Chapter 2
Stolas sighed as he began to walk towards the door of his frigid wife’s personal vacation home after he had opened a portal onto the property. He knew he shouldn’t have let her stay away for 4 and a half years, but it had been so nice to be alone with his precious owlette without his harpy of a wife judging and criticizing his every move. However, he knew Octavia needed both of them so he finally managed to drudge up enough willpower to ask for her to return to their home. He rang the doorbell and waited for one of the imp servants to open the door for him. He was very surprised when the door opened to reveal Stella herself.
He stared at her in shock, “You… you opened the door without calling one of your servants?”
She rolled her eyes before crossing her arms over her chest to glare at him, “I hadn’t brought any servants with me for my vacation. A vacation which is apparently over if you’re here.”
His feathers ruffled in anger, but before he could begin a screeching match with her he heard the pitter patter of small feet rushing towards them. His mouth hung open in horror when a young male peacock demon toddler practically identical to Stella ran up to Stella and hugged her beautiful feathered gown. She quickly picked him up and clutched him close to herself.
“Mama!” The boy cried out happily as he cuddled close to her.
She smiled down at him softly, “Seren! My darling Starlight, shouldn’t you be in the library?”
The boy, Seren, pouted, “You left me so I wanted to follow you.”
Stolas looked between Seren and Stella before managing a horse whisper, “Did you… did you cheat on me?”
She glared at him, “Of course not! Seren is your son as well Stolas, I just wanted to make sure he was hidden away for a little while before coming home with him.”
“A little… A little while?! You’ve been gone for 4 and a half years ever since the last time we had sex so he has to be 3, nearly 4, by now! You hid away our son from me!” Stolas screeched out in anger.
She rolled her eyes, “Oh don’t be so dramatic. I was going to tell you eventually. You had Octavia to satisfy your parental needs and I wanted a child that I could be close to.”
Stolas looked about ready to scream at her once more, but noticed his son hiding his face against Stella’s shoulder due to his earlier angered screeches. He sighed, he didn’t want his son to be afraid of him so he slowly got closer with a small smile.
“Hello there.” He cooed, “I’m your papa. You and your mother will be coming to our main home. You have a 9 year old sister that will be very excited to meet you.”
Seren quietly peeked from his hiding spot, “Hi…”
Stella quickly turned away with a huff, Seren still clutched within her arms, “Fine! I’ll go pack our bags and we’ll all return home. You can come in to help us pack.”
Stolas followed her within the vacation home and helped pack away all of Seren’s clothes into the provided luggage as well as his toys. He glanced around his son’s room and noticed a photo album on his dresser. He opened it and quickly flipped through selfies of his wife through her second pregnancy before he stopped at the picture of a beautiful egg, his son. He continued to look through the photo album, slower now that he was seeing pictures of his son’s beginning years without him. He stared at the pictures of his son’s egg becoming images of a featherless newborn before finally becoming the peacock demon toddler he currently was. He felt like crying as he realized what Stella had robbed him of: he had missed Seren’s birth, his first steps, and his first words. His son hadn’t even known who he was until he had met him today!
“Haven’t you finished packing yet?” His wife’s voice called out from behind him in annoyance.
He turned to see Stella glaring at him with their son staring at him curiously from her arms. He used his magic to levitate the packed luggage of clothes and toys. She scoffed before marching into the room to grab a violin case he had somehow missed.
She waved the small violin case in his face, “Make sure to actually pack everything next time! Honestly! You're completely useless! I’ve been teaching Seren to play the violin. Despite being so young, he’s incredibly good at it. I’d expect nothing less from my son.”
Stolas bit his lip to stop himself from screaming at her for keeping their son hidden from him and instead took in a deep breathe to calm himself, “If that’s everything then let’s go home. I left Octavia with the servants and I don’t want to leave her without me for too long.”
He opened a portal to their home and Stella marched into it while holding Seren closely to her chest. Stolas levitated all of his wife and son’s luggage through the portal before he stepped through, closing it behind him. He continued walking after Stella and his newly found son with the luggage and he watched her opened one of the largest unused bedrooms a few doors away from their own room as well as Octavia’s.
She turned to Stolas with a scowl, “This will be Seren’s room, you can leave his luggage here and then drop off my luggage in our room. I need to go shopping for supplies to make this the perfect bedroom for Seren.”
Stolas grit his teeth before quickly asking her luggage to their shared bedroom and made his way back to Seren’s new bedroom, not wanting to leave his son’s side for too long.
“Daddy! You’re home!” A small voice called out.
He turned around to see his daughter Octavia smiling and running towards him, a few imp servants trailing her quietly. He smiled before kneeling down and picking her up into his arms.
“Hello, my owlette! Did you have a good time?” He asked.
She nodded happily, “Yes! Did you bring mommy home?”
His smile became strained, “Yes. Now, there is something you need to know before we go see your mother.”
She looked at him curiously, “What is it?”
Stolas began walking slowly towards Seren’s new bedroom with Octavia in his arms, “You remember how your mother left for more than 4 years?”
Octavia nodded sadly, “Mommy said she needed a vacation… she never came home for any of my birthdays.”
Stolas winced, “Yes. Well, your mother had a reason for being away for so long. You see, while she was away, your mother had another child. You’re a big sister now.”
Her eyes widened in shock, “I’m a what?”
Stolas smiled softly, “A big sister. You have a little brother now; His name is Seren. He’s 3, almost 4 now. Would you like to meet him?”
Octavia sat silently in his arms before she broke into a shy smile and nodded. He gave her a small hug before continuing walking towards Seren’s room. His heart ached for both his children. His daughter had never been truly liked by his wife, she had always looked too much like him and preferred his company over her mother's which she was deeply offended by. And his son, his poor young son, had been alone with his mother for his entire life and it looked like she wasn’t about to relinquish her hold on him for many years to come. He just hoped to Lucifer that he would be able to save his son from Stella’s potent poison.