Revelations [malexmale]

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

I left Michael and Xiphrus to converse and decided to check on Hades.

I opened the back door, a pair of beautiful French doors that I was stunned didn't shatter due to Hades's little temper tantrum. I poked my head out into a beautiful quaint yard with white picket fencing. A beautiful vegetable garden in one corner and a flower garden along the inside, plus a couple of cute little saplings protected by chicken-wire to avoid rabbits taking a nibble.

Hades was sitting in one of the lawn chairs, his arms resting on his knees, his body leaned forward as he stared into the trees surrounding the yard, like he was searching for something. He glanced over as I stepped out and shut the doors behind me. He frowned instantly and looked away. He reminded me of my children whenever they were angry with me, refusing to acknowledge my presence, both as a coping mechanism to sort out their own feelings and also to hurt me.

But I was used to worse things than just a cold shoulder.

Especially from Hades.

So I walked over and pulled a lawn chair up beside him, taking a seat and mimicking his position. He glanced at me again, his brows slamming down over those glowing blue eyes that seemed brighter in the shade. He looked away again.

"We both know this isn't going to solve anything," I said quietly, folding my hands together as I leaned forward to look into his face, "I don't want to step back in this relationship, Hades. Talk to me. Please. I don't even care at this point what you talk about. Tell me about that new medicinal herb that could help cure your patients, or about how Theo wants to buy a whole cat shelter, or how Adrian and Malachi are considering adoption. I don't care right now. I just want you to talk to me."

I needed to know that he wasn't completely shutting me out. Because if he was going back to the way he was, if he was pushing me out of his life, I had more than just an answer to a marriage proposal.

I had my answer to our relationship as a whole.

Thankfully, I think my pleading reached something in him. His brow twitched slightly, his lips twitched, and his eyes dropped. He was feeling like shit. I knew it without him having to say anything. I knew him well enough by now, even if he did try to hide from me.

"Only you give a shit about Theo's cat lady dreams and Malachi being one of those weird dads," Hades muttered at last, lowering his hands down from his chin. I smiled faintly at that.

"Because I feel, in a way, they're my children too," I admitted with a shrug, "I'm sure my children think of you as their other father as well." Hades's cheeks pinkened and it made my heart soar. He could hide his feelings as much as he wanted, but nothing could hide the pink in his cheeks that indicated he was embarrassed by the idea... but also extremely happy.

Hades had always had a problem being a father. He'd struggled to connect with his children, struggled with even wanting to connect with them. Because he hadn't trusted them for so long, because in his eyes, family could hurt you and kill you just as much as anyone else. Even so, he still loved them, still adored them, still wanted them to be happy and want for naught. And over the years, he'd improved immensely. He sat and listened to their problems now, held them when they wept. I'd lost count how many times in the past Theo had gone to Hades, broken and shattered and wanting nothing more than to be held. How many times Abel came in tears because he'd gotten into another fight with Cain, or he had a nightmare and Cain wasn't there to comfort him.

Hades was a good father. He just needed to learn how. No one was born knowing how to parent. I had been a total fuck up when I'd had Jaques. His mother had died in childbirth. I had been so stunned and shaken by Dalilah's death that I had shut down. If it hadn't been for Joxeia, I never would have been able to recover and I shuddered at the thought of what would have become of my eldest, and all those who followed him.