Firstborn [malexmale]

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

"For once, I kind of agree with the fae."

Not what I wanted to hear. At all. It didn't help my case, either.

So I glared at Stanton, folding my arms over my chest as Stanton shrugged helplessly, like it was completely out of his hands to try and argue my case. Instead of saying anything more, Stanton grabbed the bottle of beer sitting on the casual kitchen table.

Meanwhile in the background, I could hear Cerberus putting the twins down for bed with Ayo's help in the guest room that was reserved for guests with children. Somewhere in the massive sleek modern mansion, the demon siblings were drowning in ancient books and scrolls, trying to find a solution to our shifter problem. Upstairs, Akin and Hannibal had retreated to their bedroom for the night and nobody wanted to check in on them. Some things were better left private. Rowan had probably gone to join the demons and Tristan had retreated to a guest room, probably to spend some more time sleeping and reading.

Unable to sleep, Thorn had joined our group in the kitchen, sitting at the table with Hadrian eternally glued to his arms. Now our tiny son was sporting a cute little white onesie that made him look like a little polar bear. He was suckling on a panda bear pacifier, looking full and content after a round with his bottle. He was completely at peace now, despite the tension in the air around the table, which was also occupied by Blaine and Stanton, while I stood to the side, glaring at my dad and Death.

"How can you say that," I said at last, firing up once again and Stanton sighed, taking another double gulp from his bottle, "Hades helped save your life. He helped save the life of your husband, not just once, but twice! If not more. He's being completely unreasonable and biased based on his person history with Hades and that's incredibly unfair. And need I remind you both, I am an adult fully capable of making my own choices. If popping a kid out wasn't enough, when will he be convinced I can make my own decisions and suffer the consequences on my own?" Stanton raised an eyebrow at me, then relayed my message to Blaine, who looked totally peeved at the argument.

"First of all," Blaine started, making me roll my eyes and thankfully Stanton didn't tell Blaine what I was doing, "The fact that you have to keep reminding me you're an adult just goes to prove that I'm right. Second of all, anyone can pop out a kid, Ambrosius. That doesn't help your case at all. And third of all, this is not just about my beef with Hades. This is about the fact that he's everything a father shouldn't be. Are you forgetting that what he did was straight up abuse? He locked you away whenever you disobeyed him. He punished you for not being what he wanted you to be. He started a fucking war over the fact that you fell in love with someone. Albeit not someone I approve of, but the person you love nonetheless." Thorn cut him a dry glare.

"In case you think you're a saint, you probably would've started a war over it too if you have the political power to do so," he responded. Blaine gave him a totally deadpan stare that would've been comical if I wasn't so angry with him.

"Absolutely not," he answered, "I'm not a total psychopath that would endanger the lives of an entire realm because I'm an insecure jackass. I just would've made your life living hell."

"You already do that."

"Oh, good, then I'm doing something right as an in-law," Blaine decided, making Thorn roll his eyes before those emerald eyes were turned to my general direction, "Imagine having that kind of person around your own child, Ambrosius. Think about that for a minute. Don't picture Hades the dad. Picture Hades the person. Would you want that kind of person around Hadrian? Hades could hurt him. Hades could piss off the wrong person for the hundredth time and that person will come after you and your family. Or worse, Hades could want to experiment on him. Have you seen Hadrian's eyes? His eyes are just like yours, just like Hades's. Hades is going to want to find out now more than ever why you have this anomaly. And in case you need reminding of the last time he experimented on someone, he triggered the meltdown of Alaric's vessel, effectively killing him."