Аполлион

“Yeah,” he sighed. “Sounds terrible, but you of all people know what happens to halfs and pures that mix. I was so angry with my sister for putting herself into that position and for bringing a child into it.” Marcus paused, pensive. “I took it out on you. It was wrong.”

Pigs had just officially sprouted wings and were flying alongside airplanes. Instead of jumping around and pointing out what he just admitted and acting like a general douche about it, I focused on something else. Sometimes I amazed myself with my own maturity.

“Did… did you know my father personally?”

His lips thinned. “I trained with your father before I decided to go a more political route. He was a damn good Sentinel. Like you.”

I stared. Once upon a time, hearing something like that would’ve have filled me with pleasure, but now it wasn’t the compliment that had drawn me in; it was hearing that my fatherhad been a damn good Sentinel that did.

“I think your mother hoped she wouldn’t be paired. I wasn’t. Neither was Laadan. But when your mother was paired with Lucian, Alexander… you just knew, if you knew the man behind the uniform.”

Again, I had no idea what to say.

“There was nothing he could do but stand back and let the woman he loved marry someone else. And he had to live with that someone else raising his child.” Marcus cleared his throat. “And I’m sure Alexander knew that Lucian wasn’t kind to you, but there was nothing he could do. Coming forward would have put both your mother and you in danger. He was helpless.”

My muscles were tensing and relaxing at the same time. “What happened? How did he end up a servant?”

Marcus faced me. “When you were three years old, Alexander disappeared. It wasn’t uncommon. We were told he’d been killed by a daimon.”

I shook my head, brows furrowing. “How did you not know where he was? He was in the Catskills, under Telly’s thumb.”

“I didn’t see him there until about a year prior to your return.” The sincerity in his words rocked me. “I’d believed that he was dead, and I didn’t know that a male half and a female pure made an Apollyon. Even when Rachelle came to me before she took you away, I didn’t suspect what that truly meant. Not until I saw Alexander in the Catskills, and then what could I do?”

“You could’ve helped him!”

“How? How was I to do that? What do you think would’ve happened if everyone realized that your father was a half-blood? Halfs and pures have mixed before and have been caught. Those children were not allowed to live.”

Sickened, I swallowed. “That’s so wrong.”

“I don’t disagree.” He reached over, running his fingers over a nearby leafy plant. “Your father didn’t seem to recognize me. Only recently did I learn from Laadan, that that must’ve been an act.”

Then it hit me—smacked me right upside my ever-loving head. The conversation that I’d overheard between him and Telly resurfaced. Marcus had been furious with Telly. “Telly wanted you to hand me over, didn’t he? He even offered you a seat on the Council.”

He looked at me sharply.

I grinned. “I overheard you guys.”

Staring at me a moment, he shook his head. “He did.”

“And you refused.”

“Yes.” His look said how could I do anything else?

Wow. Things kind of made sense now, after all this time. I reminded him of Mom and he missed her, which probably made him uncomfortable around me. And Marcus wasn’t really a people person, anyway. He hadn’t known about my father until it was too late. I believed that. Andhe hadn’t handed me over to Telly. I remembered how he’d picked me up and carried me after Seth had attacked the Council and I’d been sick.

How, like Aiden, he hadn’t given up on me.

Marcus… he cared about me. And that meant a lot. Beside my father, who was out of reach to me, Marcus was the last of my family—my blood.

“Thank you,” I said. And then, impulsively, even though he wasn’t a hugging man, I sprang forward before he knew what was coming and hugged him. It was quick, though—I didn’t want to freak the man out.

I settled back in my spot as he stared at me, eyes wide. Guess I hadfreaked him out.

“Why are you thanking me?” he asked slowly.

I shrugged.

“You are a strange girl.”

Laughing, I leaned back against the cushions on the window seat. “I bet Mom was a strange girl.”

“That she was.”

“Will you tell me what you know about my dad? I mean, if you’re not tired or anything?”

“There’re some stories I could tell you.” He mirrored my position. “And I’m not tired. Not at all.” His smile was tentative, but real, and I couldn’t think of any other time that he had smiled like that.

My lips responded in kind. “That would be really nice.”

It wasn’t until dawn came and the sun rose, chasing away the murky shadows, that I thought about how happy my mom would be, knowing that Marcus and I had sort of patched things up.

And I couldn’t help but believe that she did. And maybe she was smiling upon us now. Just like the sun filtering through the windows, warming our backs.

CHAPTER 14