Moonlight | Lucien Castle

Chapter 2

Mikael didn't know Amaris existed.

It had taken a week for him to return to his settlement. In that time, Soyala had shown no symptoms. She'd been elated, thinking he would soon return and that they could be married.

He'd found Esther in their hut, appearing nervous. She welcomed him home, watching as he greeted Finn and Elijah. Then, she reminded him of the singular night they'd been together, before he left for battle. She told him she was pregnant.

He could see her joy but he could not share it. This was to be the first new child conceived since Freya's death (so he thought). While Esther exclaimed that this child was a sign from the gods, beaming like she hadn't in awhile, Mikael was doubtful. But never suspicious. Like a fool, he believed the child was his.

Several weeks passed. Soyala started to feel ill for the first time in her life. A horrible sinking feeling in her stomach told her what it might be. She snuck into the forest, gathering some herbs that would allow her to perform a test. Sure enough, it indicated she was with child.

She considered going to find Mikael. But she couldn't abandon her pack, nor could she send someone to look for him without a proper explanation. She waited until she could wait no longer, realization dawning upon her that he wouldn't be returning.

She feared the Elders and her pack members would see her as unfit to be the Alpha if they learned she'd conceived a child out of the sacred wedlock that came from Unification Rituals. Thus, she married a man named Adriel, a human like Mikael, with a similar complexion. He, too, had come to aid the Paxon Pack in battle, and had remained behind due to an injury that kept him from traveling back to his settlement.

Adriel loved her. He often wondered why a woman as perfect as her would even look twice in his direction. Soyala loved him back, eventually. But nothing would ever erase the fact that she'd used him solely to hide the truth about her child's parentage.

Niklaus was born first. Mikael had remained throughout the pregnancy, out of curiosity. When he looked down at the boy he thought to be his son, he realized he could never go back to Soyala. The child in his arms had a look about him, something his father had called 'the eyes of a warrior.' He recalled hearing that he'd had that, when he was born.

Though Niklaus did not prove to be what Mikael wanted, he did not go back to the Paxon village. He considered it, several times. But after Niklaus came Kol. Rebekah. Henrik. He and Esther were not as close as they once were, though there was a slight improvement that allowed them to have their seven children.

Sometimes he would regret it. Niklaus had not proved to be what Mikael wanted in a son. He wondered if maybe he ought to abandon the children and leave to be happy with Soyala. However, he soon learned she was married. And he knew that he'd waited too long.

He focused on his children, despite the disappointment he felt. He didn't wish for them to be weaklings. So he trained them. Did his best to teach them to survive. His parenting methods were atrocious, based on a fear that he would lose another child. He became crueler and more serious. To the point where his own children would rather see him dead than continue to be 'raised' by him.

He never told Esther about his sin. He didn't wish to think himself an adulterer. And still, he flew into a rage when he learned the truth about who Niklaus's father truly was. Perhaps he would have killed Esther if Niklaus hadn't done it first.

Amaris was born mere months after Klaus. Adriel had held her, kissed her forehead, thanked Soyala and all the deities in the world for his beautiful baby girl. He'd promised to always protect her, to do his very best in preparing her to be Alpha once Soyala passed.