C7 Open and Respectful Conversations for Deeper Understanding

"Well, he must have been so old," I commented.

Amelia stopped at a door and looked at me. "Get ready to meet the rest of your family. Although, you might find them quite queer."

The doors opened, and we walked to what looked like a common room and a living area together. I counted five people in the room. However, two notable ones dressed differently from the rest. A man and an elderly woman, around the age of Amelia.

"My princess," said one of the helpers with a slight bow. I acknowledged her with a nod of my own.

"Mabel," said Amelia to the woman. "And Brooke. What's with all the pomp and pageantry?"

Mabel shrugged slightly. "Can't take it from royalty, you know."

"And who is she?" Brooke asked. His index and middle fingers were adorned with silver rings. I wondered why that choice of jewelry.

Amelia glances at me. "Haven't you heard?"

"About what?"

"Don't be so ignorant, Brooke. You're fooling yourself."

"Excuse me?"

"This is Valeria. And she's my daughter."

I noticed the proud looks on their faces wore off the moment they heard I was Amelia's daughter. Mabel slowly got to her feet and stared at me closely like I was some painting.

"It cannot be," was what she said.

Brooke stood beside her with a look of his own that I couldn't quite place. It looked like he was sorry. For me?

"The King found her himself."

"Did he now?"

"Yes."

"Child. Where have you been?" Mabel asked me.

Just when I'm about to reply, Amelia cuts me off with her sentence. "I just brought her here because you had your sole misgivings about her search."

"Well, I wasn't the one who gave her away in the first place, so my misgivings were well-founded."

"Gave me out?"

Amelia clapped her hands and the help left the room. "She has just returned home. There isn't any good reason why you have to bring that up, Mabel."

"She has to know either way."

"And she will. But it's not in your place to tell her. I am the queen and she is my daughter. Know your place."

"And I am heir," said Brooke, in a challenging manner.

Amelia and I looked at him. "Not anymore," she said.

***********

Outside, I held Amelia on her arm and pulled her to a corner. "You didn't tell me I was rejected as a baby too."

"What are you saying, Valeria? Do not believe a word that comes out of the mouth of that woman. All she cares about is herself and her son."

"Well, at least she cares for her son," I said, with more emphasis on the child's words. "Why don't you just Tell me the truth and stop playing games with me?"

"I've told you, Valeria. I'm in no position to do that."

"And if my father cared so much that he went to find me, why hasn't he come to see me yet?"

"He has, but you weren't awakened, then," Amelia said and sighed. "Let's go meet your father."

**********

I thought the place that the Lycan King would be at was some kind of fort or tower, with a study and a chamber inside. Instead, Amelia took me to a maze of flowers.

"What is this place?"

"His favorite spot," Amelia said. "He loves coming here because it makes him think."

"Probably. It's like a graveyard."

We spent a while walking through talk green flowers and plush grass until we could, one into an opening. There was a man dressed in a brown robe, and he stood before a statue. It was the inanimate thing that got me. That stature had a wolf's head and the body of a man, and its mouth opened in an angry snarl.

Halfway there, he turned to look at us. And I saw him smile briefly. The man who stood before us looked much older than Henri Romero, Killian's father, and the Alpha before him. His facial hair was white, and his eyes were almost the color of the moon. Almost.

He held his hands forward, a welcome gesture I knew too well. "Val," he said and took me in his arms. The embrace was filled with warmth that I thought I was standing next to a human geyser. When we broke the hug, he looked into my face. "This meeting has been a long time coming."

"This means you have been looking forward to it, is that right?"

"Of course."

"I'll leave you two now. And see what the rest of the family is up to," Amelia excused herself with those words.

My father, the Lycan King towered over me as he held my hand and ushered me to sit at a spot under the statue. "Do you know who this is?" he asked and pointed a figure upwards.

"Looks like a werewolf to me," I said.

"Well, that was your great-grandfather. Mobius James. He built this place."

"How come I've never heard anything about it or the Lycans?"

"Because we've been kept under the roof for a very long time, Val. You see, the werewolves think that they are the actual ancestors, the actual monstrosities, the actual rulers of the woods, and we let them think so. But the truth is that they evolved from us. A different subspecies."

"How did that happen?"

He smiled. "Why don't you take a wild guess? It's not that hard for you to think about it much."

I tried to think about it. Studied the features of the man seated beside me for any clues. And I got it.

"We mated with the humans," I said.

He smiled wider. "Yes, we did, Val. Some of us. The humans were everywhere, and the men just couldn't get enough of their beauty. It was supposed to be just a fling. Some raucous moments, except some, grew too attached and began to think about spending their entire life with the humans, and making babies."

"That doesn't sound so bad," I said.

"No, it wasn't bad. Not at first."

"What happened?"

"Well, the families began to see that their daughter's children started to exhibit strange characteristics. It wasn't long before their curious instincts paid off, and we were discovered. Thus, the hunt for werewolves started. Just as the one for witches and Nosferatu played out. And that we decided it was time to disappear. For good."