I kept my blindfolded gaze in her direction without saying anything. After a while, I sighed, then said, "I'll just take this as a plus, then. We'll know how to proceed from here. I expected my aunt to return today, but it seems that won't be the case. Well, that's a minor thing. What is my mom doing?"
Aurora came straight to my ear and blew air into it before saying, "I was wondering how you would really taste like."
I just kept staring at her without much expression on my face. Then she clicked her tongue before saying, "Tsk. No fun. Well, your mother is heading here."
I nodded, then said, "I have plans set for her. Once she's close to the door, you step out."
Aurora looked at me before saying, "Alright, but I'm not going to help you in this case. Affecting her with my powers more could be troublesome and might end up bringing the opposite result."
I just kept quiet before moving my hands to rub her head, then said, "Don't worry, you've done enough."
————-
Aurora just kept her gaze on him while wondering, "Why does his hand pat feel so comforting? What about him is different? What race is he really?"
She kept looking at him. After a while, they heard footsteps getting close to the door. Aurora already knew Seraphina was heading this way, so she was prepared. Lucian had already been told, so he kept most of his senses focused outside while patting Aurora. As soon as he sensed his mother coming close to the door, he stopped and looked at Aurora before nodding. She nodded back, even though he couldn't see, and she walked to the door.
Before Seraphina could knock, Aurora opened it, saying, "Oh, good evening, Lady Seraphina."
Seraphina replied, "Good evening, little girl. Is Lucian awake yet?"
Aurora replied, "Yes, Dad just woke up not quite long ago. Did you want to speak with him? I'm heading out to get him something. You can come on in."
Seraphina nodded while Aurora shifted to the side to make room so Seraphina could enter. When she got inside, her eyes fell on me immediately. Then she watched as Aurora left the room, closing the door behind her.
—
Seraphina approached her son's bedside with a heavy heart. The sight of him lying there, bandaged and vulnerable, filled her with a complex mix of emotions. There was maternal concern, of course—her child was injured, and instinct drove her to protect and comfort him.
But there was also a different kind of ache, one that both shamed and confused her. Ever since that night when she had forced herself on him in her moment of weakness, she had been unable to look at him the same way. The guilt was crushing, but beneath it was something else—a forbidden attraction she couldn't seem to extinguish.
She had tried to rationalize her actions—grief, loneliness, perhaps even madness brought on by years of repressed desire. But none of these excuses lessened her shame. She had violated the most sacred bond between mother and child, and yet...
And yet, she couldn't stop thinking about it. Couldn't stop remembering how it had felt to be held by him, to be desired again after so many years of emptiness. It was wrong—she knew it was wrong—but the memory refused to leave her.
As she sat beside his bed now, she wondered how she could ever make amends. What kind of mother had she become? And how could she face him after what she had done?
—
I could smell the faint scent of gardenia that always accompanied her, mixed with something else—anxiety, perhaps. She moved closer to the side of my bed, then I heard her call out, "Lucian, how are you feeling?"
She took a chair beside my bedside before asking that. I acted like talking to her was inevitable but still necessary, so I replied, "Well, I'm doing okay. At least most of my injuries don't hurt the way they did before."
"That's good," she replied, though her tone suggested her mind was elsewhere. A heavy silence fell between us.
I waited, letting the tension build. I needed her to be the one to bring it up, to feel the weight of initiating this conversation.
Finally, she spoke, her voice barely audible. "About the other night..."
"Mother, you don't have to—" I began, but she cut me off.
"No, I do," she insisted. "What happened between us was... unforgivable. I took advantage of you in a moment of vulnerability. I was your mother, I was supposed to protect you, and instead I..." She couldn't finish, covering her mouth with her hand as tears welled in her eyes.
I could tell the guilt had already eaten its way to her heart. It was too much, so I acted like I was pained hearing the tone of her voice.
The words felt like they were being torn from Seraphina's throat. She had rehearsed what she would say, how she would apologize, but now that the moment had arrived, she found herself struggling to articulate the depth of her remorse.
How could she explain the inexplicable? How could she make him understand something she hardly understood herself? The sudden overwhelming desire she had felt that night had seemed to come from outside herself, like a possession. And yet, she couldn't deny that somewhere within her, the seeds of that desire must have already existed.
"I don't know what came over me," she whispered, tears falling freely now. "It was like I was someone else—someone terrible. You trusted me, and I betrayed that trust in the worst possible way."
She couldn't bear to look at him as she spoke, afraid of what she might see in his face—disgust, fear, hatred. Any of those would be justified, deserved even. But the thought of her son looking at her with such emotions was almost too painful to bear.
—-
I reached out, taking her free hand in mine. "It wasn't entirely your fault," I said softly. "I could have stopped you, but I didn't."
She looked up at me, confusion evident in her tear-filled eyes, then asked, "Why? Why wouldn't you stop me?"
This was the critical moment—the turn that would determine whether she remained consumed by guilt or became bound to me by something else entirely. I chose my words carefully. Toying with and controlling emotions makes people present themselves in a different way. If I overdid it, then it might work opposite to what I wanted, so I waited in silence before saying:
"I know it must have been hard for you, with no one to be by your side. You have taken care of us even if you didn't show it. You could have gotten married to someone else entirely without much thought, since you are a noble, but you didn't. That shows how much it all means to you. So I understand if you just wanted to be treated as a woman, and I'm glad you did it with me, even if it was by force and my first time."
I made sure to emphasize certain points while inserting multiple suggestions. She replied, "Lucian, that's not—"
But I cut her off before she could continue. "It's okay, Mom. No one will ever know about this, and to be honest, even though I say all this, I can't stop thinking about how I felt last night. And I will say this: I don't regret it."
I said this while turning my face to the other side, as if I were too ashamed to face her while saying it. My mother had her eyes and mouth open, then said, "Lucian, you—"
But I cut her off again, saying, "Yes, I would do it again, even if you didn't force me. I can't tell what happened to me yesterday, but it was heavenly. You were my first. I don't think I will ever see other women the same way I saw you last night. I didn't see you as my mother; I saw you as a woman—as my woman in need. You can call me crazy or insane for having sex with my own mother, but I will say it: I don't regret any of it."
I had already played the victim card enough; it was time to switch to the other side of the coin. Since I would be the one controlling her, I needed to have her in my grasp. I needed to awaken the forbidden desire in her to want me and also see me as a man, not as her son. So I continued:
"I don't know what happened to me after what we had. You can call me immature or young, but you can't deny the fact that I made you feel like a woman last night. I don't know what came over you last night, but I'm glad it happened, because last night, even if I couldn't see you, I felt your body—beautiful, passionate, and in need of comfort. And I... I wanted to be the one to give you that comfort."