Page 32 of The Dark Elf's Secret Baby
I try to smother the urge, gripping the fence even harder beneath my hands. Layla would kill me if she found out I approached her son without permission, especially with things being the way they are between us right now. She wouldn’t even let me inside the house last night, and I can’t help but feel like that was because her son was somewhere sleeping inside.
Despite my overwhelming desire for answers, to just have a conversation with the child, the last thing I want to do is betray her trust- what little I have left of it.
Even in light of my conclusion, however, it still seems so incredibly unfair, to have to watch someone who may potentially be my child grow up without me, to never be given the opportunity to know them or love them. Even without knowing the little boy, my heart aches to be near him.
I sigh, steeling myself. It wouldn’t be right for me to go behind Layla’s back or against her wishes as his mother, no matter who I may be to the child. I allow myself one last glance at the boy before I go, only to find he’s already looking at me.
The second our violet eyes lock, the little boy is on his feet, running at me in a mad dash with a silly grin on his face. My heart melts in my chest, becoming nothing but a sopping pile of goo as I watch his fine hair bounce around his face until he’s standing before me, nothing but a thin fence of reeds separating us as he cranes his neck to look up at me.
“Play?” He asks excitedly, waving his little toy around enthusiastically. “Play with me?”
I couldn’t say no to that face if I wanted to, consequences be damned.
The little boy squeals with delight as I nod, and my heart reforms just to melt all over again. Hopping over the fence, I let him grab my hand, leading me back toward the little sandpit he’d been playing in a few moments earlier.
At his rather vehement direction, I help build up little sandpiles for him to crash his toy through, his intensity pulling laughs from me. He’s thrilled with my reaction, making his movements even more dramatic and looking at me expectantly, waiting for me to smile or laugh for him.
“What’s your name?” I ask him after a few moments. I’d tried to avoid saying much, if only to respect what’s left of Layla’s wishes, but I’ve already come too far. I have to know.
“Jasper,” The little boy replies, pausing his game to look up at me. “What’s your name?”
“Kerym,” I smile back at him. Jasper nods thoughtfully, as if I’ve just confirmed something he’s long suspected, before going back to his game. This little boy has thoroughly claimed my heart, in every sense of the word.
I love him, I would kill and die for him- he has to be my son, there’s no other explanation. What’s going to happen to him when Layla inevitably succumbs to her bronchite marias? Who will take care of him?
It wouldn’t surprise me to know that Layla has kept her illness a secret from him, trying to protect him from the uglier truths of the world. He’s so young, so full of joy- I would understand if she’d tried to preserve that in the face of such a damning situation, but at the same time, should he not know that there will come a time, possibly one day soon, where he has to be without his mother?
“Can you do magic?” Jasper asks. The sound of his little voice helps to chase away the dark heaviness that had crept into my chest, thinking about Layla’s diagnosis and what it may mean for Jasper. I smile and nod conspiratorially at him, and his eyes widen as a matching smile spreads over his face.
“Show me!” He shrieks excitedly, his toy instantly forgotten as he plops down inches away from my lap, staring up at me. With a snap of my fingers, I produce an enlarged snowflake that hives over my hand, the intricate design of the ice glistening in the hot island sun. Jasper gasps animatedly, reaching out his little fingers to feel the snowflake and retracting them at the chill.
“It’s cold!” He squeals, his eyes darting between mine and the snowflake. My smile widens as I watch him stare in wonder before I launch the snowflake up, letting it flutter to the ground and melt hardly a second later.
“Again! Again!” Jasper chants, and I’m about to oblige him when I see a blur of brown and tan racing toward us over his shoulder.
It’s Layla, her eyes ablaze with the promise of violence, striding toward us.
20
Layla
You have got to be fucking kidding me!
I can practically feel the steam billowing out of my ears as I race toward Kerym and Jasper, huddled together on the far side of the playground. Howdarehe go behind my back and involve himself with my child?
As if I wasn’t angry enough with him last night, he’s going to go and do this? If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he had a death wish!
The snowflake flutters to the ground as I approach, having the good sense to melt before I can stomp on it the way that I’m picturing stomping on Kerym’s face. After having some time to sit with our fight, and plenty of time to cry over everything when Kerym left last night, I thought maybe I’d overreacted.
It’s only natural that he’d have questions, coming to find me after I disappeared years ago only to find me with a little boy that bears a startling resemblance to him, but I wasn’t ready to talk yet. I don’t know how I’m supposed to navigate this situation, and his brash way of going about things scared me as much as it frustrated me.
But now this? Going behind my back and knowingly disrespecting my wishes for my child, all in an attempt to play daddy with a child he’s never so much as spoken to? This is a new level, even for a dark elf.
Kerym’s smile drops off of his face the second he sees me barreling toward the two of them. Good, at least it seems he has the sense to know that what he’s doing is wrong.
I only wish he’d let that stop him from interfering with Jasper in the first place.
Jasper seems to note Kerym’s changed expression and follows his line of sight, turning until two pairs of violet eyes are pinned on me instead of one. Rather than the slack-jawed surprise and tinge of fear in Kerym’s eyes, however, Jasper’s light up with excitement when he sees me.