Chapter 166

Theodore’s POV

The second Lillith finished telling me everything, I couldn’t have imagined facing my relatives that my father had kept from me. But when they came out to meet me, I saw my guilt reflected in all their eyes. I felt guilty for not protecting them from my father and brother, just as they felt guilty for not protecting me from the same people.

Feeding that guilt by hiding from each other wouldn’t solve anything.

I approached the man directly behind Lillith, who I assumed was my uncle. I inhaled sharply as I offered my hand to my mother’s brother. “I’m Theodore Nightshade, and it is an honor to meet all of you.”

I struggled to keep the tears out of my eyes, then I stopped trying to. I had no reason to hide myself, my feelings, from these people. From my family.

My uncle let his tears flow freely, too. He dismissively batted my hand away and wrapped me in a bear hug instead.

The others followed after, aunts and uncles joining for the biggest group hug I’d ever experienced. Spouses mixed in, then kids of all ages started climbing on the backs of adults and crawling under legs to be a part of it, too. That set us laughing, until we were all one big laughing, crying mess.

I learned their names, every single one of them, repeating them over and over to commit them to memory. I had spent so many years feeling alone, abandoned, and rejected, never knowing I had a whole gaggle of relatives loving me unconditionally from afar.

I took a seat in the late morning sun on the porch where Lillith had met us. The kids were playing in the empty road, a few of the girls gathered around Violet while she taught them some basic self-defense moves. The adults – my aunts and uncles and some of my cousins – milled about, chastising the kids who needed it, starting the preparations for lunch, and eyeing me as they silently argued over who got to chat me up next.

It was an overwhelming dream come true.

Uncle Trenton approached me next. Mom had been the second oldest, and Uncle Trenton was the youngest, so he was only eight years older than me. I marveled at him more openly as he sat next to me than I had when we’d met.

He noticed and smiled. “Everyone always said Millie and I were twins born eighteen years apart.”

I shook my head in awe. “It’s like looking into my own memories of her.”

Uncle Trenton chuckled, backhanding me playfully on the arm. “What about you, huh? Most of us don’t have TVs or internet, so imagine our shock to find a mini Caleb show up.”

I laughed, glancing at Uncle Caleb, the oldest and first uncle I’d offered my hand to. Looking at him felt like looking into a future mirror, where an older version of myself looked back.

“I hear you met Violet’s family as well,” Uncle Trenton said. “How’d that go?”

I thought on it for a moment, considering the platitudes I could offer. But this was my family, people I had dreamed of existing, and I wanted to offer more than the surface-level of me.

“It was jarring to meet so many people all at once who were so welcoming and loving just because I was married to their relative. It took a little while for me to believe that I could trust them. It was so drastically different than my experience with family.”

Uncle Trenton scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably. “I guess growing up with Pavis and Owen was as bad as we were afraid it would be then.”

I didn’t say anything. I hadn’t meant to make him feel guilty.

“I’m sorry we didn’t fight harder for you.”

I gave him a teasing smile in an attempt to lighten the mood. “Weren’t you eight?”

Uncle Trenton nodded his head. “Eight is plenty old to know the difference between right and wrong. Besides, we could have come for you any time before you became an adult, which means any time before I was twenty-six.”

I wrung my hands together. Maybe I should have felt disappointment or betrayal, but I was so happy they existed at all, so grateful they were willing to welcome me into the family no matter who my brother and father were, that I just couldn’t care to be mad at them.

“I’m sorry I turned a blind eye to my brother’s horrors for so long,” I finally responded.

Uncle Trenton draped a strong arm across my shoulders. “How about we all stop being sorry and start changing our actions instead. Now that we know you want to be part of this family, we won’t stop fighting for you ever, and now that you know what level of fuckery your brother is up to, you don’t let him get away with it.”

I looked my uncle in the eye, amazed by how empowering it felt to face my demons and how whole I felt doing it surrounded by so many loved ones. “Deal.”

“Thank the Goddess!” He clapped me on the back. “Because someone needs to take that fucker down, and we sure as shit can’t do it by ourselves from way over here.”

I laughed, and he stood up. “Remember though. It’s not just you taking on King Asshole by yourself. You’ve got the entire Fairweather Clan behind you now.”

He glanced over his shoulder at Violet as she celebrated a girl’s successful punch demonstration. Trenton chuckled. “As far as I can tell, you’ve got the entire Bravern Clan behind you, too.”

As the sun warmed into the peak of the day, I beamed in the humid air. I may have been known as the Uncrowned King, but I sure as hell wasn’t alone.

Lunch was served, and I got to know each of my aunts and uncles and cousins, though none of them as well as I would have liked. I played games with the kids and acted as a reluctant assistant for Violet to demonstrate more self-defense moves. All in all, the day went far too quickly.

Uncle Caleb came by just as Violet and I decided we should start heading back, and my mate stepped away to give us some privacy.

“I am filled with relief,” he said, “and pride to find out how much you turned out like my little sister. Even her annoying parts.” He grinned as he elbowed me, and I chuckled bashfully.

“Will we get to see you again?” he asked, hope clouding his eyes.

“Yes,” I said before I could even think about it. “I don’t know how or when, but I will make it happen. There’s… there’s a lot going on right now back home…”

“Lillith shared a little with me,” Uncle Caleb said. “We’ve been looking into the questions you need answered. Every day, more people join to help out, and after today, I think everyone in the family will be jumping into the research.”

I closed my eyes, moved by their devotion to me before I ever knew they existed.

“I know our time together is too short,” he added. “Is there anything else you want to know before you go?”

I thought for a moment, then shrugged. “I’m the brother of a corrupt, oppressive king, and I’m finally ready to start righting wrongs. What do I need to know?”

Uncle Caleb held my gaze as he answered. “You need to know that you’re not alone. And that you’ll win.”