The week after goes by quickly, our life gets some routine about it. I feel like a weight has been lifted, we can finally relax and take a breath. I decide to keep my magic, at least for now, until I know for sure that the drama with Bianca is over. Theo and Tobias agree and say if I give it up, I might regret it, and considering it is the last thing I have left of my mother, I don’t want to throw it away without a good reason.
Josiah said Bianca has been suffering for her crimes, and he himself has taken pleasure in torturing her. Caroline has been banned from the council after she snuck in and removed Bianca’s fingernails without permission, and tried to gouge out her eyes. I feel nothing towards Bianca, no anger, no hate, no pity. I feel free of her, although I’m not naïve enough to believe I won’t have to deal with her again.
My father came over after three days and met Thaddeus.
Things are awkward, but I have hope that we can build a relationship as long as Theo and Tobias can refrain from killing him. Mostly the future looks bright. Tobias and Theo returned back to work full time, and I decided I will work a few odd days when I feel like bringing Thaddeus in with me. Life is looking pretty mundane compared to what it used to be.
Moving on, though everything is a little harder now I have time to think. I often find myself thinking of all the things my mother has missed and all the things I have missed with my father. My moods sometimes plummet, Tobias and Theo are always there to lean on when the darkness would sends into my depression.
They pull me back from the brink and remind me they will always be here for me.
As I walk downstairs, I see Theo is feeding Thaddeus in his highchair. Thaddeus loves porridge now, it’s his new favorite thing to not only eat, but play with. Tobias walks over and kisses me softly while I finish buttoning my blouse. I’m going in with them today, excited to be going back, today is the second day I have returned to work.
The shambles the place was in when I went back the first day had me nearly hyperventilating when I saw the mountain load of paperwork that needed filing. Merida was excited to see she could go back to the tech floor, as one thing she hated was filing paperwork and being Theo’s coffee bitch.
Sitting at the island counter, I sip my coffee, watching Theo feed our son. Thaddeus squeals loudly, and I notice my bracelet react to him. His magical pendant glows brightly from his excitement.
My heart skips a beat for a second, and I file it away to worry about another time.
“Mom wants to know if she can take Thaddeus tonight?” Tobias asks me. He wiggles his eyebrows, and I know what he is thinking. Theo looks up and he smiles brightly.
I smile knowingly back at them, “Tell her she can.”
Theo punches the air like he just won some victory, and Tobias comes over, wrapping his arms around my shoulders, standing behind me. His stubble brushes my cheek and I cringe at the feeling, he chuckles before rubbing his face in the crook of my neck.
“Stop, you man beast.” I tell him, cringing at the feeling. Tobias chuckles before turning me around on the stool and moving between my legs.
He kisses me softly at first before he deepens the kiss and groans into my mouth. He leans into me before I feel his hand move under my blouse and he squeezes my nipple between his fingers.
I moan into his mouth before Theo speaks. “Oi, keep it PG13 a baby is present,” he says.
I look back and he has his hand over Thaddeus’ eyes. I roll mine at him, it is not like he understands or will remember.
“You don’t want to see that, do you, bubba?” Theo asks him.
Thaddeus cackles loudly before holding his arms up in the air. “Mom, mom!” He squeals, and we all freeze.
“Did he just say his first word?”
“I heard nothing,” Theo states, and I grin, knowing he heard.
“Mom, mom!” Thaddeus says again, grasping air.
“Traitor, I bring you porridge and you say that witch’s name first,” Theo tells him. Thaddeus bounces excitedly, holding his hands out for me. I go pick him up, kissing his face.
“What about dadda, say dadda?” Theo tries.
“Mom, mom,” Thaddeus says, and Theo throws his arms up in the air.
“This isn’t fair. I do the night feeds and the morning stuff and he says mom.”
I chuckle at his ranting. “Maybe he thinks you’re mom?” Tobias adds in, trying not to laugh.
Theo thinks for a second. “That must be it. We will have to correct that,” he says, taking Thaddeus from me and walking from the room, trying to make him say dadda.
I shake my head and Tobias comes over wrapping his arms around me. “Ready?” He asks.
“Yep, lets go,” I tell him, and he lets go, grabbing his keys from the bowl and we walk towards the door where Thaddeus and Theo are waiting.
Epilogue
One hundred years later
Thaddeus
My name is enough to send most people running, those that don’t are fools, for they will feel my wrath. I am the king of darkness. The dark Tribrid they call me, the one that changed the world. I am destruction, and countries have fallen by these hands.
Forgiveness isn’t a part of my vocabulary; I don’t grant forgiveness or mercy. It is best to stay on my good side. My mother thought she was protecting me, keeping my magic from me. That betrayal hurt the most.
She took a piece of me and I nearly killed her by getting it back. I knew growing up I was different. I saw life differently. Sure, I came from a home filled with love and everything a child could desire. My parents would have moved heaven and hell for me. Yet, that was their downfall. Their betrayal.
From the outside, we were the perfect family. Our lives were great until my sixteenth birthday. I stopped aging at thirty, but the darkness made me feel every bit of the hundred and one years I have lived on this earth. Sucking every part of me away until I become what I am now, I used to fear the darkness, now I embrace it.
The darkness came for me on my sixteenth birthday, and I found the missing piece. The one thing I craved, and that was power. Power to control everything and everyone. My mother tried to save me, tried to even take me down. If she wasn’t my mother, the woman who literally gave her life for me, I would have ended her. That wasn’t her decision to make. I knew instantly my entire life was a secret; they kept from me.
Astral and the covens came for me once I possessed my power, my mother told them where to find me. I slaughtered them all and have been on my own ever since. For decades, I roamed the earth trying to find meaning, and I stumbled across my mates.