The Fireborn Chronicles: The Lost Maiden

Chapter 19: The Painful Truth Revealed

The voices of the distant audience in the background streets stood and watched the shocking scene unfold. A little boy and his mother watched from a couple of houses down at what was happening, and they seemed confused and disturbed.

Markus stood up, the punch barely doing much damage. He wiped some of the blood running down his nose and was very quiet. Guren was annoyed that he didn't say anything back, and started to creep closer towards his ashamed father. "Tell me, dad," he said. "Tell me I'm not a merman. Tell me that what mother says is a lie." 

Guren saw Markus's face of shame and sorrow, and he started to clench his teeth. "Tell me!" He repeated angrily.

Silva saw that Markus, even though he said he expected it to happen, was still in dismay at what his son had just learned. "I..." he started, "I... was a bastard back then, and I still am today."

Before he said anything else, Guren clenched his teeth even harder and was close to hitting Markus again. "You're right," Guren responded. "You are a bastard. I can't believe I even looked up to you!"

Before he went any further Emilie stopped him again with an iron grip. "Let go, mother!" Guren shouted. "Don't you want to hit him too?" 

Emilie's face looked the same as Markus's, but her eyes were cold and heartless as if she still wanted deep in her heart to hit her husband as well. "It won't make any difference," Emilie said sternly. "It won't make me feel better, and it won't help you either if you take your anger out on him."

Silva went up to Abigail and Judith and comforted them. "What's happening, Miss Silva?" Judith asked silently. "I don't understand what Momma said." Silva knew that they were too young to understand why this happened, and they sure didn't need to.

"Your parents and your brother are just arguing, and that is all. It's nothing serious, I promise," Silva tried to reassure them. Abigail and Judith watched as Guren shouted more insults and nasty comments about his father, while Markus stood there taking it all in. Emilie struggled to keep him Guren check, as he was very infuriated.

"What an exciting discovery!" Guren stated sarcastically. "I wonder what things I'll experience under the sea! Maybe I can make friends with the sea creatures, and maybe I'll be able to have lots of seafood for meals! What a wonderful life I've been given!" Silva was shocked at how broken Guren sounded inside as if he was in his own detestable world and he didn't know how to fix it.

"Please, stop this, Guren!" Emilie tried to say. "How about we talk it out inside?"

"Talk it out?" Guren repeated. "There's nothing he can say that will make me understand. I don't care if he loved that woman; he still hurt you, and me, and Abigail and Judith! He ruined our whole family!"

Silva wondered what Markus saw in this woman named Morgayne that would make him unfaithful towards his wife. She also wondered if he pitied himself for his wrongdoings and tried to make them up with kind actions, in which one would be her own safety. 

Then Silva remembered all the things Markus would say about the world, on how disjointed it really was. She wondered if he put too much focus into that than what everyone else close to him felt. That pained Silva's heart to question these things about a man she deeply admired.

"I won't try to make excuses," Markus said. "But there was no doubt that I loved her." He pulled off his cloak and wiped off more of the blood with it. "I assume you want some space from me, so I'll take my leave." He put his hood back on and started to walk down the steps in front of the house.

"No, don't you dare walk away from me!" Guren exclaimed. "You haven't even said anything about this other girl! Who in the hell is she and what is she doing in our house?"