CHAPTER 21
I picked up my cell phone and called my father. There was no sense waiting until tomorrow to bring him up to speed. I didn’t want a night of tossing and turning, debating what to say to him—best I go off the cuff as soon as possible.
Though it was approaching ten o’clock at night, he was still awake. I timidly asked if I might stop by to talk to him about something before he went to bed. He was genuinely pleased that I would be coming over and insisted he wasn’t too tired for a visit.
Upon arriving back at Sabela’s house, we easily unloaded the essentials for the night and carried them upstairs to the rooms Sabela had reserved for Aeron and Ewenami. As the rest of the group set to work unpacking things, Aeron escorted me back downstairs to head over to my father’s house.
“Do you want me to come with you?” He asked guardedly, not wanting to be intrusive.
“I appreciate the moral support, but I think I should do this alone,” I replied. “Besides, I don’t want to give him a chance to work his voodoo magic on you, and convince you that you don’t really love me.” I was only half kidding.
“No one could convince me that I don’t love you.” His smile suggested it really was an absurd notion. “And you know your father wouldn’t try,” he added thoughtfully.
“You say that,” I countered, “but he’s never been faced with sending his baby girl into outer space with an alluringly seductive man before.”
“Seductive?” He raised his eyebrows. “When have I ever tried to seduce you?” He was genuinely curious.
“Oh…” I shrugged, “just every time you’re within a fifty yard radius of me.”
“I’m within a fifty yard radius of you now…” He stepped in a little closer, his expression completely innocent.
“Exactly,” I said with one exaggerated nod of my head.
“You’re saying I’m trying to seduce you now?” He kept up the innocent facade.
“You’re not trying to,” I reassured him. “You just can’t help it. It’s like breathing…” I tried to hold back a smile.
“I believe there’s some sort of saying about a pot calling a kettle black?” He raised his eyebrows knowingly.
“Who…Me?” My surprise was genuine. “Don’t be ridiculous,” I scoffed, “I’m physically incapable of seducing anyone.”
“Have you looked in the mirror lately?” He chuckled.
“Yes, not five minutes ago,” I answered candidly. “And I still had the same freakish elf ears I’ve had every other day of my life.”
He tilted his head to the side slightly, a perplexed look on his face. “Your ears aren’t ‘freakish’, they’re perfect.”
“Hah!” I ridiculed. “Okay, you might have had me going there for a minute, but now I know you’re delusional…”
“Seriously, Palta…” He was honestly puzzled, “I haven’t got a clue what you’re talking about. What about your ears is supposed to be so bizarre?”
“Um…You’d have to be blind to miss them,” I replied sarcastically. “If you’re not, you will be when you poke your eye out on one of them.”
“Palta…” He couldn’t hold back a laugh, “How many Onontians have you actually come across in your lifespan?”
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t ask questions you already know the answer to.”
He sighed in exasperation. Then his eyes brightened as an idea occurred to him. “Would it make you feel better if I showed you someone else who has equally pointy ears?”
I gave him a look of mock pity. “You are aware the Easter bunny doesn’t actually exist, right?”
He rolled his eyes, then ceremoniously raked his fingers through his hair, turning the side of his head to face me. I had seen his ears only once before, on the night of his terrifying near-death experience. At the time, I was too distracted to pay much attention to their exact form, beyond recognizing that they were clearly not human.
They were—like the rest of him—nothing short of perfect. Yet they definitely had a much sharper peak than I had remembered. My jaw dropped open slightly, then my mouth slowly formed into an awestruck smile. “You’re telling me the elven ears are normal?”
“Very normal,” he assured me.
“Then why don’t my father and sister have them? At least, not so dramatically?” I was dumbfounded.
“The same reason they don’t have your same hair color,” he shrugged. “You know how genetics work, Palta.”
“I guess it had never occurred to me…I’m so used to seeing human ears,” I rationalized. “Truth be told, my father has always tried to convince me my ears are normal. I just refused to believe him.”
“Well, now that we have that cleared up,” he smiled playfully. “Back to the ridiculous notion that you are ‘physically incapable of seducing anyone’.” He took another step forward. “You do realize that no man in his right mind would be looking at your ears, when there are all these other amazing parts to study?”
“Really?” I smiled coyly. “Why, whatever could you mean, Mintar Omuran?”
He put his hands on the sides of my waist, then moved in closer, bending forward slightly to nudge the side of my jaw upward with his nose. He traced the tip of his nose down the side of my neck, stopping to kiss lightly above my collarbone. He wrapped his arms slowly around the small of my back, pulling me in closer still, as he traced his lips out to my bare shoulder, left exposed by my sleeveless blouse. He placed several kisses there, as my arms dangled languidly at my sides, unable to move in my spellbound ecstasy.
His lips glided back up to my ear as he whispered, “You are entirely composed of alluring parts.” From there, he made a trail of soft kisses along my cheek, ultimately finding his way to my lips. As he kissed me with conviction, I skimmed my palms upward along his arms, working my way up to hug my arms around the back of his neck.
We pressed our bodies together tightly, indulging in the heavenly moment. All too soon, he pulled his lips away from mine slightly, whispering into my mouth, “As much as I would love to keep this going…You were supposed to be on your way out the door a while ago. I’m afraid your father won’t be awake much longer.”
I sighed in resignation, giving him one last fleeting kiss before stepping backward in the direction of the door. “Wish me luck…” I groaned as I reached over to grab my car keys off the table.
“Remember, he loves you more than life itself, Palta,” he admonished. “Be gentle with him.” He smiled softly as he squeezed my hand once more, then stood watching as I walked out the door.
I hopped in my car, not wanting to keep poor Father waiting while I stumbled through the dark to his house. I knocked softly on his door, then let myself in. As expected, I found him in his reading chair in the library. His face lit up when he saw me.
I couldn’t help but feel a guilty twinge that I didn’t deserve such a joyous reception—I would be breaking his heart in a matter of minutes. I bent forward to kiss his forehead, then positioned myself on the window seat next to his chair.
“To what do I owe this special visit?” he asked. I visit my father frequently, just not at ten o’clock at night.
“I just wanted to update you on our progress with everything. I feel like you’ve been left out of the loop.” He did seem to be the odd man out of our little grouping.
“I appreciate that, Paltafoena,” he nodded, setting his book aside. “Did you have any success formulating the antiviral agent?”
“Yes, thankfully,” I affirmed. “Which brings us to the next step—delivering it into the weapon.” I looked down at the floor, not wanting to consider the extreme risk we would be taking. “As you know, Sabela has narrowed down the ship’s location to Montana.”
“Yes,” he nodded quietly.
“So we will be finalizing our plan of attack in the morning,” I elaborated. “More than likely, we will be heading that way tomorrow.”
“By ‘we’, you mean…” he prompted.
r /> “Aeron, Ewenami, Sabela, and myself,” I replied without looking him in the eye. “Dominick will stay behind to look after you.” I paused before looking up to gauge his reaction.
“Why is Dominick staying here? I don’t need anyone looking after me,” he protested.
“Like it or not, someone will be staying here to tend to your needs,” I insisted matter-of-factly. “Dominick is the most logical choice. Obviously Aeron and Ewenami are going…They plan to leave for Onontí as soon as the job is done,” I explained. “And Sabela has to come along as our guide.”
“What does Dominick have to say about this?” He raised one eyebrow.
“He objected, of course…Not to staying with you, but to leaving Sabela on her own,” I replied. “But he was overruled. He would just be a liability…You know I love Dom like a brother, but he’s not exactly the athletic type.”
“You still haven’t justified your own involvement,” he pressed. “Why must you go?”
“That’s kind of why I’m here,” I winced. “I’m…sort of…planning on returning to Onontí….That is, going there for the first time…with Aeron.” I grimaced as I waited for the onslaught.
“I see,” he sighed. “I expected as much.”
I stared in disbelief at his knowing eyes—not a trace of outrage. I was prepared for just about any reaction…except this eerie calm. I stammered clumsily, “Um…Excuse me? Are you…sure you heard me correctly?”
“I’m neither deaf nor dim-witted, my dear,” he replied without flinching. “Is this what you really want?” He redirected me back to the subject at hand.
“Yes, it is,” I nodded softly. “I love him. And I haven’t quite wrapped my head around it yet—but for some reason, he loves me too,” I shrugged.
“Of course he does.” His expression made it clear he thought this was an obvious conclusion. “You are a beautiful, intelligent, strong, witty woman. You saved him from certain death. And you give him hope, as he faces the most difficult challenges of his life.”
It never ceases to amaze me how my father can know everything without letting on that he knows everything.
“Did he say something to you?” I asked confusedly. To my knowledge, Aeron and my father hadn’t spoken since last night.
“It was quite obvious from the way his eyes fixated on you…” He acted as though I was insulting his intelligence.
“You mean here…last night?” I was still confused. He nodded in confirmation, annoyed with my slowness. “That’s absurd,” I contested. “He barely even acknowledged my existence last night…”
“For someone so intuitive,” he said, shaking his head, “sometimes you only see what you expect to see.”
I pondered the possibility that he was right, as always. My heart sank as I realized how much I was going to miss this father-daughter banter. “Are you coming to Onontí with us?” I asked sorrowfully, already knowing the answer.
“No…” he replied softly. “I realize Aeron is hopeful my presence would help calm the conflict,” he acknowledged, “but I’m afraid it would only fuel Bito Obo’s anger.” His expression turned despondent.
“Why?” I was confused again. “I don’t understand…Does Bito Obo know you personally?”
His expression was troubled as he paused to contemplate his reply. He let out a sigh as he reluctantly answered, “Bito is my brother.”
I wasn’t expecting that one…not by a long shot. My father was an only child—at least according to the former version of our family history.
He could see the wheels turning in my head as he explained, “Actually, he is my half-brother. His mother gave birth after our father had already married my mother. She never spoke of her pregnancy…It had been a fleeting relationship, and she chose to raise Bito on her own. What she wasn’t expecting was her own untimely death in a tragic fire,” he frowned sadly. “She had left behind documentation of Bito’s true parentage, and he was dropped reluctantly into our father’s lap. Bito was thirteen years old, and I was almost twelve.”
I kept my expression calm as I leaned back against the window, crossing my legs in front of me. Understanding I was making myself comfortable for a long story, he continued, “We were actually fast friends, we shared a lot in common—athleticism, academic excellence, and a remarkably similar gift for…winning people over. We enjoyed a friendly competition in school and beyond, as we both found our calling in the practice of law. The ‘friendly’ aspect of our competition was abruptly dropped when I was appointed to a position that Bito wanted—in the service of Mintar Kenami Omuran, Aeron’s father. Rumors had circulated that Bito was using his powers unethically to sway judicial rulings in his favor. He was cast out of our professional circle in dishonor.
“Over time, Kenami and I grew to be the closest of friends…closer than brothers. I became his chief advisor. Long before it reached that point, Bito had already alienated himself from our family entirely. I had no idea he was plotting to overtake the throne. When his intentions came to light, I attempted to reconnect with him and help him see sense…It did not go well. Bito—or one of his minions—planted an explosive in my office. I was badly injured, but your remarkable mother was able to restore me to health. She pleaded with Kenami to protect our family, and he responded with the best protection he could offer—to get us as far away from Bito as possible. Knowing I would never agree to abandon my position, he insisted I would be doing him a service—attempting to form an alliance with Earth. I would never have left were it not for your mother and Sabela…and my belief that Bito’s vengeance was fueled by his animosity toward me.”
“Does Aeron know all of this?” I asked. “Why would he think you could help calm Bito Obo?”
“He knows I am his half-brother,” he responded. “And that I am probably the only man who could rival his powers of mind control,” he added reluctantly.
“Is he asking you to control Bito’s mind?” I knew how objectionable it would be for my father to forcibly control anyone’s thoughts, even his malevolent brother.
He shook his head, “No, he would never ask that.” I was not surprised that Aeron had taken the moral high ground. “He is hopeful I could break the hold that Bito has on his followers.”
I could understand that line of thought—it did seem plausible. “And you don’t think it would be worth a try?” I asked tentatively.
“Trust me, Bito would recognize my interference.” He reached out to take hold of my hand, his expression grave. “And Aeron—along with his people—would suffer the consequences.”