Unbound Book 1: The Failed Duke

CHAPTER THIRTY THREE: ICARUS

Lucan stood there, his sword pointed at Alistair.

Alistair remained completely at ease as he held his hand out for Lucan.

Lucina looked from one man to the other before she fixed her gaze to Lucan and said, "Lucan, that's enough! You're being rude"

Lucan gave Alistair one more look before he sheathed his sword, which prompted Morrigan to do the same with her bident.

After Alistair saw them put away their weapons, he clapped his hands together and said, "Thank you, having casual conversation becomes far more difficult when one party is pointing a weapon at the other."

He extended his hand again and said, "Let's try introductions again. I'm Alistair Morgenstern."

Lucan chose not to shake his hand and instead continued to stare him down.

Lucina gave Lucan a look and said, "Lucan!."

Alistair put his hand up and said, "No no Lucina, there's no need to chastise the boy. He's simply a little on edge since a stranger's in his mother's home."

As Alistair sat back on the couch, Lucina crossed her arms and pouted. "That doesn't mean that he can treat you so coldly."

"You're getting all bent out of shape over something so trivial, Lucina."

He motioned to Lucan and said, "All that needs to happen are a few introductions and everything should be smoothed over. I'll start. As I've already told you, I'm Alistair Morgenstern, and I'm an old friend of your mother. We trained at the same magical academy."

"Bullshit."

Lucina slammed her hand into the arm of the couch and said, "Lucan!"

He didn't take his eyes off of Alistair as he said, "Mom, if he really went to the same magical academy you did, then he should be able to use Time Quantum Magic right?"

Morrigan may have put her bident away, but in its place she put her right hand behind her back and began to reinforce it with magic.

Alistair turned his attention to Morrigan and said, "No need to be on edge dear. I can assure you that all you're doing is wasting magic."

Morrigan looked from Alistair, to the other man before she stopped reinforcing her arm with magic and let both arms rest by her side.

Alistair smiled and said, "Good girl. See, we're all friends here aren't we?"

he looked to Lucan and said, "To answer your question, sadly, I'm not a Time Quantum Sorcerer."

A glass disappeared from a nearby table and reappeared in Alistair's hand. "I'm a Spatial Quantum Sorcerer."

Alistair grabbed the glass with his other hand, and held it by the rim with his fingertips.

As he dangled it in the air, he said, "As for my friend Percival over there."

Alistair dropped the glass and it shattered on the ground.

After it shattered, the glass began to go back through time and reappeared in his hand. "He is a Time Quantum Sorcerer."

Alistair placed the glass back on the table and said, "Satisfied?"

Lucan took a deep breath before he tightened the muscles in his jaw. "Not quite. See, I lived in this house for around two decades. Why in that time have I never seen or heard of you?"

Alistair nodded his head and said, "A legitimate question."

He tapped the arm of the chair before he said, "See, your mother and I have known each other a long time. I like to believe bonds that strong can survive just about anything. That was until the day your mother asked me to be your father's best man. He wanted to keep it a secret from his family, and so didn't inform anyone of it. To give your father someone to stand by his side, she asked me to fill that position."

Alistair choked back tears before he continued, "At the time, I refused, and I'll never forget the look on your mother's face that day. The next morning I woke up only to hear that she was gone, left in the middle of the night with your father."

Lucan crossed his arms and said, "That explains why you've never shown up before. It doesn't explain why you're here now."

"If you're questioning me this hard, you must really love your mother."

When Alistair saw the look on Lucan's face, he sighed and said, "To this day, I despise your father. I admit that he's brought so much good into the world, but that's the problem with heroes isn't it. They make themselves the center of the world, and when the world begins to change, they do everything in their power to stop it. Years ago, your mother sought my blessing to marry your father, but because of my feelings towards him, I didn't give it. Now, as a much older man with his own goals, I come to your mother asking for a blessing I don't expect to get, but will ask anyways because I care deeply for her."

Lucan stood there for a moment before he turned to his mother. "Ma, the spare bedroom is still empty right?"

Lucina nodded. "Yeah, it is."

"Good."

He turned to Morrigan and said, "Come, let's get you unpacked."

Morrigan nodded and followed Lucan out of the room.

Once their footsteps could no longer be heard, Alistair turned to Lucina and said, "I can tell."

Lucina crossed her arms. "Tell what?"

He tapped the side of his head and said, "It's the eyes, they're still so pure. You haven't told him about his father have you."

"I've told him what he needs to know."

"He's getting older, Lucina. When he walked through that door my first instinct was to cut his fucking head off. The only reason I didn't was because I realized it wasn't Enki. His aura is far weaker than his. If he's not careful."

Lucina sat upright and glared at Alistair. "That is none of your concern. My husband had many enemies, but none of them should ever cross paths with Lucan."

"Then you doubt that I'll be successful."

"I think you're flying too close to the sun Alistair."

Alistair leaned forward and smirked. "I couldn't disagree more. I think everyone's staying too far away from it."

"Everyone thinks that, well, before they start falling back towards the ground."