Chapter 514: Swallowtail
"Both of you are here," Nedra breathed. Tears sprung to her eyes as she smiled, a hand coming up to cover her mouth as she gazed at them both next to each other. She hadn’t seen them together since Sage was born. "Look at you. You look so much alike."
"We look like you," Sage said with a smile, standing next to his sister who held him against her side, unwilling to let him run to them like he probably wanted to.
If their mother or father disappointed him in any way by not being who he hoped they were, Selah would never forgive them. Sage was the purest, sweetest soul, and she couldn’t bear for him to be disappointed. It would crush her, too, just by witnessing his heartbreak. And Selah truly didn’t know what to expect.
Nedra was always distant, even when Selah visited. It was like she had a permanent wall up to keep both of them safe from hurt feelings. She wasn’t the gushy, sensitive type. She always held herself back. Selah could see it, and it was hard, but she understood. She respected it in a way. Her mother was doing what she had to do to keep them safe.
"What happened to the island? Where is Zagan?" Selah asked, testing the waters. If Zagan was still a threat, this reunion would be short-lived. But obviously something major had happened. The island looked like a hurricane had blown through.
Nedra glanced uneasily at the vampire who was in the cage some distance from them. They had to be careful about breaking the memory enchantment by reminding the vampire of Zagan’s existence.
"Who is that?" Selah asked, following her mother’s gaze to the male who had stopped banging on the cage to witness this interesting family reunion.
"He is... a vampire," Nedra said, choosing her words carefully.
"And part fae!" The male yelled from his cage, clearly having no issue hearing their conversation. His smile began growing again, stretching across his face and revealing extra rows of teeth.
"What the..." Selah gasped.
"Why don’t we go to the gardens?" Seth said gently. "It will be easier to talk there."
He couldn’t take his eyes off of either of the kids. They looked so much like their mother. Selah was beautiful just like Nedra with her jet black hair and green eyes. It made his chest ache. She was his daughter, and she was so mature. How had he missed all of this time?
And Sage was so handsome. He had the most open, trusting face—eyes gleaming with hope. Seth wanted to grab him and squeeze him, nuzzle into his neck and familiarize himself with his scent. He didn’t even know their scents, something he should have memorized at birth when they first came into the world.
As the four of them started walking toward the gardens nestled in the middle of the castle grounds, Seth couldn’t help the tears that welled when Nedra put her arm around Selah and Sage skipped ahead into the beams of sunlight that shown through the broken trees.
He didn’t know what to say or do. How was he supposed to act? He was wracked with guilt for having not been there for either of them all this time. Did they realize that he hadn’t even known about them? Or did they think he didn’t care?
Nedra was running her hands of Selah’s face and hair, checking her over and pulling her close with little whimpers of emotion escaping her lips. And Seth felt so... outside. He wanted to do the same, but he didn’t know them.
There was just such a huge chasm that he didn’t know how to fill. He wished he could just sprint across it and tell both of the children everything with one embrace—pass all of his feelings to them without the clumsy words that were going to fail him.
"Dad!" Sage called from ahead, and Seth’s eyes went wide at the name. "Come on!"
The pup was waving for him to hurry to join him, and Seth jogged ahead until he caught up.
"Look what I found!" Sage said, pointing to the ground and then squatting to get a closer look.
"What is it, buddy?" The words came out so naturally as he squatted down next to his son. It almost felt like he was watching himself in a dream acting out the role of a father.
"It’s a blue mountain swallowtail," Sage said in his sweet voice, lifting a finger to the butterfly to see if it would climb on. "It must have a broken wing."
"Hmm. Maybe he got hurt in the storm," Seth said.
"I didn’t know there were insects here. I bet mom made this one because it matches your eyes," Sage said and lifted the butterfly between them.
Seth looked past the brilliant blue of the butterfly to gaze at his son until Sage’s green eyes lifted to meet his.
"I know you didn’t know about us," he said suddenly.
"You do?" Seth’s forehead cleaved as tears pricked his eyes again. Was this pup reading his soul?
"Yes. Selah does, too."
Seth squeezed his eyes shut, feeling the surge of emotion rush forth. "I would have been there," he choked out, focusing now on the earth beneath their two pairs of feet that were facing each other. "I would have been there for both of you. I am so sorry."
"That’s why mom didn’t tell you," Sage said in his small, innocent voice. "It just wasn’t the right time."
"It shouldn’t matter. I would have found a way..." he trailed off and wiped his tears with the back of his hand. Why was he the one crying like a pup?
"Watch this," Sage said, drawing his father’s attention back to the butterfly. He closed his hands around it and a soft white light appeared. When he opened them again, the swallowtail fluttered up into the air—its broken wing miraculously restored.
"You are just like your mother," Seth said, wiping more of his tears away.
"Really?" The boy asked excitedly.
"Yeah, really," Seth chuckled.
Sage leapt into his arms, wrapping himself around Seth’s neck and resting his head against his shoulder. It was startling, but when he realized what was happening, he hugged the pup back. But not just any pup. His son. He was hugging his son.
Sage fit perfectly in his arms like one of the missing pieces to a puzzle that belonged to him. More tears started falling when Nedra and Selah came into view, and Seth smiled at his mate—the vision of her grateful face blurring until he couldn’t see it anymore, and he nuzzled into Sage’s neck, inhaling his scent and laughing, running his hands over his son’s hair and his back, squeezing him and growling softly with an affection he had never felt until now.
It was filling him up—the overwhelming, endless love for these souls he never knew existed. He opened an arm to welcome in his mate and his daughter, and when they joined the embrace, it felt like everything in the universe aligned.
"Goddess, thank you," Seth breathed into the space that was created between them. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."
