Chapter 14
Conner Penn grinned ruefully at his sons. "Hello boys."
Neither of the boys, nor their father moved for a long while.
"Why?" Artha asked eventually, his voice a croak. "We thought you were dead, but you were here the whole time? Why would you do that to us?"
"You had to believe in yourself Artha," Conner said, "And you couldn't, wouldn't, be able to do that if I was here for you to lean on."
"So I could lean on Mortis?" Artha asked, his voice bitter, biting.
"You wouldn't lean on Mortis as much as you would on me," Conner said.
"Whatever," Artha turned back to Gwen and Gawain. "Lance, can you go get Beau please?"
Artha saw his brother nod out of the corner of his eye and run off to find the older boy.
"Artha," Conner said, and Artha could sense that his father was reaching out for him without even looking.
"Don't," Artha bit out, his knuckles white where he was gripping the edge of the bassinet both of the twins were in. "Just, leave. Beau won't be too happy when he gets here."
Conner pulled his hand back. "I'll talk to you later?" he asked, voice hopeful.
"Maybe," Artha said, his voice cold and hard.
Artha heard Conner sigh and leave the room.
"Artha?" Beau asked, entering the room a few minutes after Conner left. "What happened?"
"Mortis," Artha choked out, starting to shake. "He-he's my dad."
Beau made a soft sound low in his throat. "I thought you'd be happy, finding he was still alive," he said softly.
"I thought I would be," Artha murmured truthfully. "But this way, this time," Artha bit his lip. "After everything, and all this time…I almost feel like he didn't even care about me. Just Lance."
"You know that's not true," Beau said, kissing Artha lightly. "When was the last time you got any sleep?" he asked when Artha yawned.
"A while," Artha said, "Not sure how long."
"Bedtime," Beau said, picking Artha up.
Artha mumbled a protest into Beau's shoulder, but he was asleep before Beau reached their bedroom.