Page 82

“Why did you not form a family with this... Gideon male?”

Her features tightened. “A sickness tore through our town and his, uh, parents fell ill. My parents took him in while they tried to recover, but they eventually passed away. He was adopted into our family.”

“A... dopted?”

“It means to take someone else’s child and make them your own. It happens when either the parents die, can’t take care of them properly, or just don’t want them. He became my brother, although... that isn’t really the reason we never married. We still could have, since we weren’t related.”

“Then why not? If he was special to you, would you not want to form a bond with him?”

“I did.” Emerie awkwardly laughed. “I grew up thinking we would, especially since my parents pushed for it because he was such a sweet boy who had always been respectable towards me. But he, uh, he liked men, not women.”

Ingram’s head jerked to the side, causing the sound of dried bones to rattle from him. “He liked males? I do not understand why this would matter.”

Why do I keep having to have the birds and the bees chat with him?!Emerie almost rolled her eyes.Then again... this was more like the bees and the bees chat,she thought with humour.

“So, remember how I explained that men and women would get together to make a baby? Well, that’s not always the case. Sometimes women and women, or men and men will form a bond and be together. They prefer to be with their own sex.”

“Then it does not matter the gender of your partner?”

“No, only that they are the one who makes you happy.”

His orbs brightened in their yellow hue once more. “I see. So you could not make him happy because you are female?”

“That’s a weird way to put it, but yes.” Emerie scratched the side of her head in annoyance. “It was really hard for me to accept it, to be honest.”

“You were not approving of this... pairing?” Why did his voice hold a hint of disappointment?

“It was more that I’d had this big plan in my head for my future, all of it involving him, and I felt like that had been ripped away from me. I guess I was also really angry that he’d hidden something so important from me, and I found out by accident when I was seventeen and found him and his boyfriend at the time doing...thingswhen I came home early from working the farmlands. It’d been really hurtful to accidentally find who I thought would be my future husband in bed with someone else, no matter their gender.”

“What was he doing that was so bad it hurt you?”

Emerie’s eyes widened, and she looked at the ground.

She couldn’t say it was hugging, since she’d hugged Ingram and didn’t want him to make his own weird thoughts about that. However, she didn’t want to explain sex to him in general, not just pertaining to men on men.

“Annnnyway,” she said slyly. “I eventually realised it had nothing to do with me, and I just wanted him to be happy, even if it wasn’t with me.” She turned a bright smile at Ingram to show just how sincere she was about that. “The reason he’d never told me is because he knew how I felt and didn’t want to hurt me. He didn’t trust me, and discovering it made me realise there had always been a barrier between us. Once I accepted we weren’t the right fit for each other, I truly began to see him as my older brother and our relationship grew really strong. He was my best friend, and he meant the world to me.”

“If this is true, then where is he? Or is it like how Mavka arebrothers? We often venture near each other, but we don’t remain in each other’s presence for long.”

“He is... in heaven,” she answered sadly.

Tilting his head, Ingram leaned forward a little. “Why do you look saddened by this? Can you not just visit him, or is heaven far away?”

Emerie didn’t know why she found his words funny. Perhaps it was because it allowed her to say Gideon was gone, without having to say just how permanently.

“Yes, Ingram. Heaven is far, but I’ll visit him one day.”

“Once we destroy the Demon King, I can come with you, so you are safe. We can find Aleron along the way.”

Tears dotted her eyelashes, and she blinked them away as best she could. The fact he wanted to keep her safe was sweet, but that wasn’t a journey he could come with her on. She didn’t want to tell him that, in case he took it the wrong way – like she didn’t want him by her side.

However... something he said allowed her to avoid it altogether. Something that had her gaze darting to him and her features crinkling into a deep frown.

“What do you mean, find Aleron along the way? Where is he?”

She’d assumed he was dead.Was I wrong?

Lifting his skull towards the sky to gaze at the stars beginning to sparkle, his orbs turned blue. “He is in the afterworld. But I will find a way to go there and bring him here, so I can see him again like you will see your Gideon person.”