"Of course I will tell Valeron the truth!" Thud yelled, waking up the baby and making him cry.

Yet instead of calming her down, the wailing made her angrier as memories from her past flashed in front of her eyes. Images from another time, when little boys cried, people screamed, and the world around her burned.

"Maybe my father was a monster, but so were those who created the slave collars in the Empire and the Royals who allowed the same tragedy that happened to Balkor to befall countless youths whose only crime was to be talented.

"Yet none of them ended up like him. None of them got their name turned into a swear word. I still remember the day when Tyris stormed the palace. I remember my mother dragging me away to save my life while I cried my father's name.

"I was barely a woman, forced to witness my house being set ablaze while the rest of my family was butchered in front of my eyes. They sacrificed their lives just to buy us the time to escape.

"Without them, my mother and I would have ended up on the gallows right beside my father. We would have been tortured for days just to sate the bloodthirst of the very people who until a day before wors.h.i.+pped us.

"If I were to accept your offer, history would remember me only as a madwoman and my mother and my fallen relatives would have lost their lives for nothing. I owe them more than that, just like I owe my son the true freedom that only power can give him.

"Your deal would make Valeron but a wanderer who has to keep his head down and his name hidden. If I win this war, instead, he'll have everything that was taken away from me and become a better person than my father or I will ever be!

"If I win this war, I'll do everything you just suggested, but I'll be remembered as a Queen dispensing gifts to her subjects instead of a criminal begging for redemption. I won't stand for my child to be persecuted just for who he is like it happened to me.

"Like it happened to Verhen. After everything he did for the Kingdom, he was chased away from his home. How can you ask me to entrust Valeron's happiness to people like that? He needs his mother and I can't be with him if I'm locked away."

"So be it." Leegaain whispered a few words in Dragontongue in the baby's ear and Valeron fell asleep again. "Yet my offer still stands. If you ever change your mind, Jormun knows how to contact me.

"Beware, though. If you lose this war, I won't come to your rescue. If you surrender while you still have the upper hand means that you are truly willing to change. If you do it only once everything is lost, it would just be a way to escape from the consequences of your actions."

The Father of all Dragons handed the small Bahamut to his mother, making sure that she perceived the weight of his life and measured it against her self-serving ambitions.

Then, he Warped away, holding on to the hope that the day when his lost sons Lith and Jormun collided would never come.

***

Griffon Kingdom, Rekar mountain range

After eating dinner, Lith was ready to go back to the Royal Palace, but Kamila asked him to spend the night inside the replica of their dream house that Solus had shaped the tower into.

"We all have gone through a lot during the last few hours and we need some real rest." She said. "On top of that, I'm aware of the risks that going to the Golden Griffon implies and I don't want our last memory together to be a squabble.

"I want all of the parts that comprise your life force to know that you have a family waiting for your return. That you are fighting for more than a stupid Kingdom or a pompous t.i.tle.

"You are fighting for us."

Lith froze at those words, feeling more like a monster than he had ever done. The whole truth about him had been finally exposed and he was now free from the burden of lies and deception.

Yet it also made him feel naked and vulnerable like never before. The secret of his reincarnation was something that Lith hadn't planned to share with anyone and now that the cat was out of the bag, he had no idea how to deal with it.

Also, seeing the pain still lingering in her eyes and how she s.h.i.+fted uncomfortably from one foot to the other made his stomach churn. Jirni had trained Kamila to control her emotions, making such ticks beyond unsettling.

"I know, but I also thought that maybe some distance would make us good." He replied after the silence lasted long enough to become awkward. "I dropped another fireball on you out of the blue and you need some time to process it.

? "If you want, I can drop you by Zinya's if you need company or Protector's if you want someone to talk with. I can spend the night here-"

"Enough with this nonsense, you silly man." She crossed the distance between them, wrapping him in an embrace. "That's exactly what I was talking about. You are thinking like we've already broke up and you have something to make up for.

"We are still together and you don't have to make anything up to me. You didn't choose to come to Mogar nor to take the body of Elina's baby."

"I took Lith's body, you mean. You don't have to avoid saying his name to not hurt my feelings. I know who I really am." The man once called Derek McCoy stood still, without returning the embrace, feeling his new name and ident.i.ty slipping away from him.

"You're wrong. You and only you are Lith. Elina chose your name after your birth, to express the joy and happiness she felt after almost losing you. The baby's name was Strata, after Elina's father." Kamila put his arms around her and embraced him again.

"Really?" The surprise was so great that all of Lith's seven eyes opened wide even though he was in his human form.

"Really. You can ask your mother if you don't believe me." Kamila returned his gaze, allowing his enhanced senses that she was telling the truth.

From so up close, he could hear her heartbeat, feel the blood flowing through her veins, and even smell the subtle changes in her perspiration.

"She changed the name at the last minute because she thought it was bad luck. Her father died young and so almost did you. Lith is the name that Elina gave you and she loves you no less than any other of her children. She and Raaz often wondered where your soul came from after learning that you were part Abomination.

"Yet after a while, they realized they didn't care. No matter who you are, to them you'll always be the baby they held into their arms. The baby who they raised to be the loving and caring son they would die for."