My shoes pressed into the dirt floor of my room as I walked towards my mum. Her eyes watered, and her posture showed her fear. I stopped in front of her, and I wrapped her in a hug. There was a time for talking, and for keeping secrets, but no matter what time of day it was, I would always show my mum I cared about her.

The tension drained away from her posture as we fell into a comfortable silence.

“I don’t know how to start this conversation.” She whispered.

My back straightened and I released her from the hug. The mana gathered behind me, and the dirt formed a seat underneath me as I sat next to her on my bed.

My mum was quiet. She had made this time for us to be alone together, but I could see it wasn’t easy for her to say what was on her mind.

“What did my grandma send you?” I spoke.

My mum raised her hand. She still had the letter from my grandma in it. The letter wasn’t as distinguished as the others, it had no decorations and only the familiar handwriting identified it. That, and the remains of the envelope I could see on the ground.

My mum passed it to me, and I held onto it gently. I could feel a slight tremor in her fingers.

Dear Lindria.

My grandson is a wonderful person. I am happy to have met him and seeing him reminded me of my late husband and my son. He is just as intelligent as they were during their teenage years.

I cannot dictate what should and shouldn’t be talked about in your household. I do not have that right after not communicating for so many years.

However, I believe he would understand your situation. Perhaps it would help him understand our own. Misunderstandings stemming from misinformation, and a child’s imagination, can hold greater wonders and terrors than the truth ever could.

Please let him know his family loves him, and that they care for him.

The Gesti household cannot force us apart, but if you are to fight their tactics then he must know the truth. Don’t be scared to tell him. He is your child, and nobody knows you better than your own son.

Love, Teresa.

It was a quick and simple letter. The words were hastily written, and the top of the letter was crumpled where a pair of hands had clenched it tightly. My grandma was in a hurry, she might even have written it right after I left her house.

She hadn’t given up on me.

I had been worried that my grandma was only making a token display of kindness after the dinner. This proved that wasn’t the case. She had done the only thing she could and appealed to the one person whose right it was to tell me everything.

She wanted my mum to fight for my right to see my family.

“It pains me to say it, but I don’t even know how much you’ve heard.” My mum’s voice was soft. “I don’t know what you know, or what misunderstandings you might have.”

She looked up at me and I could see the worry writhing underneath the surface. “Please, tell me.”

I thought over my memories. The visit to my grandma’s house was the freshest.

“I know that an immortal household is involved. I know that they’re keeping me away from my family.” I recounted the recent events in my head.

My mum froze at the mention of the Gesti family. They had been in the letter my grandma had sent but hearing their name from my mouth had shocked her.

I put my hand on her shoulder comfortingly and waited for her nerves to pass.

“There’s more.” I spoke.

I took a breath and calmed my emotions. There had been so much information passed to me over the years, but I had held it in the back of my mind out of respect for my parents’ wishes. Now, I didn’t have to hide what I knew any longer.

I told her everything.

I told her that I knew about the fact that she wasn’t staying at the house voluntarily five days of the week. I let her know that her ‘illnesses’ didn’t fool me anymore.

I thought back overall the conversations I had heard, and challenges I’d faced and repeated them to her.

The dinner at my grandmas was only one incident. At William's birthday party all the guests had avoided me. I told her every conversation I’d had, and their subtle distancing as I tried to connect with them.

“Are you being bullied at school?” My mother’s eyes were filled with concern. “They shouldn’t have told any of their children about this.”

I shook my head.

None of the children at the academy knew. Most of them wouldn’t know my family, but I expected a few to be told by their parents if it was important.

I knew that nobody around me was aware because teenagers weren’t good at keeping secrets.

The fact that nobody had mentioned it or paid me a second glance meant that only the older generation knew, and that had only made me more suspicious. The lack of gossip disturbed me. People loved to gossip, it was in their natures, so when there was silence it sent warning signals into my brain. Something was stopping them from talking.

Then I remembered the other incident on William's birthday.

I pictured the argument between my aunt and my dad that I’d overheard.

“Whatever happened was grave enough that you and dad could’ve been chased out of the continent. I don’t know why, or how, but my aunt helped you stay here.”

My mum put her hand over mine and I could feel it shivering.

I waited for her to take in the information. My mum was ready to tell me her secrets, but that didn’t mean I had to race to them. Her safety, and the safety of my family, was my priority.

Her chest rose and fell as she tried to control her breathing. Slowly, her face relaxed. She was still feeling panicked, but she was holding it back.

“I’m not good at confronting my issues.” Her voice broke. “I live a good life, surrounded by my loved ones. You and your father are the centre of my world. This life is all I could ever ask for. But my past is hurting you.”

She looked at me.

“Did you like meeting your granduncle?”

I took in the question, held back my surprise, and nodded. It had been nerve-wracking to meet the man that was keeping me from my grandma, but his concern for my dad and his laughter when he was recounting his family memories were genuine.

“I don’t think he wanted to hurt me. I think he wanted to protect his family. My family.”

Fermez was being strong armed into keeping me away from my grandma. There wasn’t much he could do about that, and he had gone out of his way to warn me about their ‘gift’.

It was sitting in my inventory, and I was aware of it even now.

A single metal ball that was hollow inside.

“That’s nice.” My mum’s eyes drifted away from me.

I saw her hesitation. She wanted to put off the tough conversation.

I understood her fears. She was scared of the truth, and of my reaction to it. She had never fully accepted my quick growth. Or my unexpected intelligence.

To my mum I was a two-year-old boy, barely on the cusp of his third birthday.

I was her baby.

But there was more to me than just this life. Andross the child hadn’t been through this situation before. He was young, and delicate.

Andross the adult wasn’t.

It was time to let her know that I could handle the news she held. I took deep breaths, and I calmed my mind. My emotions bubbled to the surface, and I accepted each of them.

My thoughts slowed and focused on what was important.

My mum needed help. She had given me unconditional love since the day I was born. Now it was my turn to show her I was there for her.

I raised my head. “I know how it feels. Confronting your fears is terrifying, and you want to do everything you can to avoid it.”

I squeezed her hand. She turned back to face me, and I could see tears at the edges of her eyes.

My determination didn’t waver. “I love you, and I will wait for you to be okay with this, but I don’t need protection. Only answers. And I won’t find them in my mind, imagining the possibilities will only bring up questions and worries. I won’t push you. I believe in you, and I’ve always trusted you. So please trust me back.”

There was a moment of silence and my eyes roamed towards the rays of sunlight that washed over us from the cracks in the ceiling. It was growing late. My dad would come home soon.

“I know you trust me, sweety. You always have.” She moved her hand away. “The way you described the Gesti family… Do you think they’re pressuring me?”

There was a catch in her voice, and in the way she said the word ‘pressuring’. I sat back and thought over her words. I didn’t know much about the family, but I did know that they had sent a message to my grandma through Fermez. She had to make me leave her house.

Or else.

I didn’t know what the exact threat was, but I did know that it existed.

That incident had only confirmed to me what I’d already suspected. There was someone threatening us. My mum was acting like a prisoner in her own house, and the Gesti household were the ones that were responsible. She was an ordinary person, and they were influential. It angered me.

There was nothing she could do to fight back.

“They are.” I said confidently. “But I don’t know why they’re pressuring you, and that’s what worries me. I’ll accept anything you tell me, but I won’t accept you being threatened into silence.”

I saw a brief glimmer of surprise in her expression. Her brows furrowed in confusion, and I took the opportunity to say my piece.

“If they’re making you stay in this house then there’s nothing they can do when my Mark is revealed to the world. Whatever happened, a single household wouldn’t risk fighting the entire church over it.”

My parents knew I had the Mark, but I don’t think they knew how significant it was. They hadn’t seen how powerful their guards were.

They didn’t know how influential I was.

They couldn’t while they still saw me as their child. The ramifications of my position had barely made themselves known to me, but I knew they would be huge.

Soon, I would be a person that the Gesti family would have to be careful around.

My mum’s lips pulled upwards into a kind and gentle smile. I had seen it before. It was the expression that she gave me when I had made a mistake.

“They’ve never pressured me to do anything of the sort. The others are quiet because of their influence, or hoping for gratitude, but not me.” My mum’s voice held no hesitation. “Nor would they dare. Your dad and I thought your family was avoiding you due to their dislike of me, and were fighting internally with each other, I wasn't expecting something so direct. The Gesti household is powerful, but their influence is limited in this country. They don’t make the rules and they don’t enforce them.”

“Then why are you scared to tell me?” I asked gently.

“Because I might break the trust you have in me, and I’m afraid of what you’ll think of me. I don’t want to become a stranger to my own son.”

She placed her hand on my chest, an action I remembered her doing to calm me when I was a baby suffering from the fear of a new world.

“Sweetie, the Genti family aren’t my oppressors. They’re my victims.” She saw my confusion and sadness swathed her features. “A long time ago I took away something precious from them. Someone precious.”

What?

My breath caught in my throat as the words she spoke reached me.

“Then, this is retaliation.” I tried to make sense of the thoughts swirling in my mind. “For whatever you did to them.”

My brain was rushing to solve the problem when I needed it to slow down.

What did my mum mean? She said she had taken someone away.

Did it mean what I thought it meant?

She had taken a life?

What could I do t-

“There was no retaliation against me.” My mum shook her head. “The Gesti are keeping you from your family, and we can right that wrong, but doing so means that you’ll need to accept the truth. The poverty, the false illnesses, and the seclusion. None of it has to do with the Gesti family.”

“Then who’s doing it to us?” My voice came out harsher than I’d intended it to.

The confusion inside me was giving way to anger as I tried to find the person responsible. I needed a scapegoat.

My mind raced to find an answer other than the one my mum was telling me.

“They are all restrictions imposed on me by our courts for the crimes I committed, and as long as I’m compliant they will never get worse.” My mum’s next words shattered my illusion. “The Gesti aren’t the reason I kept this from you. I didn’t tell you because…”

Her voice wavered.

“I was afraid that you wouldn’t be able to love a criminal.”