360: Our son (part 2)

Our son (part 2)

3With the strength draining from her legs, Adela allowed herself to sink into the chair beneath her. She swallowed her fatigue, staring into Egon's large, glistening eyes.4

"Seven years, My Lord. Seven long years... You come to me after all that time has passed, still the same blind man who never truly knew me. You barge into my room at night with that artifact in your hand, still doubting the identity of my son's father."

...Oblivious to the fact that I can only ever be with you.

She bit down hard on her lower lip and shifted her gaze to the papers on her bureau, determined not to shed tears in front of a man who didn't deserve them. When she finally raised her eyes to look at him again, his face had settled into a thoroughly expressionless state.

"You have no idea what it's like to grow up without a father," he spoke in a low, despondent tone. "I know exactly what that's like."

"You were the one who made that choice that day, for both of us," she countered. "You decided on separation, and you went your own way. Meanwhile, I made the conscious choice to bring my son into this world and raise him in a peaceful environment here."

She placed a hand over her racing heart, where Noctavian had always been.

"Despite the state of war Emoria was in, all the reforms we had to undergo, and the transformation of House de Lanark, my son was able to take his first steps on the path he's destined for—one of glory, just as the Oracle foretold... You and I made our own choices, My Lord, and we're both living with the consequences."

He shook his head repeatedly. "I'm not discussing you and me right now. I'm talking about the choice you made on behalf of Noctavian, the one that left him without a father in his life. Did you ever consider that one day he would come and ask you for an explanation about that deprivation?"

A surge of cold anger coursed through her neck, her back, and her aching chest.

"What right do you have to come to me with these questions?" she fired back. "Why is anything that might or might not happen in my future of any relevance to you? Weren't you the one who never once looked back? Never once inquired about what was taking place in Lanark and this Kingdom after your departure?"

He turned his face away, a gesture that wounded her pride deeply.

"...Had you cared even once about what occurred here after your departure, you would have discovered that you had a son in this land. So don't you dare place the blame on me."

Egon closed his eyes and frowned momentarily before reopening them, but he still kept his gaze averted from her, much like everything else he had kept at a distance.

How typically heartless of you...

"It was precisely because of your cold behavior that I didn't initiate a connection and waited for you to do it on your own time. It's that same behavior that helped me learn what I did even before encountering you again – that the mate bond between us had been severed for good..."

He blinked twice but remained silent, offering neither objection nor correction.

"...That you never truly loved me," she continued, trying to sound as detached as possible and failing miserably. "I found solace in the love my family bestowed upon me and my son... We... House de Lanark fabricated the public birthdate of Noctavian so no one would question his parentage as House von Conradie did."

She observed his face for any reaction and found none, but then her gaze drifted to his neck and noticed how he struggled to swallow.

It was a good sight.

She realized that as light as she felt after finally releasing all these pent-up words that had been inside her for years, he was carrying a heavy burden by absorbing them.

"My son is an extraordinary young man. He fills me with pride and joy every moment I spend with him or hear of his accomplishments when he's away from me. I have no regrets, My Lord."

She closed her eyes.

"I'm grateful that you came and went from my life after giving me Noctavian. My son..."

"Our son."

Her eyes snapped open at his correction, and she found his large brown eyes filled with emotion. "Our son," he repeated.

A moment of silence hung between them.

Noctavian was, indeed, Egon's son. Apart from being an extraordinary Healer, a gift that had manifested the moment he was born as he aided his mother's recovery, all of Noctavian's exceptional abilities—his speed, strength, enhanced senses—were traits he shared with his father.

"What happens now?" Egon asked, bringing her back to the present. "He has met me and his life has changed. It will never be the same."

Yes, her son's life would be forever altered, hopefully for the better.

"...I don't have all the answers. Your arrival was unexpected."

"I was always there, Adelaide. Noctavian always had a father. Was he never curious about me?" 

How could Noctavian not have been curious about him when Egon was the hero in the stories their son so often wanted to hear? Her eyes drifted toward the open door through which Noctavian had exited, recalling the moment he had left, clearly unwilling to leave her alone.

"My son knows of his father..." her gaze returned to Egon whose eyes remained averted once more. "...I told him that his father was away."

"Am I seen as an enemy to him?" he asked, his tone deep and low, a hint of fear in his question. But before she could respond, he shook his head and continued, "I'm here now. I'll work to earn his acceptance."

"...He's just a boy. You have to give him time; you can't rush it," she urged.

"I wouldn't want to rush anything," he assured her. "But there's no doubt about it, Noctavian will carry the von Conradie name."

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