“Otherwise she would have grown into the first pure-blooded stable Fomor and wouldn’t have needed him anymore. Glemos did it to keep her on a leash and force her to become your wife in the hope to achieve someone better than Garrik.” Ryla said.
“Why are you telling me all this?” Morok asked.
“Because Glemos was right. You are better than him.” She replied. “And the moment you told the story about him sacrificing himself for you, I knew it was a lie. That bastard would have gladly sacrificed anyone to save himself.
“As he liked to say, he could always have more children. You and Garrik never meant anything to him. He just needed proof of his experiments’ success in order to replicate them as many times as he wanted.
“Which means that either you killed him or you had him killed. I don’t care how or why you did it. Just know that you have no need to lie to me.”
“If that bastard of Glemos put you through so much, why are you so willing to trust me so soon?” Morok stared at her face, noticing that despite her earlier act, the Fomor felt no admiration nor loyalty for her “god”.
“You think I’ve killed him and, for all you know, you and Garrik could be next. Also, if you never believed his crap, why did you behave like a zealot and worked so hard to keep Glemos’ crazy cult alive?”
“I trust you not just because I think that you killed him, setting me and my son free, but also because the first thing that you did once I introduced your half-brother to you was to protect him instead of exploiting him.” Ryla pointed at Morok’s hands which were still covering Garrik’s ears.
“If you were anything like Glemos, you would have faked a sense of brotherhood you don’t feel and then asked me what Garrik’s abilities are to see if he could be useful to you. Then, you would have asked me to bring you to the lab and taken what you believed is rightfully yours.
“Instead, your first thought was asking questions about his and my wellbeing. You worried about who we are to you, not about what we can do for you. Caring about Garrik’s innocence and refusing to destroy the image of his father sealed the deal for me.
“I don’t know the real reason that brought you here, Morok Eari, but I know who you are. A good man. As for your question about my high priestess façade, it only proves that you are naïve and that your heart is pure.
“A shrewd man would know that no matter what I feel for Glemos, his authority is my authority. A cynical man would know that taking the mask off after his disappearance would mean putting myself and my child in danger.
“Were I to tell the truth, the zealots would rip me apart while those who have already lost their faith like Syrah’s court would kill me for being Glemos’ whore all this time. Keeping the faith alive keeps *me* alive and it’s my best chance to ensure Garrik’s survival.
“Once we have to move to our new haven, I’ll be forced to reveal his existence. The believers will be his sword and shield. Those who still fear Glemos won’t dare to touch him, not after the fear that he drove into their hearts and that I’ve kept growing after he disappeared.”
“Good gods!” Morok’s head spun at the revelation, making him wonder if Ryla’s cunning came from her maternal instincts or if Fomors were more related to Tiamats than Tyrants.
Yet amid the chaos and confusion, as he was trying to piece everything together and decide what to do, his hands never left Garrik.
“Is everything alright?” The kid asked after the silence prolonged for so long and seeing his big brother’s shocked expression. “I’m scared.”
He clung to his mother who had kept smiling the whole time to not betray the sensitive nature of the conversation.
“Don’t worry, little brother.” Morok lifted the spell to reassure him. “I’m just shocked because I didn’t know I had a brother. I’ve been alone my whole life so this family stuff is kind of new to me.”
“I’ve been alone too, but at least I have my Mom. What about yours?” Garrik asked.
“We never got along. She’s mean.” Morok couldn’t tell such a young boy that a mother could abandon her son nor claim that she was dead.
The lie would scare Garrik and force Morok to forge even more lies to give her an allegedly peaceful death to not scare him further.
“Don’t worry, the next time I see Dad, I’ll ask him to fix things between you and your Mom for you. He’s a very kind god and he never says no to me. Until that moment, Mom and I can be your family.
“This way, you and I won’t be alone anymore.”
Garrik’s naïve mind didn’t question the absurdity of the situation. He was too happy for having a brother to care about minor details like where Morok had been until that moment and why they had never met before.
“Thanks, little brother.” Morok felt a pang to his heart while he ruffled the boy’s hair.
“Please, hold a little while longer. Mom and I still have a few boring grown-up things to discuss.”
“No problem.” Garrik nodded, thinking that Morok calling Ryla “Mom” sealed the deal and made them family.
Putting the Hush spell in place again was one of the hardest things that the Tyrant had ever done. If before the mission was all about getting his hands on his bloodline legacy and maybe saving a few monsters on the side, now it was personal.
Though he had met Garrik for a few minutes, the young Fomor was just like him. Another kid whose life had been orchestrated by Glemos from birth with no care for his happiness.
Blood meant nothing to Morok, but he still felt a kinship toward Garrik due to the manipulations of which they both had been victims.
‘I won’t let him go through all the shit I had to endure.’ Morok thought. ‘I don’t care if I have to share the Tyrants’ legacy with Garrik, Faluel, or the entire Council. I’m going to make sure that he gets out of here alive and that he’ll have his mother with him.
‘I refuse to let that bastard of Glemos ruin the life of another of his children from beyond the grave.’
“One more thing.” Morok said after cupping the young Fomor’s ears. “I get feeding the god crap to the others, but why didn’t you tell your son the truth?”
“What good would have it made?” Ryla shrugged. “It was better for Garrik to believe he has a loving father who was always absent due to a higher call than being the last in a long line of experiments performed by a power-hungry monster.
“Making him believe that his father is always watching him was the only way to convince Garrik to not follow me outside and stay in the house. If I told him the truth, he would still be a prisoner in this house but he would also be much more miserable.”
