Chapter 4
Seren couldn’t understand how could this be happen, how could his father do something like this to their family! He knew that it was only a matter of time before the affair would be gossiped about among his mother’s social circles. His mother quickly ended her tea party after the discovery of his father’s infidelity. He glanced at his mother from the corner of his eye as he trailed after her as she stormed back into their home to get changed. Her lips pulled into a sneer of disgust as she seethed, angry at his father’s actions that had embarrassed her in front of the nobles that she had just been entertaining. His mother had always told him about how the nobility were always watching them, just waiting for anyone to make even the slightest mistake for them to mock and gossip to others about. His father’s actions had sent the message to the other nobles that he had no respect towards her and they would mock her for the affair they had heard about today.
He couldn’t believe his father would do something like this to his mother! Sure, she could sometime be… difficult at times, but she had an image to protect for her family. She could never falter in the persona she projected, otherwise the nobles would sniff out any weakness and do their best to exploit it to their own advantage. His mother had taught him the need of projecting a specific type of image since he was no more than a toddler. It was just a part of their life as members of the royal family, everything they did was scrutinized. He understood that his parents didn’t actually have any romantic feelings towards one another, their marriage had never been a choice. Despite that, the affair still shouldn’t have ever happened. His father had always put Octavia and Seren first, had always tried to keep all four of them together despite both his parents always arguing or insulting one another. The affair… it just didn’t make sense!
As soon as they entered their home, his mother knelt down in front of him and softly brushed back his wild feathered hair, “Go wash up and get dressed into a new outfit before going to talk to Octavia, my darling starlight. Talk to her about what your… father decided to do. Then make sure to pack a bag with anything you need like toothbrush, hairbrush, headphones, and so on. You don’t need to pack any clothes, we’ll just buy you any that you’ll need. I’ll let your father know that we’ll be gone for a while. I’ll then come to take both of you on a mini vacation for a week or two. Once we return, your father will hopefully have learnt the… error of his ways and enough time will have passed that I can do damage control without it seeming like a cover-up.”
He nodded before following her directions and went to his room to clean himself up. Once he was dressed nicely once more, he quickly packed his essential as well as his headphones and cellphone.
He then made his way to his sister’s room and knocked on the door. He waited for her to open the door for him before quickly rushing inside and jumping onto her bed.
“What’s up, brat?” Octavia asked with a smirk.
Seren hesitated, signaling to Octavia that he wasn’t just here to spend time with her.
Seren looked at her sadly, “Father… he did something really bad, Via.”
She sat down beside him, “What’s wrong, Ren? What happened?”
“Father cheated on mother, exposed it to some of the nobles, and then said they were getting a divorce.” Seren told her, his voice barely raising above a whisper.
Octavia’s jaw dropped, “He had an affair?!”
Seren nodded solemnly. They sat in silence for a moment before he continued.
“Mother is taking us on a vacation, to get away from it all and hopefully get father to realize what he’ll lose… Via… would he… do you think he’d chose his lover over us?”
Octavia shook her head silently, trying to comfort Seren by denying the seed of doubt that had been planted within each of their minds. Octavia drew her baby brother into a hug and he shakily hugged her back. She hugged him tighter as she felt his trembling, his fear of their family being torn apart had obviously shaken him and she had no question as to why. Seren loved both of their parents equally and they both knew that if they decided to have a divorce then there would be a custody battle. A battle that would most likely get violent as neither of their parents would want to lose their children. She decided to put her dark thoughts aside and released her brother, giving him a comforting smile.
“I better get packing for our vacation.” She said.
“Mother said we don’t need to bring clothes with us and she’ll meet us. She’s probably going to take us on a shopping spree to get new clothes and take our minds off the drama.”
She nodded and packed a small bag of all her essentials, including her phone and headphones. They then both waited for about half an hour before their mother entered the room. They quickly left their home and went to their mother’s vacation home, where Seren had been born and raised for the first few years of his life. They got settled and began to enjoy their vacation. It wasn’t often they would get to go on vacations with their mother, it was nice. They went on a few shopping sprees, Octavia got quite a few new pieces of weird taxidermy to add to her ever-growing collection, and Seren got a few new animal plushies as well as interesting spell books imported from the human realm. Soon enough though, their vacation came to an end and they returned home. Once home, they all went their separate ways to unpack. Once inside the safety of her room, Stella quickly unpacked before calling out to her spy to report.
The spy bowed, “Your husband spent his time at the palace doing work and relaxing. However, a few nights ago, he called his imp lover while he was in the bath. He made a deal with the imp to have ‘a night of passionate fornication’ every full moon he then proceeded to spend over an hour talking dirty to the imp over the phone.”
Stella was getting more and more angered by what her spy told her. She was prepared to confront Stolas then and there, but she quickly stopped in her tracks. She could work herself up into what would have been a loud rage or she could confront him in the morning and do something even better to get back at her husband. She dismissed her spy, instructing him to contact an assassin for her. Stella then began moving towards her beloved son’s bedroom. She quietly opened the door and watched him sleep for a few minutes before leaning down and placing a soft kiss along his brow. She then stood up and began to leave when her son called out to her.
“Mother? Is something wrong?” He asked as he quickly rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and got out of bed to stand before her.
Stella dropped to her knees and hugged Seren close to herself.
“Mother?”
She wept silently, the only indication Seren had that his mother was crying was the small droplets of water he felt fall on his skin.
“Mama?” He asked, calling her a name he hadn’t in years as his concern for her grew.
She hugged him tighter, “Your father… I had asked the servants to keep an eye on your father while we were gone. They just told me that he called the imp he had slept with and made plans to continue to meet with him.”
Seren went stiff in shock before choking out, “But… why would he…?”
Stella sobbed, “If we end up getting a divorce… I-I can’t… I can’t lose you…”
Seren pulled away before staring his mother in the eyes, wiping away her tears. He then hugged her once more and began smoothing down her hair, exactly the same way she would always do for him. His poor mother.
“I would never leave you, mama. I’ll always be with you, always.” He whispered to her.
She tightened her arms around him and her devastated facade dropped as a smirk took its place. Seren had always been hers since the very beginning and he’d loyally stayed by her side as her perfect son. She’d never let beloved star child betray her. She’d make sure of it.
No matter what you choose to do, Stolas. It’s already too late, I always get what I want and I always win.