14. How it Began

Solaris departed Kaimana after staying for the five days of Naia's fertility.

She could not bring herself to leave her room. Her breakfast sat untouched on the table near the window, as the unlit candles in the chandelier created a somber ambiance.

With a grim determination, she sat at the table, her eyes straining to see beyond the glass, desperately seeking a lifeline. Fat land covered in fine sand, the green thicket of the jungle adding a touch of wild beauty, while the rolling tide streamed overhead, creating a dynamic and enchanting scene. Amidst everything, she found satisfaction in the rhythmic raindrops and sporadic thunder. A solemnity to match her mood.

A soft knock sounded on her door.

The lack of response hung in the air for a beat before the door cracked open, and her father stepped in wearing a moss-green colored robe, baby's breath adding a touch of delicacy to his dark hair.

She wasn't in the mood for visitors—including him."Why are you here, Father?"

"You've been holed up in your bedchamber for days. I figured it looked as dreary in here as it does outside."

A mesmerizing display unfolded as he moved his wrist in a fluid motion, covering the walls of her room with a tapestry of blooming dahlias—strawberry red and lemon yellow. The contrasting colors unpleasantly transformed the gloomy hue. The cheer of it thoroughly disgusted Naia.

He took a seat across from her, making it known he had no intention of leaving anytime soon. "Tell me what is on your mind, darling."

Naia swept her eyes over the dahlias, their graceful blooms and intoxicating fragrance instantly transporting her back to the cherished moments when her father would gently place one behind her ear.

She tilted her head towards him and noticed the frown underneath the scruffiness of his facial hair as he stared at her.

For once, his flowers failed to bring her an ounce of joy.

"You have never been more than a call away," she whispered. "Yet, I am to believe you did not know?"

His brow furrowed. "Naia, is everything all right?"

An explosion of emotions detonated in her chest. The force clamped away under her breath.

"Did you pretend to be oblivious of the past four nights Raksa escorted Solaris to my bedchamber? Or the night in the library?"

He said nothing.

Naia expected the cold, deafening sound of silence from Mira, from Marina, from Solaris—but never her father.

A lump swelled in her throat, threatening to spill tears.

His gaze dropped to the surface of the table.

"What binds you here in Kaimana? Tell me the truth. Tell me why you never go against her!" Naia demanded. "You owe me an explanation. I deserve that much from you."

He took a deep breath, allowing a long second to elapse before uttering his words in a composed and soft-spoken manner. "Lord Cassian and I used to be close friends."

Naia blinked at him.

She could not imagine such a thing.

"The story is quite ordinary. I fell in love with a mortal. We married, and she became pregnant."

Naia lightly gasped.

"I never got to meet my first child, though, because she was caught in the crosshairs of one of your mother's and Levina's battles that had swept through the Mortal Land. I believe they refer to it as the War of Tides."

His eyes flickered, and Naia could tell he was somewhere in the past. The burden of grief lived in them, longing and full of anguish. Shame washed over her as she realized she had never noticed before.

"We lived on a patch of land I formed in the middle of the Kaimana Sea. Within the following years, voyagers settled on the island, and we built it into a village. It became known as Nohealani Island.Mira surged the sea and Levina struck her lightning down, turning the island into their battlefield. The villagers died. I tried to save them, but the damage was too severe. When I found my beloved among the rubble—" He sucked in a sharp breath. "Furious, I went to the Land of the Dead to bring her back. Cassian wouldn't allow it. There are rules we must follow to maintain order, he told me. I expected him to say such nonsense since he was a part of the Council, and if I had been in any other mindset, I would've agreed. However, my raging desperation and infinite devotion led me to enter through his ominous gates in search of my wife and child."

Naia's heart pulsed behind her eyes as she stared at him. "Did you find them?"

He nodded lightly, gazing down at his hands in his lap. "I did. Before Cassian could catch me, I took them from the Land of the Dead."

It was forbidden to do such a thing without the High Goddess of Fate's approval, an exchange for a soul from Cassian as the High God of Death, and an agreement with the High Goddess of Life and Balance.

He lifted his chin to look at her, rolling his lips. After a beat, he continued. "Cassian found us quickly and escorted her and my child back to his land. In return, I blamed my grim twist of fate on your mother, for it was her attack that caused devastation on my island, and immediately sought her out to make her pay. My grief and hatred blinded me, and when I returned to my island to find Levina and Mira still fighting on the debris of where my home once stood, on the corpses of those I cherished, I broke."

Naia's hand came up to rest over her heart as it ached for all the torment and pain her father had endured.

Her lips quivered as she fought to hold back tears, yearning to embrace him and absorb his sorrow.

"I nearly had them buried a hundred feet underground when Cassian showed up and punished us all. He cursed Mira beneath the sea, Levina into a volcano, and he bound me to the one who took away the love of my life. The Council did not agree that the level of my punishment exceeded my crime, but Cassian persuaded them that my anguish would be far greater than any physical pain would bring me in his prison."

As she studied her father, a deep sense of animosity welled up within her, clouding her thoughts. He had not entered Kaimana blind. He was well acquainted with how horrible Mira was.

"Why have children with her then?" Naia snapped. "Mira is a monster! What? Were you lonely? Or did you genuinely fall in love with her?"

Part of her hoped there was some private, redeemable quality of Mira's that won over her father's love.

His brow creased. "Do you hear what you are insinuating?"

Tears burned in her eyes. "Never existing would be worth never having to experience her wrath ever again! You had to have known she would've been a barbarous mother. Tell me, does she treat you any better than me?"

"I was selfish," he replied with little thought. "I wanted to know what it would bring me to hold my child, to love something more than myself. I knew the only reason why Mira wanted a child was to break her curse, but I didn't care."

Naia scoffed sourly, ignoring the violent twinge of affection his words brought to her heart. Deep down, she knew. But she asked anyway. "Well, did you get such a thing?"

He reached over the table and picked up her hand. His gentle touch reached down into her soul, thawing her bitterness. "There is nothing I wouldn't do for you, Naia. From the first breath you drew. I knew I could love you enough to make up for your mother's lack of."

Naia believed him. More than anyone in her life.

"You ask why I do not interfere," he said. "It is because I am not allowed to strike Mira. Doing so will result in Cassian escorting me to the Land of the Dead, where I'll be confined in Moros indefinitely."

The Council had sentenced plenty of gods to Moros over the centuries for various crimes.

Ender, a previous High God of Winter, despised mortals and cast an eternal winter over their land. It overran the Land of the Dead with souls. Prayers of disdain and blame were directed to the High Goddess of Fate. Mortals spit on her name and blamed her for their hardships—losing loved ones, livestock, livelihoods. Eventually, the Council punished Ender for taking advantage of his title by sentencing him to Moros. It was a prison in the fiery depths of the Land of the Dead, run by Cassian himself. Death was not a prerequisite for being sentenced to confinement.

The thought of that kind of fate inflicted upon Father made Naia's stomach twist.

An overwhelming sense of helplessness and insignificance washed over her. Regardless of what hellish place the supposed inferno confinement was actually like, she would lose her father forever if he ever broke the rule.

She clasped his hand tighter, fearing the gods would snatch him away if she released her grip.

The fear racing through her veins was like a wildfire, consuming everything in its path.

Her days with him suddenly felt limited.

"I don't like this, Father."

"Nothing has happened, darling." He chuckled. "I am right here with you. Do not worry."

He was her sliver of light in the darkness shrouding her. Every soft smile and blossomed dahlia; the low rumble of his laugh and the gentle tugs of the ends of her hair; the vibrant sunlight against a harsh winter; a beacon for her hope and constant love to tether on to.

She needed him beside her, around her, always within reach.