living through it are very different things, my love." He spoke in a soft voice, attempting to calm me.

"He's right, Arcana. She needs to understand the dangers of what she is. And to do that, she needs to turn 16 and survive!" she implored, but I wasn't having it. I had to look away from Lilith. I could not understand why my mother, or even my husband, thought this way. Julia was a strong girl, and an equally strong Nephilim, half or not. I paced around the room, slowly, trying to regain control of my emotions. "This is a family matter. He is her family, whether he likes it or not. And she has a right to know he exists!" My husband looked at me with a disappointed expression, but he knew better to respond; he knew I would not change my mind. But mother still had an opinion. "He may be family, but he hardly acts like it. He is never here!" she pointed out. I glared at her. "And you know why he chooses to not be around! He's not like us! He feels like he's intruding, an outsider unfit to be around us!" I snapped.

Naveen jumped from his seat and dashed over to me, despite the threatening look on my face. He smoothed my hair and looked at me with pleading eyes. "Sweetheart, please. We are only considering other options; we are not here to fight. The family knows and has always accepted Jev's reason for not living amongst us. We have always accepted it. He is our son, even if he is adopted." I softened a bit by the end of his statement. "Then why would you deny his existence to our daughter?" I asked, weariness coating my voice. He sighed deeply. "I just want her safe, darling. I have told you before, 16 is a dangerous and cursed age for a Nephilim. I think we should wait for her to pass that age, safely, before letting him anywhere near her."

I frowned at him. "So, you think our own son would harm a family member, much less his own sister? A sister that he knows nothing about?" I all but growled the words at him. He glared slightly at me. "He is Fallen. He cares nothing for my kind, and, sister or not, he will judge her and hate her and probably jump at the chance to give her away to any Fallen woman looking for a vessel! It is his nature! It's who he is!" I ripped myself out of his arms and stormed away. Before leaving, I turned to face my family. "I am Queen! What I say goes! When she is 16, she will know the truth! And when I say it is time, she will meet her brother! That is the end of this discussion! I will hear no more of it!" And I slammed the door shut, marched to my chambers, and locked the door behind me.

On my desk was a small portrait of me and my son. Though he is adopted, he looks like my blood child, from his hair to his eyes, but nothing else. I heard my daughter's laughter from outside my window, and as I looked out to the gardens, seeing her run around, being chased by her ladies-in-waiting, I smiled. "Oh, Mija, just you wait. Soon, your entire world will change in the blink of an eye." I looked back at the portrait of Jev and frowned slightly. "I just hope you can survive it, and him."