Chapter 415: Strangers to Me
"I wish I could tell you about them, but not even I know them," Nedra said quietly. "Selah was here though for several years. I hid her on the island, because I couldn’t send her out alone. But I was worried about her every minute of every day. I would get comfortable and complacent, allowing myself to imagine that we could remain like that—just her and I, in our own private little world here."
"She was here? For how long?" he asked, his voice turning gruff. He could have known her—she was here on this island! But Nedra had kept her a secret even then?
Nedra didn’t respond, just glanced up at him guiltily.
"That was when you started keeping me away," he nodded, understanding.
"No," she shook her head, denying it. "It was before that. When I was pregnant with her."
"Then..." his eyebrows pinched together. When had Sage been conceived?
"Sometimes I would leave her here if Zagan called for me. I would construct a barrier. No one could see or hear anything inside of it while I was gone, and I would... I would put her to sleep," she admitted, looking at her hands. She was not proud of it, but she did what she felt she had to do to keep her child safe.
Seth just watched her, trying not to let his emotions take control. It was in the past. What good was it now to be overcome with the anger and frustration that wanted to boil over inside of him at the thought that his own daughter had been here on this island under his nose for who knows how long?
"Zagan was trying to convince me to stay at the lotus during that time. For some reason he had it in his mind that all of the alyko would be more powerful if I were there in the center of everything. Do you remember?" she asked quietly, twirling the glass of ice tea in her hands and watching the ice cubes clink together instead of meeting his gaze.
"But you did stay at the lotus for awhile," he frowned. "To appease him, you said you would stay. That is when we..." the knot in Seth’s stomach twisted tighter and her gaze snapped up to his. "But then where was Selah?"
"She was here. Sleeping," she said so quietly, it was barely audible.
"For that long? Sleeping?" his voice rose. "Are you... are you out of your mind? I don’t understand... how did she even survive that long sleeping?"
Nedra gulped, looking back down into her glass. "It was an enchantment. She was perfectly safe. And that is when she aged."
Seth covered his face in his hands and groaned. She had stayed at the lotus for how long? That is when she had let him back in, allowing him to visit her regularly. He would do his routine checks of everyone in containment before checking on her and staying for awhile to keep her company. They had been close during that time before she suddenly shut him out again without any explanation, moving out of the lotus and back into her cottage because she claimed that there was no extra benefit to the abilities of the alyko in containment.
"So our daughter was like sleeping beauty? Put to sleep under some magical enchantment? But by her mother and not by a..."
"A witch? Is that what you were going to say?" Nedra snapped, seizing the pause in his accusation to withdraw an offense of her own.
"Has it ever occurred to you that that was not an okay thing to do?" Seth roared, ignoring the question. He wouldn’t be baited into the stupid witch argument. He didn’t consider her or any alyko to be witches like many other lycans did, but obviously she didn’t mind behaving like one.
"I did what I had to do," she glared at him.
This was never going to work. They might claim to love each other, but the more he knew about her and the actions she had taken over the years to keep him in the dark and her children safe, he would only end up resenting her more for it. He would never understand.
"I want to meet them," he said, ruffling his hair with his hand in frustration.
"You just met Sage," she said, forcing herself to look away from the adorable way his hair stood up in all directions when he was frustrated. He always messed it up like that when he was in distress, and she wondered if it had something to do with the similarity in how a wolf’s hackles would stand on end. But Seth just ended up looking endearing rather than threatening.
"I saw him for mere moments. I want to meet them both. I want to spend time with them and get to know them as people," he growled, narrowing his eyes at her. Did she really not get it? Was she happy just staying here alone for the rest of her life? Did she have no desire to truly know her children?
"If that is what you want, then you better hope Zagan dies sooner rather than later," she said. "Because you cannot go after them and risk exposing their identities if he is still a threat."
"I will not expose them. There are many lycans who spend time off of the island doing whatever they wish, and now that the rest of the alyko have been freed, we will likely have more time to ourselves," he rumbled the explanation. "Are they both in the Luna’s pack? That is where Sage was when she was looking after him?"
Nedra gritted her teeth, furious at herself for revealing that much without thinking about it. Now Seth would be able to hunt them down.
"You can’t just show up there—especially if you are responsible for taking their Luna!" she exclaimed.
"They didn’t even know we were there when it was the whole team. What makes you think they would know I was there alone?" he asked.
"It is a stupid risk, Seth. You would risk yourself and them," she shook her head curtly.
"You have chosen what to do as their mother up until this point. But now that I know about them, you cannot tell me what to do as their father. That is for me to decide. And my children will not remain strangers to me."
