Chapter 8: Chapter EIGHT

Ethan was even more amazed than Mia by the discovery of Callis' impressive size. Only humans would choose to dwell in such large communities. The other races all preferred to limit themselves to their close or distant family, or a clan of a maximum of ten individuals. Since humans had disappeared long before he was born, he had never had the chance to roam a human city. They had been largely destroyed during the war, leaving only desolate ruins. He could feel Callis stretching for miles in the circular canyon as he probed Mia's aura, but the young Vila hadn't expected it to be home to so many different individuals.

Adam had taken care, like Shaun for the blonde, to explain each district's delimitation, by specifying to him that he lived in the Pupil on the riverside with his soul mate. It was the privilege of being one of the only Vilas in the city that had actively participated in its construction and supply for many years. His older brother's house would temporarily accommodate the couple since it had been decided that Ethan and Mia would stay at their home for their first nights.

"Irina and I were the best pair of Sentinels for almost two decades. We each have a seat on the Council, although town business hasn't been our priority for a few years. It was starting to get tiring to be always on the roads in the heart of danger after a while, it was time to leave our place to the new generations. Well, it wasn't the only reason..."

His big brother did not finish his sentence and stopped in front of a wooden gate that surrounded bushes hiding the house behind the vegetation. Ethan could only see the first and last floors of the house before they entered the property which he guessed was their final destination for the day. The young Vila followed him without a word through the small paved alley strewn with colorful flowerbeds. When Adam opened the door to the house, a tornado no taller than three apples hurled himself at him, a bright smile on his face.

"Dad!" yelled energetically a small child with a blond head and gray eyes.

Adam smiled, grabbing him by the armpits to wedge him against his hip, holding him down with his right arm. Ethan was frozen behind, staring intently at the scene unfolding before him. His big brother had made it clear to him that a few surprises still awaited him, but he would never have guessed that he was talking about a toddler. Which made him his uncle. Within an hour, he discovered a living brother and a nephew. He still couldn't process the fact that part of his immediate family had lived a whole life – and happy, at first glance – without him suspecting anything. Between the forced separation of the couple and the revelations of his brother, the shock had created a stormy tumult in his mind which was already beginning to turn into a stubborn migraine.

"Right on time!" exclaimed a woman in the next room.

A delicious smell of stew was wafting from what he guessed was the kitchen. Ethan hadn't eaten anything since the day before, but he didn't feel like swallowing anything when he was still so worried about Mia. The only thing he wanted was to find the young woman, the rest was secondary.

However, he followed his brother and nephew into the dining room, where plates were already laid out on a solid wooden table. The house wasn't huge, but the furnishings were fancy enough to show that Adam hadn't lost much in the quality of life since he had to leave the Darcy mansion. At least, they had nothing to complain about in terms of comfort. There were even a few strange pieces of furniture and objects in Ethan's eyes, unaccustomed to human customs, but the whole thing was consistent with the image he had of a warm home.

The little family sat down, Ethan taking the chair his brother pointed out to him, while Adam's wife, Irina, brought the meal home carrying a small pot overflowing with stew. As if to confirm his social observations, the dish was rich in meat and vegetables, which was a sign that the household clearly lacked nothing. Usually, Ethan would probably have enjoyed a healthy meal like this, but he still couldn't bring himself to swallow anything. His stomach was filled with anguish and his appetite choked with fatigue, there was no room for concrete food.

"This is my wife, Irina," Adam introduced when everyone was seated, "and our son, Liam. Make yourself at home, Ethan, please."

Irina was a petite woman with dark brown hair and green eyes. The features of her face were soft, giving her a motherly look that suited her petite frame perfectly. She looked like she was in her thirties, but the beginnings of wrinkles in the hollows of her eyes and lips were beginning to slightly betray her true age. Humans that bonded with Vilas aged much more slowly, which explained why she didn't look the sixties she really must have been.

Liam had his father's facial features, but his most visible physical features clearly came from his mother. He had the thin nose and small eyes of the Darcy family, but his hair was light brown, not blonde, and he had beautiful hazel eyes.

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Good for him that he's not the spitting image of Impervia, Ethan couldn't help but think sincerely, almost relieved.

The trio didn't have that polished, noble family aura that Ethan had grown up accustomed to. No, they looked like a normal family, with two stable and balanced parents. Seeing them like this somewhat rekindled the flame of hope that threatened to go out in the young Vila's heart as he thought of the bleak future that was in store for Mia and himself. His brother was proof that getting rid of their mother was possible, but he still feared that the young couple would unfortunately not escape it. After all, they didn't have the benefit of being considered dead.

"Thanks."

Politeness compelled him to accept being fed, so he helped himself to a light plate which he began to eat slowly, a lump in his stomach and a knot in his throat.

"Liam is the reason we stopped fighting," Irina began to explain, looking tenderly at her son.

"Is he your first child?" asked Ethan, who saw the discussion as a way to distract him from his lack of appetite.

Vilas might have a little more trouble conceiving than humans, but forty years for a first child was a very long time, even for them. Typically, a soulmate couple would conceive within the first five years of being bonded, driven by their Vila instincts. After one or two children, the woman was no longer or very little fertile. Vilas were not intended to become large families.

“Yes,” Adam replied sadly.

“A spell scarred my womb during the war, just before we found refuge in Callis. Even with my healing abilities accelerated through the link and with the help of the best doctors in town, the spell was complex and it took me years to heal enough for my body to be able to conceive."

"We had completely lost hope," Adam continued, smiling at his wife, "but Liam finally arrived six years ago. He took us by surprise."

The child devoured his plate as if he hadn't eaten in days, not the least bit interested in the conversation, nor in his uncle whom he had just met for the first time. He didn't even give him a look during the whole meal, which suited Ethan, who was not comfortable with children. When you grew up in such a cold, sanitized home with no contact with other people your age, you didn't know how to act with children. Especially when it was about his nephew whose existence he had been unaware of a few minutes earlier.

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