Tait stood down the road from the house he had learned belonged to his father. He had returned to the village three days ago, but he had not seen Seri. He still felt so conflicted. He did not know if he could believe his mother when she said Cain was not his father. She had lied about everything else, and she could be lying about his origin so that he would be more willing to kill the man. He had to put his mind at ease. He had to know for sure.

It had not taken Tait long to find out where Mani lived, but he had been standing near the market, watching the small house from behind the corner of a building. He had been watching the house for hours, trying to muster the courage to knock on the door. It was getting late.

Tait took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. He then walked over to the door and knocked loudly to be heard over the wind. It took a few minutes, but then a woman answered the door. She was probably in her late thirties. With long blond hair. She looked him over. “Can I help you?” She asked.

“I wish to speak to Mani.” He barely managed.

“Who is it, Sanna?” A man’s voice came from inside. Was that his father?

“There is a man at the door asking for you.” She said, looking back over her shoulder. “Do come in out of the wind.” She offered, stepping aside.

Tait went inside, and Sanna closed the door blocking out the bitter chill of the autumn air. It was a small three-room home: a small main living area and two rooms. One for Mani and the woman who answered the door, which Tait assumed was Mani’s wife, and their children. There were three of them. There was a boy of perhaps fourteen and another that could not be more than ten. And a small girl of five who was sitting on the lap of the man Tait assumed was Mani.

Mani eased his daughter off his lap, and he stood up. He came to stand in front of Tait, looking him over with great interest. “Do I know you?” Mani asked.

Tait looked the man over. Mani was a man in his late forties. His hair was long and thick, black as night, and his bearded was full but short. His face was wind burnt, and his eyes were dark. He was a large man with a muscular build. Tait was astonished as he looked this man over. “I look just like you.” He whispered half to himself. This confirmed in his mind that this man was indeed his father.

“Excuse me?” Mani said, confused.

“I am Tait.” He barely managed his introduction. “I am your son.”

The house went deathly still. Not a sound could be heard besides the wind outside the closed shutters. “Excuse me?” Mani eventually said.

“I am your son,” Tait repeated.

“You must have me confused with someone else.” He gestured to the other kids in the room. “These are my children.”

“Yes, I can see that,” Tait said. “I, too, am your child. My mother named you.”

“Your mother is a liar.”

“Yes, she is. But I do not believe she has lied about this. You are my father.”

“Who is your mother?” Mani demanded.

“Lotta.” Mani and Sanna shared a look, and Mani’s back straightened and his shoulders squared.

“Mavis,” Sanna called to their eldest son. “Take your brother and sister to your grandmother’s house for the night. I will fetch you in the morning.” She instructed. They all stood in silence as the kids collected their things and left the house. Sanna gestured to the table. “Please, I think it best if we all sit down.”

The three of them took their seats, and Mani stared at Tait. “Your mother is Lotta?” Tait nodded. “Cain’s Lotta?” Tait nodded again. “You are the unborn child?” He nodded again. “I do not understand. You cannot be my son. I never slept with that woman.”

“She said you were drunk,” Tait told him.

Mani sighed. “Well, that is possible. I was young. I was drunk often.”

“She said she used you to get pregnant so she could frame the King,” Tait explained.

Mani nodded. “Yup, that sounds like Lotta.” Sanna placed a supportive hand on her husband’s arm, and he placed his free hand over hers. “You do look like me.”

“He is the spitting image of you at his age,” Sanna told her husband.

“You said she named me?”

“When I confronted her about her lie. She named you. I made her. I needed to know. All my life, she had told me you were dead, murdered by Cain.”

“That I believe.”

“When I discovered her lies and had to know. I had to know who my father was. She named you.”

“I just do not remember the encounter.” Suddenly Mani got a strange look like he recalled something. “I remember I was drinking one night. I was very drunk. I was staggering home, and Lotta offered to help me because I could barely stand. She walked me home. I remember she put me in my bed and then I passed out.”

“She must have had her way with you after you passed out,” Sanna said. “She raped you while you were sleeping.”

“Is that possible?” Tait asked.

Sanna laughed. “With him, yes. See, the mind is elsewhere clouded my ale, but the body is still responsive to stimulation. He was young; it would not have taken much to get him ready. He may have even faded in and out of consciousness while she did it. To him, it would have just felt like a dream.”

Mani shuddered. “I feel violated.”

“However it happened, Tait must be the overall product,” Sanna said. “If you could not remember the encounter, then you could not claim her child. It allowed her to blame the King.”

“I would not put it past her,” Mani said. “I am sorry. I know the woman is your mother, but the Lotta I knew was a vicious lying bitch.”

“She has not changed,” Tait muttered.

Mani took a deep breath and ran both hands over his face trying to get a grip on the idea that he had a son he had never known. “This is just so much. I have another son. A grown man.” Mani shook his head. “I am sorry.”

“For what?” Tait asked.

“For not being there while you grew up.” He reached across the table and took Tait’s hand. “Had I known, had I any idea at all… I would have been there. I am sorry that you grew up with no man to guide you.”

“Where are you staying?” Sanna asked.

Tait shrugged his shoulders. “I do not know.”

“Mani,” Sanna said, “he is your flesh and blood.”

Mani nodded. “You will stay here with us until we can find you a more permanent lodging.”

“I do not want to be a burden.”

“You are my son,” Mani said with a smile. “This is what fathers do.”

“Thank you.”

“We have a lot of time to make up for.”

“I will pour us some ale,” Sanna said, standing up, “And we can get to know each other.” Sanna placed her hand on Tait’s shoulder and smiled at him. “Do not fret Tait; you will never be alone again.”

***

They drank and talked for hours. Mani told him stories of his youth and Tait realized he had more in common with his father than just their dark looks. He was telling him about the women he had encountered in the past. Tait was surprised his wife did not get upset at the mention of her husband’s past exploits. “What about you?” Mani asked.

“What about me?”

“Do you have a girl?”

“No.” Tait shook his head.

“A fine looking man like you and there is no girl?” Sanna laughed, and Tait smiled as he looked down into his mug. “You do fancy someone. Who is she?”

“It does not matter. That ship has sailed. There can be no future with her.” Tait said.

“Does this girl have a name?” Sanna asked.

“It is Seri, right?” Mani said, knowingly. “I was in the hall when you stood up and made a bid for her hand. Were you making a bid for the throne or a bid for the girl?”

Tait hung his head. “The girl. I met Seri when we were younger. She became my only friend, and as time passed, I fell in love with her.” He tried to keep the emotion out of his tone. “Now, she will marry another.”

“If you truly love this girl, why not try again?” Mani suggested.

“How could I?” He asked. “How can I ask her to love me when my mother tried to murder her father.” He felt his heart grow heavy. “When I came here to kill her father.”

“You came to kill Cain?” Mani asked.

“All my life, since the cradle, my mother told me Cain was evil. That he had murdered my father in a jealous rage, she said the Gods had blessed her with a son so that I might one day kill the man who took my father. She made me believe I was doing Odin’s bidding. That I was righting some cosmic wrong. I believed her. I came here to kill Cain, but I loved his daughter more than I hated him. That’s how I learned that my entire life was a lie. Cain was not the great evil my mother raised me to believe. He is a good a man and my mother, the woman who gave me life, is absolutely insane.”

“None of that is your fault,” Mani told him.

“Will Seri see it that way? Will Cain? I came here with the sole intention of assassinating the King. How can I ask his daughter to love me? It is better for her that I let her go.”

“By giving up Seri, you give up your chance at the throne.” Mani reminded him. “You could be King.”

“All my life, Mother told me I was destined for the throne. That rightfully, it was mine. If I can be so easily duped, I do not deserve to be King.”

Sanna stood up and collected their empty mugs. “Come now; the sun is rising. We should all get some sleep before the kids come home. Tait, you may sleep in Mavis’ bed. It is just through that door.”

Tait rose to his feet. “Thank you again for your kindness.”

“You are more than welcome, my son.” Sanna smiled. Tait smiled he kind of liked hearing her call him her son. Tait then headed into the room and laid down on one of the beds. He closed his eyes and faded into sleep.

***

Cain kissed his wife who sat propped up on the table her legs around his waist her skirt pushed up and out of his way. Cain’s mouth moved over her neck as his hands slid up over her thighs. Twenty years and she still excited him to no end. A knock on the door broke their heated kiss. Cain looked up and purred as Zahra kissed his neck. “Go away,” Cain yelled at whoever was behind the door.

“Someone requests an audience with the King.” A servant called back.

“Not now.” He growled as Zahra tugged the laces of his breeches. The door opened, and Mani let himself in and paused by the door. Cain stepped back and pulled Zahra’s skirt down for modesty. Then he fixed his breeches and glared at Mani, who was grinning and trying not to laugh. “Honestly, what is the point of being King if no one listens to me?”

“Am I interrupting?” Mani asked smugly.

“Clearly.” Cain snarled.

“Good,” Mani said, taking a seat at the table as Zahra hopped off. “Good day, Zahra.” Mani nodded at her.

“Good day, Mani.”

“Good day… good morrow… goodbye.” Cain said, pointing at the door, hoping Mani would take the hint and leave.

Mani smiled at Zahra. “He gets testy when he does not get any loving.”

“Do not speak to my wife like that.” Cain snarled with annoyance as he took a seat at the table. Zahra came to stand next to him with her hands on his shoulders. “So, do tell what has brought you by today to ruin all my fun?”

“I need to confide in you,” Mani said with a serious expression which alarmed Cain. Mani was rarely ever serious.

“Alright, confide in your King.”

“I would rather confide in my friend.”

Now Cain knew it was something big if Mani was playing the friend angle. Cain leaned forward with great interest. He reached up and removed his crown, placing it on the table between them. “Alright, man to man, friend to friend… what is wrong?”

Mani turned his eyes to Zahra. “I would prefer to have this conversation alone.”

Cain took Zahra’s hand to stop her from leaving. “I have no secrets from my wife. Whether you tell her now or I tell her later, she will know.”

Mani nodded his approval and Zahra pulled up a seat. “You remember the outlander?”

“Tait?” Mani nodded. “He was here, and then he was gone. What about him?” Cain asked.

“He has returned.”

“Has he?”

Mani opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, and then he closed it, having not said a word. It was clear he was struggling with what he had come to say. “The boy is my son.”

Cain had not been expecting that. “He is your son?” Cain repeated.

“How do you know that?” Zahra asked.

“I just know.”

“He told us his father was murdered,” Cain said.

“That is what his mother had told him. He now knows it not to be true.” Mani said.

“Why would any mother lie about that?” Zahra asked. It was a good question when a father played such an important roll in a boy's life. Why would any loving mother deprive her child of that critical relationship?

“Because she wanted him to believe Cain murdered his father,” Mani confessed.

“Why?” Cain asked with surprise.

“Because she was grooming him to assassinate you.”

“Assassinate me? Why?”

“Because you scorned her,” Mani said, and Cain shook his head as a horrible pit formed in his belly. “He is Lotta’s son.” Cain sat back as he dragged both his hands over his face. Twenty years later and that bitch was still trying to kill him.

“You have got to be shitting me,” Cain said, and then he looked at his wife. “Excuse my language, My Dear.”

“No, I am right there with you. Are you serious? Tait is Lotta’s child?”

“Yes.” Mani nodded. “She poisoned his mind from birth with lies. She raised him to believe you had killed me in a jealous rage. She groomed him to kill you. Told him you were some great evil and that it was his destiny to take your throne.” Cain did not know what to say. “He knows now that it had all been lies. He is devastated to discover his mother had used him. He means you no harm… not any more. He is staying with me for now. I thought you should know.”

“How do you know this is not just part of his plan to get us to lower our guard?”

“I do not think it is,” Mani said. “He just wants a chance at a real life.”

Cain looked at his wife. “What does your intuition tell you?”

Zahra thought for a moment. “I trust Mani’s judgment. If he believes Tait is no threat, then I believe him. We should give the boy a chance.”

“You banished him.” Cain reminded her.

“No, I never banished him. I banished his mother. It was just his misfortune to be her child. I say we let him rejoin the clan. He has done nothing wrong. We should not punish him for his mother’s sins.”

“There is more,” Mani told them.

“More?” Cain asked, not sure he could handle more.

“He is in love with Seri.”

“He loves Seri?”

“Deeply, but he feels like he does not deserve her,” Mani said.

Cain stood up, planting both hands on the table he leaned in and looked Mani in the eye. “He does not deserve her. He will never be King. I will never allow it. That bitch is not going to put her son on my throne. I will exterminate her bloodline before I allow her to win.” He growled and stormed out of the room.

Mani sat at the table with Zahra in silence. “Well, I think he took that well.” Mani sighed.

Zahra took Mani’s hand in hers. “Do not worry. He is angry. Her very name sends him into a rage. He will calm down. Do not fear for your son. I will make sure no harm comes to him. You have my word.”

Mani squeezed her hand and offered her an uncertain smile. “Thank you, Your Majesty” He then stood up. “I will take my leave.”