I squeezed him back.
“How do you know for certain that he has our genes?” I asked, for his benefit, though I could use the refresher. I’d been incarcerated in Medusa’s prisons for over four thousand years, only liberated a couple years ago. I was still learning about the modern world. It was a lot to take in, to put it mildly.
“There are unique markers in our blood, Tal,” the Healer patiently explained. “Passed on from each parent to their offspring. He is half of you and half of Ishtar. But of course, every individual is also wholly themselves. These markers are identifiable through human inventions, for they cannot be seen by the naked eye. If he understands modern medicine and needs convincing, I can certainly show him the test results.”
I could feel Rain’s sympathetic gaze on me as she said the next words.
“His DNA is a match for Evergreen, Tal. Ava and I confirmed it when she visited last.”
Evergreen. The name of the sample taken from one of Medusa’s research facilities in Japan. My son’s DNA, his body and blood, had been used for the serpent’s disgusting experiments just like I had been.
“The samples of Genesis were destroyed with the labs,” Rain confirmed my thoughts “But Ava and I believe they would have been a match to your blood, General.”
I didn’t want to delve deeper into that stomach-turning subject while my son was listening. It must already be an overwhelming amount of information for him to absorb.
“He might not believe what he sees,” I said, steering the dialogue back to the tests that proved paternity, knowing how suspicious my son was of everyone around him, understandably so. “Results can be fabricated, can they not? And sometimes, eyes lie.”
Only Benji could see his true form, and only I could sense his real self without the use of my eyes.
“True enough,” she said. “If we know what he really looks like, we can point out the physical similarities. Benji says he has dark hair like Ishtar and blue-green eyes like you, Tal. But even then, he might balk at the physical proof, ascribing it to be coincidental.”
“So, in the end, he must choose to believe us or not,” I concluded, hearing the increasingly agitated breaths of the male in female skin beside me.
“Yes. I suppose it does come down to that,” Rain agreed with a sigh.
“We are done here. You are showing signs of improvement, warrior. Make sure you take your Mate’s sustenance on a regular basis. You have a lot of catching up to do. Your body needs it.”
Despite the no-nonsense tone of her voice, I could feel my face heat. There was only one way a Pure male obtained that kind of sustenance—through sexual intercourse with his Mate.
I reluctantly released my son’s hand with one final squeeze and stood, quickly pulling my clothes back on.
“Thank you, Rain,” I inclined my head to her. “Until next week.”
“Lots of rabid rabbit sex, General,” she called to my back as I walked toward the doors, “doctor’s orders.”
My entire body hot with embarrassment and…anticipation, I beat a hasty retreat, barely noticing that the unreal Inanna was right behind me.
“P-papa, wait.”
I immediately slowed so that he could catch up. Instinctively, I held out my arm for him to grasp, the way I would have done if he were truly Inanna.
With some hesitation, he did, taking my left arm with both of his, hugging tight.
He heard the truth just now. The question was, would he believe it?
I cleared my throat. “I am making some hot chocolate in my chambers. Would you like to share it with me?”
A pregnant pause. And then—
“Yes, please, papa,” he murmured beside me, and more awkwardly this time, laid his head on my shoulder.
We soon arrived at the private quarters I shared with Ishtar. It was a large apartment, perhaps as large as Dark Dreams, except all of the space was for our personal use, not taken up by the all-things shop and kitchen that Ishtar used to bake various sweets.
My Mate was not present in the Shield. I would sense her if she were. She must be out with the real Inanna, or perhaps Sophia, the young Pure Queen. The three females liked to go “window shopping” and “people watch” together.
I seldom went out with Ishtar or anyone else. If I left the apartment, it was to go on a walkabout by myself. I needed the space, the solitude. To get lost among strangers who didn’t even realize I was blind, for I’d honed my senses to navigate crowds and streets easily, especially if I’d been there before. Wearing shades to hide my opaque eyes, the humans couldn’t detect my disability.
I felt almost normal on those walks.
“Make yourself comfortable,” I told my son when we entered the living room, which was an open space immediately adjacent to the kitchen.
I heard him settle himself on one of the stools at the kitchen counter.
“It never ceases to amaze me how gracefully you move,” he said in Inanna’s voice. “Are you sure you can’t see, papa?”
Little did he know that my real daughter would never allude to my blindness in any way. Inanna treated me like I was a fragile, imminently breakable thing. Though, to her credit, she’d been stepping it up in training. She’s finally starting to treat me like a warrior, the General who led the Pure Ones’ armies in the Great War.
But outside of training, I was still her poor, tortured papa. I rather enjoyed my son’s teasing bluntness presently.
“Don’t worry, child,” I responded, my back to him, busying at the stove, “I always see you. I have eyes in the back of my head, you know. So behave yourself.”
A faint chortle reached my ears, injecting my soul with a dose of feathery light. His happiness didn’t sound forced. The truth of who he was did not seem to be weighing him down.
Yet.
“Was I very naughty, papa? I don’t recall now, it was so long ago. What was the worst thing you ever caught me doing?”
I let out an exaggeratedly beleaguered sigh, more than willing to play along.
“What didn’t you do?” I said. “From the time you were old enough to crawl, you got into no end of trouble. I didn’t know how to raise a girl child. I was often away at war. I’m afraid I can’t take credit for the brave, beautiful woman you are today. You were mostly raised by the village women and Alad. Or Gabriel now, I suppose. You chased him even before you knew how to crawl.”
An eerie silence followed my rambling speech. For a moment, I thought I’d made a mistake with what I said.
And then, “I-I remember Alad,” he said slowly, as if he were sifting through Inanna’s memories. “Before he was Gabriel, I mean. He was…he was a mighty warrior. Tall, lean, broad-shouldered. I thought…I thought that those shoulders could hold up the world. But then…then…”
I turned around to face him, though I couldn’t see. I could hear his agitated breathing, hear the movements of his hands, as if he’d thrust them into his hair in distress.
“I remember… why do I remember things I haven’t lived? Impossible…”
He was muttering to himself, his breaths growing ragged and rough.
I stepped toward him to do something. Anything. My instinct was to gather him in my arms and hold him tight.