Chapter 103

Chapter 103: Chapter 103

Kath’tan stared back into eyes which were exactly like his, he hadn’t been expecting much. He would have been satisfied with whoever his mother turned out to be as long as she didn’t want him dead.

But it was hard to hold the gaze of the mother he had never dared to want, despite her effort to hold back her tears, they filled her eyes and gathered around the corners in fat droplets.

When Kath’tan didn’t say a word for the longest time, Valrena filled the silence. She expected anger and hatred from her only child, it would have been well-deserved. Instead, he stared at her in wonder, it was crushing.

"I searched through the aftermath of your last battle," She spoke up, she tried to make her raspy voice lighter but it only came out scratchy, coarse from the well of tears in her throat.

Valrena searched her dress as she spoke, "I found your weapon," She brought out a broken piece of wood. "It was shattered and I couldn’t find all the pieces. The head of your hammer is in your room in Ashford..."

"Zazrel hired a Shadow Assassin to have me killed." Kath’tan reported. "If a summoning circle hadn’t taken me from the battle, you would have found me next to my hammer."

The tears in Valrena’s eyes crystallized into rage, "He did what?" She asked quietly, but it was more threatening than if she had shouted it.

Kath’tan smiled, it came easy. He didn’t realize how much he needed someone to be angry for his sake until it happened. "I’m no longer in danger."

Valrena said nothing to that but from her expression, it was clear to see that someone else was definitely in danger.

"You don’t have to take me back to Ashford," He murmured, leaning against the doorway. The door was still open, Dulce sleeping peacefully in his bed. "Grand Duke Yamra will never accept me."

Valrena clicked her teeth, "That old fogey has no say over my son anymore. He’s not a bad father," She went on, her voice softening. "He had to abide by rules and he gave in to pressure."

Kath’tan thought it over, perhaps before he was summoned he would have had some anger left, some frustration over the injustice of it all. But leaving Threnval had made all those emotions obsolete, he could see clearer when he was on the outside looking in, and having a shadow dagger to his throat also helped.

He didn’t even hate Zazrel, that was a wasted effort. He had once hoped his father hated him when the truth had been in front of him all these years. He was no more than a nuisance to the Grand Duke, one he couldn’t easily get rid of.

"You don’t have to be nice to him," Valrena said with narrowed eyes, still holding a grudge against her own father. "He was about to kill his only grandchild for a silly reason."

"Are you strong?" Kath’tan blurted out, giving in to his curiosity.

He had never heard of the High Lady Valrena before, and if she had been thrown into a dungeon right after his birth, it was no surprise. But Zazrel had no care or respect for other cities, he would never let anyone treat him so dismissively.

Valrena’s eyes still glistened from tears but she was grinning now, she leaned in close like she was about to tell him a secret. "Stronger than that simpleton Zazrel. Threnval would have fallen by my hand until he tricked me." Her voice soured on the last part, past heartaches in her distant gaze, one she quickly shook off.

Kath’tan rose to his feet and awkwardly offered his mother a hand. Conversation with her was like meeting an old friend, he could see her as his mother before her title as daughter of a Grand Duke.

Valrena rose to her feet with ease, vulnerability in her eyes. "Would you offer this stranger a hug?"

Unfamiliar with intimacy, Kath’tan paused. The wet nurse he had been tossed to as a child had treated him like livestock, as long as he was fed and clean, she bothered about little else. He had learned to stop crying because it only brought him more hostility, even orphaned calves were treated with more gentleness.

He hesitantly crossed over the doorway, sitting in his room previously while Lady Valrena sat in the hallway, it had been almost symbolic.

"Sure," He agreed expecting a brief hug.

He didn’t expect his mother to close the distance first, gathering him in her arms like she wanted to pick him up. Their height difference was nonexistent in the hug, it made him feel like he was a fledgling again, watching his siblings run to their mothers.

His back remained straight in the hug, his mother’s gentle hand on his head causing cracks in his spine. Her face was tucked in his neck, her silent tears soaking his skin.

Kath’tan couldn’t say how long the hug stretched out for, but by the end, he was curled up in her arms, fine tremors wracking through his body. He broke away from the hug first, feeling the threat of tears stinging his eyes.

He had also heard shuffling from within his room, Dulce was awake.

"Kath’tan?" The Vampire called out curiously, cautiously.

Valrena stepped back when he did but she then grasped his wrist, like she needed to be connected to him in some way to reassure herself that he was fine. Her expressive eyes questioned him, waiting patiently for an answer.

"Dulce, the mage who summoned me," He stuck to the basics, in due time his mother would find out the whole truth.

Dulce poked his head around the door to see who he was being introduced to, his pale hair a bird’s nest. His eyes went wide at the Demon on the other side of the door, pleasantly surprised by the sight.

"My mother, High Lady Valrena," Kath’tan completed the introductions, allowing his mother to keep holding his wrist.