My mouth dropped and I let out a low laugh in return. “Hey! She doesn’t have to worry about me either. We’ve been here all day. I’ve had enough.”
“Then don’t worry about it.” Darius smiled, turning his attention to Dirk on his right. “From what I hear, it’s turned out to be a pretty good day.”
Dirk shared a look with his mother and smiled. “Oh, it was! You have to come see what we got!” He got right to his feet with a high eagerness to show his father his new toy. “It’s just the greatest!”
“All right.” Darius smiled, slowly getting up to his feet. “Then show me.”
“You coming too, mother?” Dirk asked.
Ruby just smiled. “No. You two go ahead. I’ll take care of stuff down here.”
“Okay!” Dirk didn’t waste another second and ran right for the stairs with Darius following behind him at a more normal pace.
“You have to come see mine too, father.” Bryce said, getting up to his feet.
“I think that’s an excellent idea.” I smiled, standing up too. “It’s starting to get late anyway.”
“Come on, father!” Bryce said, reaching for Troy’s hand and starting to pull on him.
“Okay. I’m coming.”
They headed for the stairs after Darius and Dirk and started to head up them as well.
“Glad they’re home.” Ruby smiled.
“Me too. I like seeing them like that together.”
Ruby smiled again and walked into the kitchen with me, carrying a few plates and the cake back inside.
Chapter 5
Dirk
I made it up to my room on the third floor first and still showed my enthusiasm with every step. “Come on! It’s right here!”
I picked up the golden rod and held it out to my father.
“Wow. This is nice. How’s the difference in weight when you train with it? I would have assumed that you tried it out already.”
“Of course! I find it to be a lot better. For me, holding one of those sticks is nothing. I hardly even feel it.”
He laughed. “With our strength, I suppose so.”
“Look at what else it does.”
I took it back and twisted the middle. My father looked impressed as it shot out an extra three feet and I twisted half of the other end and it formed the look of an ax head.
“Look at that!” He took it back and looked it over for a second time. “Never had anything like this when I was a kid. This is truly something.”
“I like the way it handles this way.”
“Think you could handle something like this for real?”
“We’ve already figured that they were shadows of what was to come. Every type of weapon has their own skill involved. Time to get used to a certain one.”
My father returned the smile and handed it back to me. “That’s a very wise way to think. Perhaps you’re right.”
“I’d like it to be. I really like this.” I closed up the rod with ease, now that I knew how it worked.
“Well, looks like we’ll have to test it out and see how good you are at it.”
“Really? You’ll practice with me? Seth and Bryce can make it fun but I can only get so rough with them.”
He laughed. “Of course I will. We haven’t gotten to do that in a while. I’d like to see if your skill is improving.”
“So, when?”
“That will have to wait until tomorrow.” Mother stood in the doorway. “It’s getting late.”
“But mother—”
“Dirk, don’t talk back to your mother. She’s right. It is late.”
I stood disappointed with a long sigh.
“You don’t have to go to sleep.” Mother said. “If you’re not tired, you have a paper you could be working on. Deadline is in three days.”
I sighed again. “School work, really?”
“Is it done?”
“No.”
“Then you should work on it. Your father needs his rest if he’s going to have a chance at surviving a lesson with you tomorrow.”
It got a smile out of me. “All right, mother. Then he should go rest.”
Father smiled back. “I’ll do that. Just make sure you get to bed at a reasonable hour as well.”
“I will, father. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
They left but I wasn’t the least bit tired. I was too excitedly awake, thinking about what tomorrow would be like. I knew I couldn’t do anything about it now but sleep wasn’t an option yet.
I decided to work on my paper at my mother’s request. It was about global history and the changes that tore the world into war.
Books were laid out in front of me and papers were scattered everywhere but the more I sat here, the harder time I was having answering questions I couldn’t find. I sighed and hated to have to disturb mother but she has always been willing to help and I just had to make sure that father wasn’t disturbed.
I left everything where it was and took a single book with me out of the room. The halls were quiet like everyone was already asleep and I took the stairs up to the sixth level. My footsteps became cautious when I heard a light commotion coming from my parent’s room but I was curious and got closer.
I reached the door and recognized mother. She wasn’t speaking but the sounds coming from her lips sounded of pain. “Mother?”
I couldn’t reach for the door knob. I wanted to but something was stopping me. Instead, I bend down and looked through the key hole. I couldn’t see much but from what I did see, mother was wearing her gold silk robe and she was being pinned down to the bed by my father. His muscles were tense and looked as if he was using a great force to keep her there. Mother’s breaths were heavy and I got worried when I saw her red eyes.
I got right up with my own heavy breath and started backing away. I’ve never felt this fear towards father until now and just had to get away. As soon as I reached the stairs, I bolted down them until I got back to my room and closed myself inside. I simply threw the book down on the desk and got right into bed, throwing the blanket up over my head.
I was feeling shaky and couldn’t get the image out of my mind that father was abusing mother. It worried me in the easiest of ways and kept wondering how long it’s been going on.
I stayed exactly the way I was and tried going to sleep through all the thoughts running around me. It was the only thing I could think of doing at the time and sleep finally followed. My dreams were none and calmed me in the peaceful rest.
Chapter 6
Ruby
Dirk laid asleep in his bed when I came in the room to wake him up. “Morning, sleepy.”
I walked over and opened the curtains, letting in the sun. I knew he was excited last night. He should still want to get up.
He started to wake from it but pulled the blankets up over his head instead of rising.
I laughed because he must have stayed up late and I walked over to him, sitting on the empty space next to him. “Hey, time to get up. You can’t stay in bed forever. You have plans with your father today.”
Dirk sighed and turned over. “Go away.”
I sensed something different in his tone and leaned over him. “Dirk, honey, are you okay? Are you not feeling well?”
“I don’t want to talk about it, mother. Okay?”
“All right, mister.” My voice was serious now. “Spill. Now.”
Dirk just sighed and took the covers off his head, sitting up in bed. “Why are you with him?”
I was confused. “With who?”
“Father.”
“Because he’s your father and I love him.”
“You don’t have to pretend and you don’t have to be with him for my sake.”
“Dirk, what has gotten into you? You’ve never asked these questions before.”
He paused for a long moment and looked down. I was hoping he would tell me. “I know he hurts you.”
“Hurts me? Honey, your father would never do anything to hurt me.�
��
He sighed and took my hand, pushing up my sleeve to show bruising around my wrist. “He doesn’t? And that’s just from him being here for a few hours.”
I felt embarrassed and pulled my hand back to cover my wrists. “That was unintentional. How did you know about that?”
Dirk hesitated to say anything at first but he’s always been able to talk to me about everything and went on with answering my question. “I saw it happen.”
I got a smile and touched his hand. “Oh, honey. It wasn’t like that. Your father wasn’t hurting me.”
“But I saw you. Your eyes were red and—and I was scared.”
I let his hand go while my smile remained and started getting up off the bed. “You don’t need to be but I think this is an explanation you need to hear from your father.”
“Why?”
“It just is. Why don’t you get yourself ready for the day and I’ll see when he has time.”
“Mother, I don’t think—”
“Dirk, I do. This is obviously something that’s bothering you and you need to hear it from someone you can relate more to.” Dirk just sighed as I walked to the door and looked back. “Come on. Get up.”
I left the room, leaving Dirk to take care of things on his own and went upstairs into my bathhouse.
Darius just got out of the shower and was standing in front of the mirror with a towel around his waist. “Hey, beautiful. Thought you were going to join me?”
“Well, that’s going to have to wait a bit. There’s something else I need you to do first. Something important.”
Darius took the tone in my voice as serious and nodded. “Okay. What is it?”
I sighed as I walked over and leaned up against the sink while he started shaving. “You have to talk to Dirk.”
“What about?”
“This isn’t exactly how I planned it happening but he needs to hear the talk from you.”
“The talk?”
“Yes, Darius. The big talk. Sex.”
“And what brought this on?”
I sighed again and turned my body to him. “He saw us last night.”
Of course, he laughed. “Really?”
“This isn’t funny, Darius. He’s under the impression that you hurt me.”
“Well, you asked for that!”
His attitude towards this problem only made me sigh again. “I know but that’s not the point. He just doesn’t understand it and I need you to talk to him, explain. He has to know these things and I don’t just mean the basics. He needs to know what he’ll someday be capable of in a situation like that. Risks and dangers. All of it.”
“I don’t want to give him the wrong idea. It’s not bad.”
“But he still needs to know.”
“All right.” He sighed, reaching for the hot towel to clean off his face. “I’ll see what I can do but explaining your side of the gift is really your thing.”
“It would be weird for him to hear it from me. I’m a woman. You know it well yourself. Tell him. I have him getting ready right now.”
“Okay. Let me go get dressed and I’ll find him.”
“Thank you.”
We left the bathhouse and Darius got himself ready so he could confront our son, all the while I hoped he’d understand.
Chapter 7
Darius
I walked downstairs to Dirk’s room just as he was leaving it, stopping in a jolt when he saw me standing right in front of him. “Father!”
“So, I hear we need to have a talk.”
Dirk’s eyes started to narrow and turn red at the same time. “There’s nothing to talk about.”
I took a step forward and Dirk’s eyes started fading back as his fear of me overran his anger. “Let’s take a walk.”
“Yes, sir.” He replied, lowering his head.
I smiled and put my hand on Dirk’s shoulder as I turned with him towards the stairs. He walked without an expression down them to the first floor and I led him to the front door.
The mountain air was warming up with the sun as it rose over the peaks, lighting the once shaded areas. There was a light breeze that blown in and around the natural paths of the mountains and nature was waking around us from the scurrying little animals amongst the rocks to the high flying birds in the sky.
We walked for what seemed like hours as I gave my son one of life’s greatest lessons and explained some of the things he may experience in the future due to his gift of strength and how deadly his touch can really be.
Dirk walked quietly along and didn’t go any further but ask the occasional question. I handled it well and answered whatever he had to ask with positive encouragement, even with some of the most concerned questions.
“You mean I could actually kill someone even if I cared about them?”
“It’s a possibility. Your mother wanted you to be aware of those things.”
“But she doesn’t kill you.”
I laughed. “No and it’s because I’m strong enough to withstand her.”
“But there’s no one else like us. Would that mean that I’d kill every time? If that’s the case, I’ll never do it.”
“Now don’t go saying that just yet. In a couple years, it’ll be the only thing that’s on your mind. You’ll get to it. You’ll just have to make sure you’re careful, start out slow and determine your own limits.”
“That seems like a lot of work.”
“It is but it’ll be worth it. When your mother and I first met, I didn’t have the strength I do now but we were careful and I survived. If she could do it then so can you. You’d have your gift for longer and should know more of your limits than she did.”
“Still seems like a lot of work.”
“You still have a few years before you really need to decide that. By then things could change. Your mother just thought it was time you know and you should keep this stuff to yourself. Seth and Bryce shouldn’t hear this from you since they’re risk isn’t as great as yours will be. Your mother didn’t want it to be this early for you but you know why we had to.”
Dirk lowered his head as we walked. “Yeah. Sorry about that. I shouldn’t have just assumed without asking.”
“It’s all right. I understand why. It would need explaining for anyone who saw what you did. I just hope it’s not going to affect you in a negative way.”
“I didn’t see much. Mostly her expression with you over her but now that I know, I’d rather like to stop thinking about it.”
I laughed. “That’s your choice to do but just remember that it’s nothing to be ashamed of. It’s seen as one of the greatest expressions of love.”
“Didn’t look that way to me.”
“There are many different levels based on the couple. You’ll get the chance to explore and find your own way.”
“Few years, right?”
“Well, I couldn’t make an accurate decision on that. Your body has to go through the changes of puberty first and I’m sure your mother has something to say about what age you’re old enough to start having sex.”
“What’s the age?”
“She would say sixteen when you’re seen as a man to try and protect you from something but it’d probably be sooner than that.”
“How old were you?”
I took a long breath with my thoughts. “You’re asking me to think back a long time but if my memory suits me, I would say I was probably thirteen. Puberty for me started at twelve and that was just full with all kinds of ups and downs for me. It’s usually a troubling time for kids because they have to get used to their bodies all over again.”
“Was it that hard for you?”
I smiled to all the sudden questions Dirk was beginning to ask but was happy to answer them. “At first but then things got better. I lost my boyish look fairly fast. It almost seemed like overnight and that was replaced with these broad shoulders and muscles to fit them. Girls paid attention to me in a different kind of way than before so I quickly forgot about all t
he other semi-embarrassing stuff.”
“Well, then no wonder you were thirteen when you became sexually active. You think I’ll be that way?”
“Sexually active at thirteen or develop in the way I have?”
“Both.”
“Well, development wise, it’s very possible. You are my son. We share a lot of things because it’s part of my blood. You being sexually active at that age, well, I’d have to say that’d be your decision. It has a lot to do with your comfort level with yourself and around girls.”
He sighed atrociously. “Right, girls.”
“And by that, I would just have to guess that you’ve never even kissed one before.”
“Girls around here are a pretty rare species.”
I laughed. “I suppose that’s true. You don’t spend nearly enough time in the city as you should.”
“Then do something about that. Take me with you next time you go.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that. Your mother would—”
“Please, father? We school here year round. Don’t they get some kind of break in the city?”
“It’s called a vacation and it’s usually three months in the summer so the kids can be with their families, travel and explore the world they live in to get a better understanding of it.”
“Well, we’ve never had that. You can convince mother I should go. If that doesn’t work, you could probably convince her that she should go too. I can’t remember the last time we were there. We go to Dorlin probably ten times more.”
“They take you there?”
“Every few months or so. Usually when you’re going to be gone for a few weeks.”
“What do you do there?”
“Sit around while the grownups talk. Not so fun for us. They never let us leave the safety of the palace so we have to find a way to amuse ourselves.”
“I’ve been unaware of any of this.”
“It’s nothing to mention. Why don’t they ever take us to Randal?”
“Because your mother never wants the possibility of staying. Since you were born, they’ve wanted you boys to grow up away from that life.”
Blooming Life (Fate's Intent Book 10) Page 2
