Page 233 of Crimson Promises
His gaze lowered, eyes fixed on the ground, as he continued, "This rule was implemented because of the dangerous potentials that arise with the birth of adimidium—a child formed between an angel and a mortal. Each time an angelic male impregnated a human female, she would perish during childbirth, delivering adimidiumoffspring."
I gasped softly. I had heard this from Ben before, but it did nothing to quell the pain of truly understanding what it was like to grow up without your mother, who died so I could live. I reached up to feel the warm gold pendant hanging against the hollow of my throat. Emptiness washed through me in the absence of my mom’s necklace. He looked up, his eyes searching mine, filled with a pain that was heart-wrenching.
"Dimidiumspossess unprecedented power. It isn't until they reach maturity that they fully grasp this strength. They're bestowed with a unique ability, Aurora," he paused, swallowing hard, "the power of choice." His hands clenched, betraying the internal struggle he was experiencing.
"Adimidiumcan opt for a mortal life, living out their days as a human. But most who embrace their full potential are seen as threats, especially to The Originals." His gaze intensified.
A shiver ran down my spine.
"God tasked the Originals with 'neutralizing' the most powerfuldimidiums. The justification given was the potential harm they could inflict upon humanity. But," he paused, his brow furrowing, "we've always had our suspicions. Power, after all, has its allure. It corrupts even the mightiest. There were whispers among us that there might be ulterior motives."
His eyes locked onto mine, filled with regret, fear, and hope. "Absolute power corrupts absolutely," he said.It’s what I had told Lucifer.“But we were created in His image and forced to carry out His wishes. Even if some of us disagreed with them.”
“And so, the history ofdimidiumsapplies in this case because…” I trailed off.
Michael traced a brow with his finger. “Because you said to start at the beginning. Understanding the context of what was happening todimidiumsis essential in understanding the rest of the story.”
Michael's gaze softened, the hard lines of his face seeming to melt away. The realm of our conversation shifted, and I could sense the deep nostalgia that clouded his eyes.
"There was a time," he began, the corners of his mouth lifting in a hint of a smile, "when we would blend in with mortals to gather information. Members of the Originals and the Gifted alike would adopt human disguises to deal with complex cases on Earth." He looked up, the light reflecting in his eyes. "And that's how I found myself in Seattle."
His eyes flickered, and for a moment, he seemed lost in his thoughts. Then, with a deep sigh, he continued, "There, in a quaint coffee shop with the faint aroma of freshly ground beans in the air, I saw her."
The world around us seemed to blur, and in that moment, there was only Michael and his memories. "Alice Madden," he murmured her name like a sacred chant, his voice tinged with warmth.
My entire world stood still.Alice Madden was mymom.
"Fiery, passionate, and as wild as the wind. I was caught off-guard by her, by the intensity of her spirit. Our eyes met across the room, and I felt something I'd never felt—an attraction, a pull. It was magnetic." He chuckled softly, "It was as if the universe had conspired for our paths to cross."
His wings twitched slightly behind him, betraying his restlessness. "I was The Defender of Heaven," he said, his voice holding a hint of incredulity. "And there she was, a mortal, making me question everything I'd ever known. Rules? They seemed insignificant when weighed against the emotions she stirred within me."
With a wistful smile, he continued, "Our courtship was nothing short of a whirlwind. We were intoxicated with each other. Days blurred into nights, nights into days. We could barely spend an hour apart without feeling an ache in our chests."
His fingers brushed the air as if he could still feel the touch of her skin. "And then, one fateful day, amidst our bliss, she gave me news that brought my world to a standstill." His voice cracked slightly, "She was pregnant."
For a brief moment, Michael closed his eyes, gathering himself. When he opened them again, the raw emotion was palpable.
"It changed everything," he whispered. "Everything."
For a split second, the weight of his words didn't register. But as the seconds stretched into what felt like hours, the ground seemed to shift beneath me.
My eyes darted over Michael's face, searching for any sign of deception, any hint that this was just a sick joke.
Those deep eyes that once seemed like endless voids were filled with a familiar emotion: love and regret. Both of those I had become entirely too familiar with as of late.
I tried to form words, but my mouth felt dry. The enormity of the revelation was almost too much to bear. Michael, the Defender of Heaven, the archangel of lore and legend, was my... father?
My heart raced, a rapid thud echoing in my ears, drowning out the ambient sounds around us. I could feel a rush of emotions: anger, confusion, betrayal, and a strange sense of longing. Why had he kept this from me? Why now?
"I..." My voice wavered, and I took a shaky breath, forcing myself to face the reality. "You're my father? All this time... everything I've been through, and you never... Why?"
The weight of my emotions pressed heavily on my chest, making it hard to breathe. As I looked into Michael's eyes, seeking answers, I couldn't help but feel like a piece of who I was had just snapped into place. But it was a piece I wasn't sure I was ready to accept.
"So, you've watched from the shadows my entire life? Never stepping in, never being there when I needed someone, even if it was a friend? And now, after everything that's happened tome,you decide to reveal yourself? Why?”
"When Alice discovered she was pregnant, our joy was unlike anything I'd ever felt," he started, his face lit up momentarily with the ghost of a smile, but it soon faltered. "But with that joy came the weight of responsibility, a realization that we were treading on forbidden grounds."
He paused, taking a deep breath as though the weight of those memories threatened to crush him. "I told Alice everything. Not just about who I was, but about my world and the considerable powers our child could inherit, the likes we had never before seen from adimidium.” His fingers flexed involuntarily, a sign of the emotional turmoil bubbling beneath his usually stoic exterior. "I had never shared so much with anyone. I kept no secrets from her.”
