“B—but that is impossible, Aiyisha,” Retired Alpha, Joffrey von Sterling stuttered in disbelief.
“Oh, but it very much is possible, father...” She said coolly, and then turning to the girl in question, she ordered, “Now, why don’t you tell him how true that is, Yelena?”
Tears stood in the brunette haired wolf’s eyes as she mourned her relationship with the female Alpha before her secret had been found out. As it was now, she did not think it would be restored back in any way. Even she could see how the whole thing looked— hiding such a huge thing as being the old retired Alpha’s daughter.— What else could it be for if she truly did not have ill intentions?
It did not even matter that that was not the case… that was most certainly not how she was going to come across in the eyes of anyone who heard the story.
“It is true my lord... you are my father,” She admitted at the female Alpha’s cold push, her eyes downcast in respect and sadness, but all she got for her confession was some more confusion on the part of Lord Joffrey. “B—but how?”
“My mother was Inger Aamodt... she used to work at the Creighton Brothel which you used to frequent in your youthful days.” She explained. Lord Joffrey’s eyes lit up in recognition of the name and the location and then his sharp blue eyes scrutinised her carefully, as though he was trying to see if he could pick up any similarities between her and the Inger he remembered. Whatever he saw—and he saw a lot—was still not enough to make him believe her story, and he told her so. “How do I know you are not lying... what is your name?”
“Yelena, my lord,” She quickly replied.
“Well, how do I know you are not lying, Yelena?” He repeated the question once again, adding her name for emphasis, “For all I know, you are a crafty crook who someway somehow stole that ring and infiltrated my palace in order to come in here and cause chaos and confusion!” He spat out venomously.
To be honest, it hurt.
Very much.
The father she had always watched from afar, calling her a crafty crook on the day of reckoning.
It fucking hurt. And you want to know the funny part?
He was not wrong to think that.
Yelena had come to the Palace with the mission of revealing herself to her father, but even she had seen how foolhardy the entire plan was at one point, and she had dropped it.
She was glad she had.
Because now, as she stood there, receiving series upon series of questions, she found that she had no answers... if anything at all, she rather had more questions herself!
“She is not lying, father...” Aiyisha came to her defence, albeit begrudgingly, suddenly realising in that moment why perhaps, her ‘sister’ had not come out with her fantastic secret.
She had had no idea how to go about it.
“And how do you know this?” The retired Alpha snapped at his daughter, shame and embarrassment making him defensive. At that point, he would have given anything to know what Aiyisha was thinking, for she was a blank, careful mask of stone. She became like that most times when they argued, her own way of running away when things became too tough, he guessed.
“I know this because she carries our family birthmark too, father.” Came the Alpha’s reply. Yelena looked at her in confusion, not knowing which birthmark she was talking about for she rather did have quite a few of those on her body.
Without another word, Aiyisha pulled up the left sleeve of her tunic and showed Yelena her birthmark, a star shaped brown coloured print in the inside of her upper arm. The brunette omega wolf’s eyes widened in disbelief.
She also had the same mark at the exact location!
She showed it to the old wolf.
“You are my child,” He said in amazement. Lord Joffrey’s family, the von Sterlings seemed to have been blessed, or cursed— he didn’t know which one it was exactly—with that birthmark. Both men and women sported it, in that same location, almost as though some deity had marked them as his or her chosen generation. For a long time it had made them feel special.
The old Lord’s statement warmed Yelena’s heart to no end. One sentence of admission. It was exactly what she had been dreaming of hearing for years now— her father claiming her as his.
In all her imaginations, it never went down well, but this... this was not so bad. The only thing ruining the happy moment was how it seemed she had betrayed her Alpha in the process of wanting to keep her secret hidden.
“Come closer, and let me take a look at you,” The old wolf croaked, smiling when his illegitimate daughter did as he had asked.
“I guess I will leave you two to it then,” Aiyisha concluded sharply and then walked out, but Yelena followed her, “Alpha, please wait,”
“Oh cut the crap, why don’t you go right ahead and call me Aiyisha... we are sisters after all are we not?” The sarcasm was not lost on Yelena, but she was not going to give up. “I deserve every bit of your anger and your coldness, but please, hear me out,” She pleaded, tears in her eyes. “Just for a second, put yourself in my shoes,” Yelena turned and saw two guards, standing stiff, but looking every bit interested in their conversation, “We can’t talk here,”
“Come, let’s go to the library then,” Aiyisha begrudgingly agreed, leading the way.
“I’m listening,” She said when the door closed behind them, “Whatever it is you have to say, you had better make it fast, I have things to do,”
“Very well,” Yelena nodded, taking in a deep breath, her eyes taking on a lost in thought look. “The night before I came to work here, I tossed and turned all night, trying to figure out the best way to break the news that I carried. I decided that I’ll do it as soon as I was given clearance to talk to Alpha Joffrey... but that was crazy, I quickly realised. As much as I badly needed a family to be a part of, I needed to know what I was getting into first as well. I came to find that he had a daughter already... one who was older than me, one who was perfect in every way...” She shot the Alpha a sad smile, “And then I became heartbroken.”
Aiyisha badly wanted to ask why, but something held her back.
“It became clear to me,” Yelena swallowed deeply and continued, “That I was not needed. At least if he had a son, then I could have said he may have wanted a daughter... or if I was a boy I could have justified my sudden re-appearance, claiming that he may have wanted a son since he already had a daughter. But it did not seem right. I did not want to come between a family, and I was also doing just fine in the kitchens... and so I decided to give living in the Palace— working in the Palace a chance. It was the best decision I ever made.”
“Just get to the point already.” Aiyisha scolded tiredly, not really wanting to show just how much her sister’s words were getting to her.
“You someway somehow took a liking to me, I do not know how that happened... and made me your handmaiden... and truth be told, I almost told you when I came to see how genuinely nice you were... but then I reasoned that it would have been for nothing anyway.” Yelena finished with a shrug.
“What do you mean by for nothing anyway?’ The Alpha asked in puzzlement.
“Well by then, I had decided I was not going to tell him that I was his child anymore. I had seen your relationship with him, and I figured, he has had her since birth and he does not care about her in any way, what would he do with an illegitimate child like me then?”
This time, tears stood in the female Alpha’s eyes. Everything was starting to make sense now.
“The void in my heart was filled by Adua’s presence and our occasional times together, and I stopped thinking about all of it.” Yelena took a deep, shaky breath. “I was doing just fine.”
“Oh Yelena,” Aiyisha inched closer to her younger half-sister, “I was so rash, I should have come to you with my suspicions,” She apologised, suddenly feeling very guilty. She hated her father’s fiery temper, but even she knew she had it too. She had been so consumed by anger that she hadn’t even thought things through, she had just wanted to let them all know that she knew their dirty little secrets... so consumed by that want that she had not had the time... or the sense to think about anything else.
And who could blame her, really?
To be honest, it hurt.
To think her father, who used to drone on and on about her mother and the love they had for each other, would go and have an illegitimate child was enough to crush anyone’s spirit.
I mean don’t get me wrong, he was only part human, part wolf after all, and he was bound to submit to his physical instincts at some point, but Aiyisha thought that a love as true as her parents’ was, was bound to surpass anything.
It hurt to know that she thought wrong.
“I can understand the reason behind your actions, Alpha... so I guess even I cannot hold it against you.” Yelena gracefully accepted her elder sister’s apology. Her elder sister.
She who had been without family for so long... and now she had a father and a sister. Granted, she had known about them for quite some time now, but they did not know her... they had not accepted her.
Now, they had.
“Please, call me Aiyisha, sister...” The Alpha she wolf grinned, her blue eyes shining with so much love, and remnants of regret and guilt as she stared at the younger wolf. They looked nothing alike, save for the birthmarks they shared, but they were surely going to learn to love one another... if they didn’t already feel that way—that much Aiyisha was sure.
“Alright, Aiyisha...” Yelena bowed her head gratefully, a wonderful smile of relief and joy on her face. “So what happens now?” She asked.
The blonde haired she wolf mulled over the question for some time, “We are done here, so I guess you should go and see our father now... you know, ask him all your questions and hear what he has to say,”
“A—aren’t you going to come with me?” Yelena asked in confusion, finding that she rather dreaded the one on one encounter with the old blue eyed wolf who was supposed to be her father.
“No, I would rather not.” Aiyisha responded, a wry smile on her face, “I do not know if you have noticed this, but father and I’s relationship is on rather shaky grounds, and I do not think anything can possibly restore it. It is best if I leave you to have this moment with him alone.” She lay a hand on her sister’s shoulder lovingly, “But who knows? You may very well still have a chance to fix your relationship with him... do take advantage of this chance, and make sure it does not pass you by.” Those were her last words, and then she exited the library with a smile, leaving her younger sister to ponder in silence.