I liked to watch him. I never begged for him to pick me up or read me a bedtime story. That was nurse's job. Father was too special for that. As the goblins and I would tumble in the straw of the throne room I would quietly peak over my shoulder to make sure he was watching. Sometimes he would catch me staring at him. We had the same kind of eyes—the kind that don't quite match up right. He would look at me for only moment. That was all right though. A moment was enough.

He probably thought I was the clumsiest child in the world. I was always getting hurt. He never said if he noticed me jabbing the rose thorn in my thumb or throwing myself down the stairs. As I waited in anticipation for him to come to my room and make the pain go away with his wonderful magic, I dreamed about a time he would smile at me. Perhaps he may even hug me or kiss my forehead. But he never did. He would close his eyes for a moment as if waiting for patience to strike him. His lips would be pursed and he would shake his head and only then would he would he kneel beside my bed and make the pain vanish with only a few words. He would check for any other wounds and after he was satisfied that I was free of further injuries he would leave.

I asked nurse once why he could not smile. She held my chin in her wrinkly hand and sighed. "It is not that His Majesty cannot smile, pet. The trouble is he feels there is nothing to smile about."

I wrinkled my nose at the pure silliness of the statement. Nothing to smile about? What about when Wheedle's tail caught on fire? Or the time the gypsy elves came to dance for coins? Or when Cook made him a cake so large the goblins had to make the door bigger? There were numerous things to smile about and I told her so.

Nurse patted my cheek and gave a chuckle. "So much like your mother, Perla. Always seeing the beauty in life."

I scowled as she walked off. I knew that was the problem. I knew that was the reason that father barely looked at me. Why he never played with me. Why we never talked.

I reminded him too much of my mother.

Nurse took me once to see a statue of her. Father had destroyed all paintings of her but for some reason the Labyrinth made sure he could never reach the statue. Nurse said we looked a lot alike. We had the same brown hair and my pointy ears and high cheeks were clearly from her. But I never saw a resemblance between us. It is difficult to compare oneself to a goddess trapped in stone. While Nurse would take a nap beneath the flowery peach tree guarding her tomb I would trace my finger over the lettering chiseled into the base.

Valenteane.

I only had one memory of her and it is a memory I have tried to lock up and abandon but in some instances it manages to resurface. It slowly creeps into my dreams. Sometimes it is something little, like a horse's scream. Sometimes it's me walking down a dark hallway and suddenly stepping onto a blunt blade with a worn handle. And sometimes I am forced to watch the memory in its entirety. The only way I can tell it is a dream is that I'm the observer who watches as mother shields a younger me with her body.

No one thinks that I remember. But I do. I remember her begging, her crying, and her death. I remember staring up at a faceless horseman as he raised the sword high over his head and then brought it crashing down. I remember mother suddenly turning silent.

I remember my father never smiling at me again.

AbAbAbAbAbA

I never knew my dad. Mom never talked about him and if it were not for health class I probably would have never realized that I even had a dad. There were no photos or cards. I have no memory of him. In fact, the only thing I have of him is the same platinum hair and heterochromia iridum. So I guess he is to blame for me getting teased about having two different color eyes. Who knew you could have daddy issues without having a daddy.

I only asked about him once. I was eight and curious why Katie had a father to take us to get ice cream and I lacked one. Her eyes shined for a moment like she was going to cry but she just sniffed. She chewed her lip a few moments before answering, choosing her words carefully. She said he had to go away. She said he had important things to do and he could not visit because he lived incredibly far away. I nodded like I was really drinking up the lies she was feeding me.

Sometimes I would pretend my father was the hero in whatever novel I was reading. As I got older he slowly morphed into a villain. My favorite was casting him as the wicked goblin king I read about in one of mother's books. I found it stuffed in a drawer of old t-shirts. I don't know why she hid it but I was not stupid enough to tell her I found it. In the day it took me to finish it, it had become my favorite. It was the book I would always read when mom went out on one of her "dates". She was currently seeing a Jack Miller. I was counting down the days till he was out of our lives.

I was waiting around for a man who would come around and make mom smile a real smile. Steven and Adam had come close. I thought for a moment Henry might have gotten to her but just like with all the others she gave them a sad little grin and waved goodbye. I had seen pictures of her beaming when she was younger. I knew she was capable of a full smile but I never saw it in person.

I didn't know if my dad could bring back that smile but I was sure as hell that Jack Miller couldn't. That's why when the doorbell rang I just sat on the couch reading my book, ignoring Jack's flat face peering through the side-window.

"Honestly, Reese could you try and be nice," mom sighed, slipping on her earrings as she moved to the door.

"Nope," I replied, flipping the page. I glanced over at my mother giving herself one last check in the mirror before opening the door. She really was pretty with her long darks locks and big blue eyes. It annoyed me sometimes that we looked nothing alike. She was my best friend and yet it didn't even look like we shared the same DNA.

"Be good," she warned, kissing me on the forehead before following Jack out the door.

The house became strangely quite without my mom. Feeling oddly nervous I pushed deeper into the cushions trying to find some kind of security.

Crash

I bolted upright at the sound of breaking glass behind me. Snapping my head to the side I watched in horrified silence as a dark, clad stranger stepped closer towards me.