According to my father, since I became a public figure the human plight has gotten considerably better. He hired an analyst to gather statistics about the improvements made within the human population and the results he showed me are staggering.
All of the human communities, with the help of Asher’s men, were rebuilt in a month’s time. This includes schools, community centers, parks, malls…you name it and Asher made good on his word. I owe him.
Even the human economy is thriving. How well…it’s too early to tell. But humans have gone back to trading goods in order to survive. Farmers trade food, those with medical backgrounds trades their expertise, and those with a seamstress background trade clothes. Backwards in order to move forwards, that’s what my father calls it.
He and Elizabeth welcomed Darius and I with open arms. So much has changed at home. Elizabeth’s renovations have added a few extra thousand feet to the home, a pool, a gate surrounding the property and a beautiful garden with a green room. This is what my life…my happiness was traded for.
As a consolation and probably my father’s idea, my room was extended and turned into a Junior Master Suite. My old twin bed was replaced with a king size bed and decorated for a queen. A canopy stands over it with drapes for privacy. The room feels foreign now. Many of my things have been removed and replaced with more age appropriate things. Part of me was hoping to reclaim some of my old existence, but I think my father wanted to impress Darius with more upscale decorations.
“What happened to my room?” I asked, coming downstairs.
“We improved the way it looked,” Elizabeth speaks for him.
“But I liked it the way it was.” I didn’t bother hiding my irritation. It’s just like her to take it upon herself to change something of mine without asking.
“It was a little girl’s room,” Elizabeth matched my attitude, “You’re a woman now and you’re about to become a mother. It’s time you gave up such childish things.”
I looked to my father for help, but as usual he sides with Elizabeth. No wonder I fell for Darius. He’s just like my father. They both walk all over me and call it love.
“No disrespect Elizabeth, but it’s not your place,” I snap at her.
“Hey-hey,” my father interjects, “Is this what they’re teaching you at Draven manor? How to be disrespectful?”
My emotions are running high and my father siding with the woman who’s basically ruined my life is the icing on the cake. I can’t even come home for a little bit of piece. No one has my back, and no one cares about what happens to me, as long as their lives benefit from my suffering.
Frustrated, I storm out of the house and into the backyard where I drop to my knees in the grass and begin to cry. Darius would claim its because I’m pregnant that I’m so emotional, but its more than that. Yesterday with Aria and Darius…the way he acted afterwards…I feel like I’m in a special kind of hell. One where I’m in love with a night-dweller, who’s in love with someone else, and who I let walk all over me because I’m afraid he’ll leave me.
“Giselle?” Darius calls out from behind me.
I start to wipe away my tears but stop. No more hiding my pain and anger. No more pretending just to please him. He kneels down before me and lifts my head so our eyes meet. I don’t bother trying to hide my disgust as I turn away.
“Don’t,” I swat his hand away.
“What’s wrong with you?”
It’s such a simple question, but it unleashes everything I kept pinned up inside me. “What’s wrong with me? She changed my goddamn room without my permission! I was hoping to come here to get away from everything…to get away from you and Aria and all the impossible expectations of being your wife…only when I get here that bitch has changed my room and turned it into some fancy show for you!” I unleash my rage on him.
His brows raise and he studies me for a moment before answering. I half expect him to unleash some rage of his own, but to my surprise he doesn’t. He softens his expression and his tone is tender. “I’m sorry,” he apologizes, “for whatever part I’ve played in this, I’m sorry. For the thing with Aria…for the pain you’re feeling right now, I’m sorry.”
More tears fall from my eyes. It’s like someone released the lever on my tears and now they’re just pouring out of me. Dumbfounded, Darius doesn’t say another word. He sits down next to me on the ground and cradles me in his arms.
He’s wearing a pair of pants that cost more than a person makes in a year and now he’s sitting in the dirt trying to console his basket case of a wife. I don’t blame him for not loving me. I’m a complete mess.
“Say the word and I’ll make the bitch put your room back the way it was,” Darius tells me. I pull away and look up at him. Whether he said it to be funny or not, I began to laugh uncontrollably. Yep…I’ve officially lost it. Now he’s staring at me like he thinks I’ve gone crazy.
“The bitch huh?”
“You said it first,” he smiles.
It’s moments like this that remind me of how sweet he can be. I feel lucky to be his wife in this moment. However short-lived it may be. “Loving you is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” I tell him, “you don’t know what it’s like being in love with someone like you. You control so much of my life and I can’t escape it no matter how much I might want to. No matter how much I would love for you to see me as your equal, I’ll always just be human to you.”
“Do you think loving you is any easier?”
“Yes.”
“Well it’s not. My kind sees me as a traitor for marrying you and the only woman I have ever loved is more interested in you than she is in me. To make matters worse, you’re pregnant with my heir, which makes you an emotional wreck. So not only do I have my father and his expectations to contend with, but also I have my insecurities about Aria, and your mood swings.” He scoffs.
The only woman he’s ever loved…I wonder if he even understands how much hearing that hurts me. I’m carrying his child for Christ’s sake. Sitting up, I back away from him and wipe my eyes. Those words are exactly why I’m such a mess. I’m never going to get through to him and he’s never going to love me as much as I love him.
“Did I say something wrong?” He asks, confused.
“The only woman you’ve ever loved…” I recite his words back to him, “It just reminds me that I will never be that girl for you. You love me, but…not like that…not like I love you.”
His lips don’t move. He won’t deny it because we both know it’s the truth. I place my hand over my stomach and the baby kicks. It’s growing at an accelerated rate thanks to Darius’ enhanced DNA.
Carrying his child bonds me to Darius for life, but that life is a fairytale that will never come true. Politics and obligation are the only things keeping us together. Without either of those things he might’ve left a long time ago. Who am I kidding? Without either of those things we never would’ve been.
“Gizzy!” Eliza exclaims, bursting through the French doors and running up to hug me. Our moment of truth is cut short by the cutest little girl in the world, “I made this for you,” Eliza hands Darius a picture she made. In it she drew Darius swinging her around by her hands while I’m holding our unborn child. “I have two brothers now,” she beams.
Eliza hugs Darius and it tugs at my heartstrings. I wish I could go back to that age. Life was much simpler then.
To show his gratitude, Darius stands, grabs Eliza by the wrists and gently swings her around in circles until she’s had enough. He’s perfect in so many ways that it only twists the knife in my heart even more.
“Have you decided on a name yet?” Lucas asks, sitting down next to me.
“No, but I’m pretty sure Darius and his family has that all figured out already.”
Lucas studies my face and starts to speak but thinks better of it. Instead he places his hand over mine and squeezes. It’s his way of letting me know he’s here for me if I want to talk. I lay my head on his shoulder and lean in to him.
My comfort is short-lived. Darius glimpses Lucas holding me and his temples flare. He knows we’re not biologically related, and anyone not biologically related he doesn’t want touching me. I quickly pull away from Lucas. The last thing I want is for Darius to drag me back home.
When Darius goes back to playing with Eliza, Lucas casts me an inquisitive glance. I shake my head. Now isn’t the time. Not with Darius so close, watching and listening.
Eliza couldn’t get enough of Darius and seeing him with her gave me a glimpse into what kind of father he would be. He’d be everything for our son, his flesh and blood. His legacy.
The sun began set so we went inside. The servants were already setting the table for dinner so I took Eliza upstairs to wash up. She could not shut up about how awesome Darius is. Perhaps she should try being married to him or being in love with him…
She raced me back downstairs and like the party pooper he is, Darius scolded me for running down the stairs in my condition. “Don’t worry, if I die you and Aria will be free to raise our son as your own,” I reply, half-joking.
He levels me with a glare as I take the seat to my fathers left. I’m purposely pushing his buttons and we both know it. I don’t care. “Darius is right, you should be more careful,” Elizabeth agrees with him, “you’re not a child anymore, you’re an adult. You should start acting like one.”
“Perhaps I should be more like you then and blow through my husbands fortune. Or-or maybe I should sell my son to the highest bidder and screw up his life because I don’t know how to handle money.”
“Giselle,” my father warns me.
“Or maybe I should be like you daddy and barter my daughter like a prostitute to a night-dweller with deep pockets because I don’t have the balls to stand up to my wife. What’s one daughter discarded like trash compared to that cesspool between your wife’s legs?”
I felt a cold brush of air and quickly covered my face with my arms, but nothing happens. Slowly I bring my arms down and realize my father is frozen mid-strike. Only one person could stop him in this way. I turn my attention to Darius who’s picking at his food, then Eliza who screams, and Lucas who rises from his seat.
My father has never struck me before, but he was going to. He was going to do it for her. “Let go of me!” My father demanded.
“I would, but I’m not the one holding you,” Darius replies, taking a bite of his food. Confused I look over at Darius who motions to my stomach. “He’s protecting his mother. He detects fear in your blood. Remove the fear and he’ll release your father.”
Looking over at my father I take a deep breath and remove all traces of fear from my mind. Moments later my father is flung backwards into his chair. He gasps, glaring at me, but he doesn’t attempt to hit me again.
“Had he not have subdued you, I would’ve ripped your heart from your chest,” Darius levels my father with a glare. “Giselle isn’t your daughter, she’s my wife. Striking her would not only be disrespectful to her as a woman and mother, but it’s disrespectful to me as her husband and your benefactor. I won’t stand for it, and neither will my son. That being said, Giselle I’m sure there’s a better way to convey your feelings.”
I nod and he motions for me to talk to my father without all of the hostility. “You always take her side, always. She’s the reason you’re not more well off than you are. I like to have fine things just like the next person, but I would never do to my son what you have done to me. First Elizabeth barters me like cattle and then you follow her lead and sell me like a whore to Darius to pay for her mistakes. Why am I so expendable to you?”
“Expendable?” My father reeled back, “I’m doing what your mother asked me to do. She told me that a time would come where I’d have the opportunity to better your fortunes and that I should take it. You’re one of the wealthiest women in the world Giselle. You want for nothing. That’s why I married you to Darius. I wanted you to have a good life and to want for nothing. Yes, there are benefits for myself, but I at least wanted you to be taken care of.”
“Wait…my mother? You know who she is?”
“Yes and no.”
“Please explain,” Darius took a sudden interest in the conversation.
“I’ve only met her once…when she handed you to me. At least I believe she was your mother. I wasn’t sure at first, but the more you grew, the more you started to look like her. Since then I’ve only had contact with messengers, never her,” he explains.
“How often?” I ask.
“It varies. They appear with instructions ever so often. The last time they appeared was before I agreed to allow you to marry Darius. I was told Viktor would come to me with the idea and to accept when he did. He came to me a few days later.”
Darius and I exchanged glances. The more questions he answered, the more I had. None of this made sense. Why would my mother want me married to Darius? How could she know these things? Who is she? Where is my father?
“They next time they come to you, tell them I wish to meet my mother. I want to know where I came from. I want to know why she left me with you? I want to know why she wanted me married to Darius?”
“I’ll ask but I can’t guarantee you anything.”
“I’m an adult now. Why hasn’t she just come to me herself?”
“I was told it’s too dangerous,” he replied.
Again I looked to Darius who returned my glance. “I didn’t know,” I sighed, “I’m sorry for speaking to you the way I did, I just…I didn’t understand.”
“Everything I’ve done has been to help you, not hurt you. And as far as Elizabeth is concerned, you’re right. She does have some very expensive spending habits. I haven’t been putting my foot down, but going forward I will.”
Elizabeth starts to protest but my father shuts her down by raising his hand. “I’m not trying to meddle in your marriage, I’m just worried about you. I’m worried about all of you. The human race has made significant strides, but we aren’t out of the woods yet.” I explain.
“That’s enough,” Darius interrupts. He casts me a warning glance. In other words, I’ve said too much.
Taking the hint, I focus on my food. The table grows silent until Darius excuses himself from the room. Something my father said alarmed him. Elizabeth explodes now that Darius is out of the equation, but again my father shuts her down. Eliza is confused by the conversation and Lucas sits silently observing everything that’s taken place.
When Darius returns, he no longer has an appetite. Neither do I for that matter and I push away from the table, following him up to my room.
“What’s bothering you?” I ask.
“I don’t like not knowing what role you play in all of this,” he confides, “there have been attempts to overthrow my family and I ever since we came into power. Knowing that your mother seems to always know things…it doesn’t make me feel very comfortable. How do I know she’s not using you to get to us?”
“I’ve never even met her. How can she use me when we don’t even have a relationship?”
“There’s more than one way to skin a cat Giselle.”
“Okay, but if she’s using me, whatever plan she has must hinge on me somehow. That means I’d have to be willing to do what she wants me to do and I won’t do anything that would hurt you.”
He thinks about what I’m saying and his lips curl up into a smile. “Because you love me?”
“Yes,” I nod, “A thousand times yes.”
“You’re close to giving birth. What if she expects to use our son somehow?” He asks.
“Then she’ll have to get through me.”
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