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"You are hter, as surely as Ava was," he said quietly "She was the only one of my children who ever bothered to see me for who I really am The others only ever saer Calliope only ever saw a philanderer But Ava understood the love I have for you all She understood that a s he does not express, and that lack of expression does not deplete that love"
"I know that" She’d been the one to insist Henry loved me no matter what "You realize if you’d never cheated, none of this would’ve ever happened?"
"If I’d never cheated, you would have never been born" He looked atin his eyes, and I held his stare "James would have never been born Ella and Theo, Irene, Persephone--I loved ize, to her or to any other, for bringingyou"
"Then you’re no better than she is Love doesn’t give you a free pass to hurt your faht?"
He tilted his head "And what do youmy nails intoto claw its way out of h after Monosed, but you didn’t care"
"I have uarantee you would pass the test, and I did not want to risk forging a connection with you in case you did not"
"Why, because you orried about your precious secret being revealed?"
"Because after everything your mother told me about you, I knew that if I ca children I have never known is hard enough But to lose one I love" He stroked the edge of the glass coffin
My shoulders shook with silent sobs "I needed you I needed someone to tell me it would be okay I needed to knoasn’t alone, and you couldn’t bother with me because you were too afraid to love , playing bit parts in your life Loving and protecting you as we did in Eden You were never alone, Kate, even in your darkest of days"
"But I didn’t know," I burst "It doesn’t make any difference if I never knew"
"I a the father you needed I a hter make the ultimate sacrifice I do not expect you or anyone else in this world to forgive one, but I hope one day, for Ava’s sake, you will allow me to be your farowing up It is what Ava would have wanted for us both"
I wanted to spit in his face, to tell hihter illing to love such afroze ht This hat Ava would have wanted Not only because I needed a father, but because Walter needed a daughter who loved hiave him a chance I’d done my best to show everyone, even Calliope and Cronus, that co Ava would’ve wanted me to do the same for hi for ive," I said quietly, and all of the fight drained out of ain "You hurt me You hurt my mother, and you hurt our family"
He set a tentative hand onwhat I can to make it up to you I cannot promise much, but I do promise that you will always have me--you will always have all of us As it should have been froether, I nodded After all the pain he’d caused, I couldn’t forgive him as we stood there side by side, but solass coffin ree of Ava was never alone At first only the councilto be alone with her After we’d all had our turn, Walter opened up the portal to Olyh without assistance
As the hours passed and news of her death spread, gods I’d never seen before appeared in Olympus to pay their respects So prepared me for the sheer number Ava had touched in her life The throne roo, and the veil of sadness only grew heavier with each new face
A boy with blond curls kept vigil by the coffin, never speaking a word Both Nicholas and Dylan joined him at different times, and while he sat stiffly at Dylan’s side, the boy seemed to relax in Nicholas’s presence
"Eros Eric now," said Henry as we lingered near the hallway and watched "Her oldest son"
My vision blurred, and I had to excuse myself I kne deeply Ava had touched the rest of the council, but seeing the paths her long life had forged, the family she’d formed in the millennia she’d lived--it only reopened wounds I was sure would never fully heal
On the third day, dawn crept across the starry ceiling Walter called us all together, and we stood in a circle with the other gods, watching as the glass coffin filled with light At last, as the sunrise blended away the last vestiges of night, the casket disappeared