Chapter 0816

Had I really known him at all, I wondered? Or had I merely been too self-absorbed and naive to see past the facade of unshakable command he projected?

After a long silence, I found my voice. "Why didn't he ever tell me that?"

"He didn't want you to see his weakness, I suppose," Angelica replied with a small, sad smile. "He wanted you to respect him, look up to him, the way a daughter should see her father."

Her words stung, although I knew she didn't intend them to. The truth was, I hadn't gotten nearly enough time with my father to look up to him or see any side of him at all, really. In just a few short months, I had lost him.

A familiar ache blossomed in my chest as I contemplated just how much I had lost by his passing. How much I still didn't know, how much I might never know, about the man who had brought me into this world and the legacy I now shouldered in his wake.

My hand strayed unconsciously to the swell of my stomach as a new thought struck me. I couldn't imagine losing her for so long, just as my father had lost me. I wanted her to know me, the real me.

birthday when my daughter's mind was replaced with that of my twin sister. Suddenly, I was pulled out of my reverie when my mother

murmured. "You've more than earned

then slowly rose myself to stretch my aching

in the nearby forest clearing. I wasn't even fully aware that I was going there until I found

Dad," I murmured, reaching out to trace the elegantly carved

chest as best I could, staring unseeingly at the words.

together," I confessed in a small voice. "Maybe then I wouldn't feel so... fucking lost trying to

for some sort of sign or reassurance from beyond the veil as I

this time, there was nothing but silence and

its own way, even through the tears that had clouded

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