Chapter 4 What did the truth relic say?

Koen’s POV

I froze, unable to move my feet as a lot of thoughts flooded my mind. But one question stood out.

Why did the little boy have my face and… and my eyes?

The girl standing next to him was a witch. She can replicate everything else about it but not my eyes, green eyes were the rarest kind of eyes passed on only to dragons.

It was the only thing that reminded me of who I was before everything changed.

“Father?” The little boy called.

“Don't call me that?” I snarled, clenching my fist.

Having my eyes wasn't enough, his voice also had a way of making my chest ache.

I have lived for over a hundred years and in those years, I've never touched a woman so I possibly can't have a son.

“He looks exactly like you and you are going to keep denying it.” The girl standing next to the boy snapped, her voice rising. “Are you being serious?”

I turned sharply to face her. My brows pulled together slowly when I realized she was the girl from the cafeteria but I couldn't shake off the strange feeling that tugged on my chest and it filled me with despair.

“Do you think your amateur spells would fool me?” I demanded.

“Fool you?” She repeated. “Wait! You think I casted a spell on the little boy to fool you?”

She stared at me blankly for half a second and then burst into laughter. She laughed so hard that I suddenly felt embarrassed and irritated.

“Holy hell!” She spat, covering her face dramatically. “You're a vampire and I'll die a thousand times instead of having a child with you.”

My heart dropped with a sharp pain that made me ground my teeth. Her words twisted deep into my chest like she had just rejected me.

Anger flashed through my eyes when I remembered she was a witch. I grabbed her throat before my mind could catch up and lifted her off her feet.

“What the heck did you do to me?” I growled, slamming her back on the wall, my elongating claws sinking into her neck.

She hissed in pure pain but her eyes didn't waver. It held the same intensity. “Let me go.”

But I tightened my grip on her neck instead.

Her expression darkened, her knees hitting the upper stomach. I hadn't expected it so growl escaped my lips and my grip loosened slightly.

She hit my hand and wanted to shove my hand away but I grabbed her hand and twisted it hard, earning a loud hiss from her.

But the boy suddenly burst into a loud, piercing cry before I could reply. I didn't even realize when I let go of the girl's neck and picked up the boy.

When I realized myself, the boy was snuggling into my neck sniffing slowly.

Why did I do that? Why couldn't I stand the little boy's tears?

“Are you going to keep denying it?” The girl mocked, coughing slightly as she used her hand to cover her neck.

I dropped the boy to the floor and took a step back. “He's not my son.”

“Father. Mother. Can you both stop fighting?” The boy cried. “The truth relic would tell us the truth.”

I exchanged glances with the girl.

She rolled her eyes at me and walked towards the boy, squatting to his level. “What happens if the truth relic proves we aren't your parents?”

The boy hesitated for half a second. “I’ll accept the truth.”

“Okay.” She said, straightening her spine. “Do you have the truth relic?”

The little boy nodded his head and brought out a relic from his inner pocket.

“But what if I'm telling the truth?” The little boy suddenly asked.

The girl nodded, taking the relic from the boy. “Then I'll accept the truth.”

The little boy turned to me. “What about you, father?”

I turned toward the girl and she was examining the relic.

“He's not your son so what are you scared of?” She asked still not sparing me a glance.

I turned towards the boy and he was staring at me with expectant eyes.

“Then I'll accept the truth.” I muttered not believing my own voice.

The girl prickled her skin and dropped her blood onto it before handing it to the boy. “Why don't we see who the truth favours?”

I snatched the truth relic from the little boy and examined it carefully. It was an ancient relic with dark purple runes edged on it.

I was sure I had seen an image of this in the academy's library and the purple runes on it symbolised it was the first ever truth relic to exist.

A spell or magic wouldn't work on it as long as the purple runes were still on it.

I elongated my claws and used it to prick my finger, dropping it as far away from the girl's blood as possible.

I swallowed hard before handing the relic back to the boy. A new kind of fear overwhelmed me as the thought of ‘what if the boy is right’ crossed my mind.

My eyes shifted back to the girl and she kept her gaze fixed on the boy but her hands were shaking.

The boy elongated his claws and used it to prick his finger before dropping his blood on the relic.

A second, two, three… and ten seconds later nothing happened.

My hands tightened beside me. The fact that the boy wasn't my son was meant to enlighten my mood so why do I feel… sad?

The girl ran her fingers through her hair. “Little boy, you better keep your words.”

She had barely completed her statement when the purple runes on the relic suddenly changed to white. The three blood mixed vigorously in the blink of an eye and a bright light shot out from the relic into the ceiling.

The three mixed blood rose slowly through the light but dissolved into the light before it could reach the ceiling. And just as the light shot out, it died down and the relic returned to its original form.

The air in the room thickened with silence.

“Father. Mother. What did the truth relic say?” The little boy asked, glancing from me to the girl.