Fathom(51)

Not sure whether this was the right time, I hesitated. He’d already been through so much. Would it be wise to ask him to rehash what happened?

“You want to know what happened, don’t you?”

“Yes.” I answered.

His arms tightened around me. “It took us a long time to track him down. He was in Australia. Herra and Akin weren’t with him. When we found him, he had no clue what we were talking about. It was as if his mind had been wiped clean of ever knowing about The Shadow. He remembered The Judgment and everything that happened before that, but nothing after it. He couldn’t even remember how he had gotten to Australia. Someone with great powers took his memories from him. Who could do that? It doesn’t make any sense. Troen could, but he wouldn’t. Once the powers are handed over, the former ruler doesn’t interfere in any way.”

Thayde frowned and clenched his jaw. “Limus’ hatred for me was so evident. I didn’t know what I did for him to hate me so much.”

I wriggled out of his arms and sat facing him. His pale eyes shone with tears.

“Baby, I know this is hard for you. It always has been. You were six when your mother passed. By all means, Limus is your father, but he’s never acted like one.” I held his hand. I didn’t know what to say. “I’m so sorry, Thayde.”

“I wanted to kill him. I’ve never wanted to kill anyone before. I know as long as he lives, you’re going to be in danger and I can’t have that.” Thayde seemed close to admitting something troubling. Shaking, he sat up.

“I tried to kill him,” he admitted. “I couldn’t do it. It’s not that I couldn’t, I just wasn’t able to. He beat me. I’m not as strong as he is.”

“You’re stronger than he is,” I said. “You just don’t have as much experience as he does.”

He shook his head. “He nearly destroyed me right then and there. But he stopped. He said he wanted me to feel the same amount of agony as he had when my mother passed. Tammer asked him why he would do this to me.”

“What did he say?”

Thayde’s gaze dropped and he turned his head away. “He said it was because I killed the only woman he ever loved.”

“You?” I was incredulous. “How on earth did you kill your mother?”

He didn’t answer. His body began to shake and he closed his eyes.

I felt as if my heart would break in two for him. I pulled him in close and he laid his head on my shoulder, wrapping his arms around my waist. I rubbed his back until he stopped shaking.

“I was told not to play near the speed zone,” he finally said. “I was so stupid – I completely forgot. I was playing with a group of manatees who were trying to cross the area. The jet boat races had been going on for two days. When the manatees crossed, I went with them. I didn’t even see the boats coming. One minute I’m holding onto a manatee’s back and then next, I was tossed aside and my mother was sinking through her own blood to the bottom – her head sliced in two.”

The vivid scene made me shudder. The image was so ghastly, I didn’t know what to think. She had died saving her son’s life – something any loving mother would do for her child. Thayde had not killed his mother. Suddenly, it all became very clear to me.

“Limus wants me to die so you can experience the pain he went through when your mother died,” I said.

Limus had to be mad to believe Thayde was responsible for his mother’s death. Perhaps years of being without her had driven him mad. In any case, holding such a vendetta against an innocent child for so long was sickening.

“He’s insane.”

“It doesn’t matter. It can’t be reversed now and when I die, he hopes that you’ll die, too.”

“Well, that’s just not going to happen,” I stuttered, trying to reach for something, anything to say to comfort him. “I’ll think of something.”

Thayde didn’t answer.

“You didn’t do anything wrong, Thayde. Children never do as they’re told. Your mother was a courageous woman. I wish I could have met her.”

“She would have adored you.”

“I’m sure I would have loved her,” I answered. “If she was anything like you, what’s not to love?”

Thayde sat back, wiping his hand across his eyes and leaned against the wall. He looked like death itself.

The thought of Tammer, Thayde, and Ezen unable to locate Herra or Akin weighed heavily on my mind. What were they up to? Where were they? I looked at my hands lying in my lap. They had always been together – the left hand helping the right. Were they plotting against me?