#xanthos

"There is a holy legend that says that the Watcher blesses some souls with a soulmate," Trysten continued, ignoring the teens. "I was born with one eye larger than the other, and in cases like mine, I should expect to find another soul with a larger eye on the side opposite to mine. That person would be my soulmate, and we would create children with both eyes larger than usual, just as the Watcher intended. My mother reminded me of this sacred mission of mine every day of my childhood. I waited longer than most to marry, and then only to the woman my mother arranged me to marry. She couldn't find a woman who would fit the definition of my soulmate, but she wanted grandkids, so she settled for the poor widow with a daughter already. It was pointless though, as I'd found my soulmate as a preteen, and he wasn't a woman."

"Interesting," Helle said with a practiced smile. The siblings beside her were still glaring daggers at their uncle, so it was up to her to keep the peace.

"The Pryor brothers attended school with Damiana and me. They and their mother were recent converts to the Jacobean faith, so they had lots to learn about being a Jacobean. Your father got along with everyone in the school, including the teachers, but he always hung out with me and Damiana. Cleopas, his identical twin brother, wasn't as sociable as Alphaeus, but he followed my sister around like a love sick puppy. I never paid any attention to Cleopas, and I'm definitely not sleeping with him now. Even though they were identical, I knew that Alphaeus was my soulmate from the first time we met. His eye was larger on the side opposite to mine, and even though we were still kids, something inside me just clicked into place. This was the person that I would love until my dying breath. Alphaeus was a faithful Jacobean, same as me, and we waited for the Watcher's instructions throughout our teenage years. We were two young men, who couldn't have children, or even be married, and yet our souls were inseparable. I prayed every night for the Watcher to make his plans known to us, to give the Proxy a message for us that would make everything okay. My prayers were never answered.

Damiana loved the Pryor brothers, though just like me, she had a clear favourite. Cleopas was less devout and more prone to taking chances on things that other people might find heretical. I used to tease her that she must love bad boys, until my mother intervened and made me recite prayers in my room for forgiveness. We were a tight friend group, just Alphaeus, Cleopas, Damiana, and I, until we became teens. Cleopas was expelled by the Proxy, along with their mother. I don't know what their supposed crimes were, only that Alphaeus had been allowed to stay. He served the Watcher faithfully and so I got to keep him in my life. I know that if he'd been expelled too, I would have left with him without any regrets, but Damiana couldn't. She didn't want to live the life of an exile. Her greatest dream was to become a mother one day, and raise kids in her faith."

"Do you know where Cleopas and Grandma went?" Abercius asked quietly. "Obviously, he's come back to the settlement, but has she? Is my grandmother still alive? Where did she come from?"

"I've never known," Trysten answered. "Even your father didn't know. He was young when they moved, and he didn't remember his father. It troubled him greatly growing up, but over the years, he stopped wondering. It was decided that he should marry Damiana when we were finished school, and Alphaeus and I resigned ourselves to never being able to be true to ourselves. He loved your mother very much; that wasn't an act. If I had died or left, maybe they'd still be happily married today. They loved each other, but not like Alphaeus loved me. We still met in secret to be together, even when Abercius was born and fatherhood changed his life. You were my nephew, and the closest I'd ever thought that Alphaeus and I would come to having a child of our own. You have the Vienot red hair, and looked so much like your father. I loved you the moment I first held you. A Vienot who looked so much like a Pryor."

A silent rage turned Abercius' face a fiery shade of red. This was the absolute last thing he needed to hear at the moment. He was already furious at his uncle, he didn't need to know how Trysten had fantasized about being his father despite Abercius already having two parents. If his uncle had projected all of his hopes of having a biological connection to his father on him, Abercius didn't know how to process it. It made his stomach turn to think of all the nice times in his childhood he'd spent with his uncle, when Trysten was secretly trying to imagine himself in Damiana's place.

"Don't. Don't talk about me. Don't talk about my dad. Just tell me what happened after we left Jubilant Accosts. I think I can fill in the rest of your backstory with Dad on my own. What happened after that?"

Helle squeezed Abercius' hand tightly. It meant everything that she was here to help him with this. Brion looked just as upset as he felt, but Brion was adopted, and therefore couldn't be used for their uncle to picture as own child like he did Abercius. It was a good thing that Brion was there too. Maybe he could tell Helena about this conversation the next time they saw each other, because Abercius never planned to speak about this conversation again.

Trysten nodded, lowering his gaze to the floor after seeing the disgusted look in his nephew's eyes.

"Alphaeus was sick before you left, as you already know," he began. "Damiana too. Your father got so sick so quickly, we never really got to say goodbye. I couldn't openly tell him what I wanted to with my sister beside me. I watched the life drain from him a little more each day, until finally he fell asleep and never woke up. We tried everything we could think of to wake him, and when we gave up hope, we committed him to the care of the Watcher. You kids were supposed to leave and never return so that you'd be safe. I didn't realize that the plague would spread to Tredony; you were supposed to live a life of safety, not return to die with the rest of us."

"Um, what about James?" Abercius sneered. "He's my little brother, lost in a dangerous world on his own. Should we not care about his safety? He's my father's son, you should at least care about him for that reason."

"The Watcher will protect him and guide his path," Trysten assured his nephew. "There was no time to find him, you know that. This isn't the first time that James has disappeared. He's a spirited child. I became ill too quickly to search for him."

"We should probably stick to the matter at hand," Helle said diplomatically. She squeezed Abercius' hand to reassure him. "What happened next?"

"I realized that I was pregnant," Deia replied. Emotions were running high, and the teens would probably prefer another person answer their questions. "It obviously wasn't your uncle's child, and I feared how he'd react to the news."

"But then I noticed that he was starting to show the same symptoms as me. He couldn't keep food down and we were racing each other to the bathroom. I never expected to see a pregnant man, but whispers had been circulating around the settlement of bizarre miracles that defied what we understood about the world, so I decided to test my theory."

"The pregnancy test was positive. Your uncle had only taken it as a joke, believing that I didn't know about his little love affair. Once the proof was before us, there wasn't any point in denying it. We were both pregnant by other men."

Abercius' face fell when he did some simple math in his head.

"You were already pregnant when Dad got sick," he spat. "All that talk about my parents fixing their marriage or starting over was a lie, wasn't it? How long did you two stop your affair after you got caught? Did you ever stop? You were pregnant while you were consoling my mother over her husband's sickness! How could you? That's sick!"

"He's my soulmate and he was mine long before he was Damiana's," Trysten protested. "These things are complicated; you'll understand when you're older."

"I am the reincarnation of one of the oldest creatures in creation," Abercius spat. "There's no age that I could ever understand what you've done!"

Helle cleared her throat quietly.

"I was married when we began our relationship," she said softly. "I mean, I wasn't in love with my wife, but we still did have Hetepheres together. Maybe thinking about our past will help you accept your parents' choices."

Abercius clenched his hands angrily.

"I never imagined Hetepheres as my own. Your wife wasn't my sister. There's no way that this is anything like us. Not at all."

Brion gave his sibling a curious look, but didn't comment on the strangeness of listening to Abercius describe another lifetime. He knew that look in Abercius' eyes; he'd inherited it from their mother. Damiana had that same expression whenever she was furious at her husband or children. It was best to leave Abercius alone until he calmed down.

"Trysten. Trysten, can you hear me?"

Trysten's eyes rolled back in his head and he stumbled. Deia was immediately at his side, supporting him as best as she could.

"Trysten! Trysten, ignore it! You can't give up! Not yet!"

The teens watched in horror as Trysten tried to right himself, then settled for setting on the edge of the couch.

"Sorry." He coughed violently, struggling to catch his breath. "The plague has almost won. Xanthos is a great help at keeping it at bay, but he can't delay the inevitable. The pregnancy doesn't help either. I don't have much time left."

"Xanthos can help weaken the plague?" Helle gasped. "Because you're your father's son? That's great news! You need to talk to someone from Tredony who is studying dream magic. Maybe together, you can work on a treatment!"

"Tredony?" Xanthos repeated. "That's where you sent Xaviere? Hasn't that place been destroyed for millennia?"

"No," Brion replied. "I've been there, same as Abercius. They call it Pleasantview now. Our friends from Tredony can help us. They need to see how you can save people from the plague."

"Not save, delay what will always happen," Deia corrected.

"I told Xanthos about my pregnancy and Trysten's as soon as I knew," she continued. "If my husband wasn't going to be able to hide who he truly loved, then I wasn't going to continue to do the same. We would figure things out together."

"We've all worked together to keep our house safe, and the pregnancies secret. When the Proxy disappeared, we knew we were likely safe from the church, but there was a good reason that Xanthos sent me and Xaviere away all those years ago. People don't trust demons, Jacobean or not."

"The Proxy is dead, not disappeared," Xanthos corrected. "My parents killed him with the plague."

"I guess that's comforting to know that he's not coming back," Helle said. "After everything he's done, maybe I can bring peace back to our home."

Xanthos and Deia smiled thinly at the comment. As much as they hated the Proxy, they didn't seem excited about the idea of a queen.

"We've been keeping Trysten as healthy as we can," Deia said, turning the conversation back to the past. "Xanthos goes out to get us food and supplies, and we've been homeschooling Desdemona as best as we can. Shadowvale was abandoned, and didn't bother to protect the building against demons when they left."

"I used to visit Damiana and Alphaeus back before things got bad," Trysten confessed. "I'd sit with them both and just talk to them, hoping they could hear me. Maybe that's how I caught the plague, maybe I got it the same time as them, I don't know. I tried telling Alphaeus about the baby every time that I sat with them, but I don't know if he could hear me."

"Eventually, I was too sick, too pregnant to leave the house. I can still hear him sometimes though, calling me. Calling me to join him in the dream. To be together again, even if it's in an endless dream. I need to have the baby, though. I need to give them a chance to live, and pray that they haven't caught the plague from me."

"Trysten, come join me. I've been waiting so long to see you again. I love you."

"Alphaeus? I can see you. I can't believe you're here. Is this the end? It can't be. Our child isn't born, I can't leave now. I...I...."

Trysten collapsed on the floor, unable to hold himself up anymore. Luckily, he landed on his back and not his stomach, though Deia and Xanthos both rushed to his side to check for any injuries.

"Trysten, you need to fight this!" Deia protested. "Don't give into the dream. Not yet. You can do this!"

Helle ran to assist the adults, while Brion and Abercius watched in horror. Neither one of them wanted to deal with the situation before them, especially while they tried to process everything they'd uncovered about their family.

"He's dying?" Abercius asked, his eyes still fixed in horror on his uncle. "D-did we cause this with our questions?"

"No, this was always going to happen soon," Deia reassured the teens. She reached for her phone, but hesitated when she realized that she had no one to call. "We need a doctor, but who can we possibly find to help a pregnant man with the plague? I was hoping we'd have more time."

"Step away from him, Deia. I can't guarantee that I can protect you from the illness this far into the end stage. He's fading quickly and I don't want you to be exposed. We have the kids to think of."

"What about his kid?" Deia demanded. "If he's dying, then we need to get it out of him. You're not a doctor, and none of us know how to deliver a child from a male body!"

In their panic, the adults almost missed the knocking on the front door.

"Are you expecting someone?" Brion asked nervously. "Should I answer the door or should I prepare for an attack?"

Deia and Xanthos exchanged a terrified look.