Chapter 11

We stayed in the common room, meeting much of Walter's family, though he wasn't very specific on how most of them were related to him. Judging by the way most of the younger ones acted around him, I assumed the majority were his children.

Children.

He had many and I wasn't sure how I felt about it. I felt a bit lenient about the situation because he's like thousands of years old and if I had the ability to bed anyone I wanted, I would too. But it doesn't dismiss the fact that he was married—married with a woman that he supposedly loved. I had always thought if you loved someone enough, you could be with them forever, no problem, that you would do anything for them; but he clearly did have a problem with that. So either my idea of love was awfully distorted or he was lying about loving Calliope. Or his idea of love was awfully distorted.

The look he gave me when we first laid eyes on each other was not a lie, though; that had to be love for Calliope. Right?

I felt like a child. I didn't know anything about love and I was being thrown head-first into a soap opera full of the sticky, gooey, intoxicating kind of love that was utterly confusing to a girl like me.

I had been thinking about Lydia often. I wondered if she knew Walter well. She clearly didn't like him but I wondered if she was aware of what he was. She must be considering she was a "demi-god" and had the ability to see the future. Who was her mother? I wondered absentmindedly if Walter had loved her as well; but then figured it didn't matter since Lydia's mother had passed away years ago. I didn't ask Lydia much about her mother because I hadn't really cared all that much, but she made it sound like her mother died when Lydia was young, that she wasn't there very much. Hence why Lydia was so independent.

All the pieces were coming together but at the same time, I felt I was missing the vital center pieces, the ones you fill in last that finish up the picture. I was satisfied with my standing with Walter but was also greedy for more, I wanted to know more about this ever-mysterious man. Speaking of which…

Walter's arm around my waist was growing tighter and more restless. We were seated on one of the thrones, the one made of the glass much like the walls throughout the beautiful palace of light, speaking in hushed tones while everyone else was immersed in their own little conversations.

"I love your eyes," I whispered, awed. I was lounging in his lap, my head on his shoulder, his arm around my waist, looking down at me intensely. His eyes were the most beautiful shade of blue at the moment; it was like they were cut straight from aquamarine gemstones. I wanted to blush and look away from the intensity of his eyes but I wouldn't let myself; I allowed myself to indulge my eyes with his appearance. He had the sexiest face I had ever seen on a man, and damn, was he a man. Looking into his eyes, I allowed my left hand to slide down his chest to the front of his jeans, feeling how much he wanted me. My hand placement was covered by my legs across his lap, so no one spared us a glance; which was a lie I tried to tell myself, but in all honesty, the people in the room would look at us occasionally and proceed to whisper something to the person next to them. I tried to block it all out like Walter, but it wasn't working, so I distracted myself.

He smiled faintly at my bold move but I saw his chest rise and fall a bit quicker and his hand clenched my waist where it was placed. "I love your hands," he said just as quietly, his mouth curving up in a half-smile. I giggled when he put his strong arms around me and pulled me to him. My giggle morphed into a shriek when he tickled my abdomen. Every pair of eyes in the room turned to wear we sat. I blushed, hiding my face into his shirt. Walter laughed good-naturedly, not caring about the prying faces, and leaned his face down to mine, placing a lingering kiss on my lips. I closed my eyes, appreciating the distraction. I realized he was kissing me mostly just to prove a point to his family, but I didn't mind, at least some of them had the courtesy to look away from us. His kiss lingered for some time, and when I thought he would honestly start to make-out with me right now, in front of his family, he pulled away and stood. "Come on," was all he said. And it was all he needed to. I grinned mischievously, practically jumping out of the chair and letting him lead me out of common room, without a word goodbye to any of the curious gazers.

The moment we had gone up the left stairwell, out of sight of everyone, we broke into a run down the magical hall to his bedroom, laughing. He pushed open the grand doors to the master room and instantly pulled his shirt off his body, not bothering to shut the door. No one would disturb us after that exit.

He turned me around roughly, yanking my dress down off my body, leaving me in only my underwear and pushed me, my back to his front, against one of posts of the bed. I wrapped my fingers around it as he proceeded to unclasp my bra and slipped my thong down over my legs. I laughed breathlessly as he ran his hands and lips roughly over my body. He sighed against my skin as he pushed my body into one of the thick bed post with his. "Are you okay?" He said, breathing erotically against my skin.

I laughed breathlessly, laying my head back against his shoulder, smiling giddily. "Just dandy."

A lazy grin split across his face and he let out a breathy chuckle. "Dandy, huh? I think I can do better than that."

Not 24 hours later, Walter's gaze burned my skin. Those lazy blue eyes were scorching my body. I was being engulfed in flame by his incredible intensity. I looked down at my book, teasingly pretending not to notice. He continued to look at me across the sofa. I knew at this point that an amused grin was spreading across his face and he was biting his lower lip between his teeth. My eyes flickered up at him for a second. There it was. My lips betrayed me by displaying a suppressed smile. I blushed. Uh oh. It encouraged him. Like a cat stalking its prey, he knew he had won. Lovely. I was really starting to like this novel too. I pretended to continue reading despite that I knew it was useless; I was trapped. He moved himself slowly across the pristine white couch towards me with that stupid smile on his stupid face. Stupid boy. He laid his head on my lap underneath my book and put his hand on mine, silently forcing me to put it down.

I sighed and rolled my eyes but looked down at him in amusement. I couldn't help it. He was ridiculous. He laughed. He knew he had me. There was no saying no.

He sat up and put his arm between my back and the couch. He looked down at me now; he was always on top. I didn't mind though. I liked how he took care of everything. It made me feel loved and that's all I've ever truly desired.

He moved in slowly and kissed my neck once lightly. He dragged his lips down my neck to the tops of my breasts, biting lightly. My lips parted a bit. I dug my left hand into his soft, blonde hair, pushing him into the kiss. I loved when he looked mused and messed up after; it made it obvious he was mine. His fingers unbuttoned my jean jacket and pulled it off my shoulders. He kissed my naked shoulder and put his hands on my hips, dragged them up, taking my tank top with them. I was left in my favorite black satin bra.

He cradled me in his arms and leaned down to mesh him mouth to mine. I threw my arms around his neck tightly, crushing him to me. He moaned and our kiss became something rough and animalistic; a gnashing of teeth and skin. I ripped off his shirt without a second thought. He tore my pants down with fumbling and impatient hands. I kicked them to the ground and threw myself back into his embrace. He laid back onto the couch so I was sitting on top of him. I leaned into his face so my lips were just barely touching his and looked into his eyes and whispered tacitly, like I was speaking a blatant fact, "I love you."

He closed his eyes, in ecstasy it seemed, and smiled. "I love you, Azalea," he returned in the same tone. And he made love to me sweetly, making me forget all the confusion of the past few months, even days. The next thing I knew I was cradled in his arms like a child. Walter held onto to me tightly but comfortably. His chest was heaving. We laid in blissful silence for a while and I think we may have fallen asleep at some point.

"Walter?" I felt him smile against my neck. "Yes, my love?"

"That was fun," I said in a dopey voice. I was still a bit high on him.

He kissed my head and laughed. "Indeed."

I sat for a few moments more, dozing off, when I heard a knock at the door of his room. My head snapped up off the couch. "Shit," I hissed absentmindedly, crawling away from the man entangled with my limbs. Walter merely grumbled, too entranced with his afterglow to worry about the fact that there was someone behind that robust door that could have easily walked in on us. In the nude. Not cool. "Walter, get your lazy ass up!" He groaned once more, at least lifting his head to look up at me, arrogantly amused, through sleepy eyes. I quickly threw a blanket over Walter's waist and a robe over me. "Come in," I called. It could not be more obvious that we had just had sex. You probably should have put real clothes on.

Well, I can't force Mr. King of the Almighty to get dressed, I thought bitterly. So that would be virtually pointless, yeah?

When a pair of eerily familiar moonlight eyes peeked through the now-open doorway, with an elegant head of black hair to compliment, my heart sank. This was the second time I had met Henry under inappropriate circumstances. I had a feeling this would be a very awkward relationship.

"Oh, I apologize, I hoping to speak to Walter," Henry said politely, seemingly undeterred by our attire. He opened the door wider, half of his body now through the doorway. He was a tall man, perhaps taller than Walter, and very lean, though you could tell he was well built below all of his usual black attire.

"Oh, yeah, uh…" I gestured to Walter on the couch, whose eyes were open but he hadn't bothered to get dressed or even get up. He was laying on his stomach, his head resting on his thick arms, reminding me that those arms had been wrapped around me like two boas not ten minutes earlier. I cross my arms over my loose chest.

Walter sighed. "Yes, Henry, how may I assist you?" He still did not sit up.

Henry cleared his throat. "There's something happening with…well, you know." Henry obviously was trying not to look at me, whether out of courtesy or to preserve this secret.

Secret?

There were more. I knew this had something to do with me. Why else would Henry look so guilty? He finally looked uncomfortable but it was more because he had to relay this information right in front of me than because he had interrupted a "moment". I wanted Henry to leave so that I didn't have to face anything like this anymore. I was perfectly happy a minute ago, when he wasn't ruining it.

"What something?" I asked indignantly, knowing I wouldn't get a legitimate response, but wanted something nonetheless. "Walter?"

Walter merely pulled on a robe, kissed my cheek and left with Henry.

I spent the rest of the morning walking around with Ky again, wondering about what Walter was doing. He seemed like he was trying to work things out, like he wanted to make me better and happier, like he didn't want to hide from me anymore. I wasn't so sure what the future held for us but I hoped it wasn't too hard to let him go when the time came. And I would have to let him go, wouldn't I? I wasn't stupid; if he cheated on his wife before me repeatedly, there was no way he would just change. People don't change.

Right?

I had no idea. There were so many possibilities for what could happen and I still felt like Walter was hiding some things, but I didn't want to push him. He wasn't going to spill everything at once. And besides, I didn't think I could handle that much baggage at once. My head was still spinning at the fact that Walter was basically immortal.

I wondered what it was like to be immortal, if he really did grow bored of life. I supposed that was why he slept around—gotta keep things interesting. Did he have super strength or super speed? Or laser-vision? Laser-vision would be pretty cool. I already knew he could appear anywhere in a matter of seconds and he doesn't age. He looked at least 25, maybe 30 years old, not thousands.

I wondered about Lydia and what her mother was like, if she was still alive, if Walter ever loved her. He did say he had only loved two women in his life but I assumed it was for my benefit. I then remembered the girl Walter was with when I first met him. I had asked if he had a girlfriend and when he looked slightly guilty, I assumed he had a little friends-with-benefits relationship with this woman. I wondered if this woman we talked about then was the girl I saw him with that night at his apartment. I shuddered. What if he was lying when he said he was just using that girl to scare me? What if he was still keeping her on stand-by? Hell, what if he was with her now?

My chest squeezed my lungs in one quick, panicky motion, pushing the breath from my lungs domineeringly. If you keep thinking like that, you'll never be able to let him out of your sight.

Well, that wouldn't be the worst scenario, my thoughts threw in combatively.

I really needed to stop thinking so much. I was going to drive myself insane. What if you're already insane and none of this is real?

I rolled my eyes at myself, dismissing all thought processes. I just walked. I saw some people along the way and each time I smile kindly at them, they stared, not in surprise but intrigue, as if I was some odd spectacle. I tried to ignore it as best as I could but it was very odd and pulled at my conscience stubbornly. I understood that Calliope was a bad person but I also wondered what that meant to everyone that looked her way. How had Calliope hurt them, if at all? Was she a sister to them? A friend? Just another face? A mother? I was aware also that she had had 2 children with Walter and every time she met someone's eyes she wondered if they were one of them. I wasn't particularly sure why this fascinated me considering they weren't my children, but I wondered if they looked like me in any way. Or like Walter. They probably had Walter's eyes. Like Kate. And that woman Irene from the first morning.

Oh, those chameleon blue eyes, a reflective blue in this "Olympus" of sorts, were suddenly a very painful thing for me. I was seeing them in people they should not be. Like Kate. Like Irene.

I rapped my arms tightly around myself, stopping near a half-circle balcony, looking out at the impossible sky. The sun was peeking softly through the yellow and orange clouds, casting scattered rays of sunshine about the palace-like place, reflecting magically against the crystal-cut walls and pillars. There were birds, so many odd birds, that tittered and fluttered overhead and through the clouds. There was gentle wind that wove its way through my long hair gently. I felt the urge to close my eyes and take in the warmth and view, but ignored it, afraid that closing my eyes would make it disappear and feel more unreal than it already was. There was a magic here that I had never experienced before and could not deny. Even if Walter had not shown me his godly abilities, showing me this place made me believe it completely, like I had known all along. I felt a warmth not only on my skin, but in my chest and arms and face and stomach and legs. This place felt like home. It felt as much like home as Gran's coffee-reeking apartment above the shop, except this was a feeling that felt old and newly awakened, as if I was just remembering.

Rapping my arms around myself more tightly, I smiled. A real smile. It started in my eyes and tugged its way at my lips, gradually expanding fully, as radiant as the sun-spattered clouds in front of me.

"It's refreshing to see a smile on that face."

I spun around, one arm reaching behind me for the railing and one around my mid-section, my smile sliding off my face at the gentle, masculine tone. For a moment, the voice sounded like Walter, and when I turned and saw who spoke, I continued to think it was, but on further inspection, I realized it wasn't. He was tall, even taller than Walter. He upper arms were thicker than my torso and his plain grey t-shirt, despite not being tight, was clearly covering some serious abdominal muscles and cut shoulders. His jean-clad legs were innocent looking but when he shifted gingerly, it was like it caused discomfort, if not pain. He had a strong, lightly tanned face with shy brown eyes and curly blonde hair. This must be one of Calliope and Walter's children. The hair was what reminded me of Walter, but there were hints of him in the man's shoulders and face. The low, stubborn brow that Walter had looked soft and contemplative on this man.

I blinked. "Oh?"

What do you say to the son of come chick who's your clone and your boyfriend's ex-wife? Apparently "oh".

The man smiled bashfully, realizing the awkwardness of his comment. "I just mean that my mother never smiled very much. And I didn't realize it until she was…gone. You look like her so I just…I don't know…" He trailed off, clearly feeling stupid.

I couldn't help when a smile crept across my mouth. He was odd. But in a good way. "So I've been told." Taking a step closer to the man, I asked him, "What's your name?"

He blinked again, but he seemed taken aback this time, as if surprised by my questioned. Or maybe surprised that I hadn't stuck my nose up at him, which seems like something people here would do. Poor guy… "I'm Nicholas."

"Well, hello, Nicholas. It's nice to meet you," I said, extending a hand towards him.

He took it. His progress was hesitant but when it gripped hers it was steady. He shook it once, twice, and then pulled away.

I grasped for something to say. "You're Walter and Calliope's son." It wasn't a question.

"Yes."

Pause.

He then said, "Do you love him?"

"Who?" I already knew who.

"Walter. My father."

I blinked, considering his question. I knew the answer but I was wondering if it was the man's business. I decided it sort of was since Walter was his father. "Yeah, I do."

He furrowed his brow, looking at me as if I was an odd critter. "Why?"

It was my turn to furrow my brow. What kind of question was that? How do you explain why you feel something? Why do you love Walter? Was it his mystery? His reluctance to feel, where as I was willing? His deep chameleon blue eyes? That feeling I get when he looks at me, like he's looked at me like that my entire existence and will for the rest of it? Was it how I always felt a spark in the air when he was he was around, even when I couldn't see him? "Do you love him?"

Nicholas seemed momentarily reluctant to shift the topic on him but finally answered, "I suppose."

"Why?"

The corners of his lips twitched as I threw his question back at him, except he actually had an answer. "He's not exactly done much to make me like him but he's my father; I have to love him."

Nicholas walked me to a room with very large, gold and white doors. Apparently it was Walter's study. He left me standing in front of the doors alone, but not before telling me I should knock first. I don't know why, but the fact that I had to knock made me wary. What could Walter possibly be doing that would warrant a warning of my entrance? So, standing in front of the white doors with strands of gold in a thin, graceful design, I place my hand on the doorknob. My pale fingers played their muscles around the handle, daring to open it, to act on my whims. What if he's with that woman? My face instantly fell at the thought and my fingers released the handle like it had burned them. No, he wouldn't do that. That's silly. He's changed.

But my fingers weren't having it, they pushed the gilded handle down and out, the right door opening with a creak. My heart began to race in ridiculous fear because when I poked my head in, Walter was lounging behind a beautiful cherry wood desk (no females in reaching distance), bare feet atop the clean surface, facing cream-colored couches in the center of the room, both facing each other. Henry and Kate sat in the one facing me but the other couple was facing them so I couldn't see whom. I tiptoed in quietly, my flowered dress and high ponytail probably making me seem childish, but when Walter's eyes were the first to meet mine, we smiled at each other like we were sharing a secret. A small part of me was relieved he wasn't angry I interrupted him. It was all my fingers! They wouldn't listen! I closed the door behind me, announcing myself to the four other souls in the room.

The couple in the couch facing away from me turned and my heart both stopped and beat faster. Or maybe it just skipped a beat and then beat double-time. Like when I was little, running to Gran's and I would skip into the air first, and when I landed, taking off into a gallop. My heart did that.

Because it was Luce.