Page 69 of Ruled By Fate

She lost it. She laughed so hard that her sides hurt. At first, he smiled, proud of himself for his little joke. Then, he laughed along with her for a while. When she showed no signs of stopping or slowing down, he kept laughing despite himself but grew quietly concerned.

She finally managed a slightly hysterical, “But anyway, how was your day?” Then she cracked up again for a full minute.

This time he just waited for her to calm down. “I’ve had better, though it doesn’t hold a candle to yours.”

That sobered her up. “Oh, your father. I’m so sorry. In all the drama, I didn’t even…” She shook her head quickly, trying to gather her senses. “I’m so sorry, Cameron.”

He shook his head. “There’s no need to apologize. You’ve been through more in the past week than any mortal should ever have to deal with.”

She studied his face. “What happened?”

He shifted uncomfortably. “I told my people about your predicament.”

“All of it?”

“All of it.” He looked at her seriously. “It is not in my nature to lie. And on a subject of such importance as that of your safety, I would never keep a part of the story to myself.”

She sucked in a deep breath. “What did they say?”

He looked down and took her hand. “That they wish I’d come to them sooner.”

She studied the look of quiet remorse on his face. “Was your father angry with you?”

“He was disappointed,” he said frankly. “Which is only fair. The manner in which I have behaved is disappointing. I took matters into my own hands rather than entrusting my information to the council. I disobeyed their directive not to check on you. For five years, I disregarded their advice, thinking I knew better. And worse than keeping this from the council, I kept it from him.”

He came to a sudden pause, one that stretched a lot longer than he realized. “But if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have been able to save you in the woods.” He took her hand and rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. “I’d never even have experienced the touch of a human who wasn’t dying.” He looked into her eyes almost defiantly. “I’m not sorry. And I told my father that.”

Her eyes widened. “What did he say?”

“He said I am more human than he realized, even after all this time.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? You aren’t human.”

His brow furrowed as his chin dropped down. “I am, and I’m not.”

She gave him a flat look. “Cameron, I’m sure you can appreciate why I have no patience for your poetic deflections on this particular night.”

“Of course,” he quickly assured. “I’m not trying to be cryptic. It’s difficult to explain and painful for me to talk about.”

She waited silently as he took a steadying breath.

“How much do you know of the Bible?”

“Only what I was taught in Sunday school when I was little. My mom wasn’t very religious about being religious. She said we were ‘spiritual.’”

He nodded. “Well, there are two human figures in the Bible who never died.”

“Oh, I do remember this. One is Elijah, right? Something about a fiery chariot?”

“Yes. Do you know who the other is?”

“No idea.”

“The other is a man named Enoch. Your Bible teaches that he ‘walked with God: and then was no more; for God took him.’ He left this world having never felt the sting of death. God took him to Elysium to preside over the realm, to live forever immersed in the energy of life and to keep the forces of evil from ever touching even the edge of Heaven. He was appointed the head of the archangels and became known as the Metatron — the mouthpiece of God.”

He drew a deep breath. “Enoch is my father.”

Brie stared blankly. “How?”

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