Page 55 of Matthew

Kom said nothing. His expression was torn between concern and pride. His pride in Matt gave him an extra boost of resolve.

“I’m done running and hiding,” he told the Nobek.

“Yes, you are, warrior.” Kom smiled. “If you’re sure…absolutely sure…show him the man you were born to be.”

Matt dipped a nod and stepped to the door. It slid open.

The room he gazed at was lit in soft gold from sunlight drifting through a window at the other end. A number of machines lined the rest of the wall, and another at the head of a medi-bed. The bed’s computerized panels embraced the figure lying on it, like a mother holding a child. The body it circled was nearly as small as a child, Matt noted. Tiny and vulnerable, its breathing was discernible in whispered wheezes.

The figure was his father, Sven. Matt knew it was him, though he looked unfamiliar due to the distance holding them apart.

A thrill of remembered fear shivered down his spine. Then it was gone, a fading memory. Matt went into the room.

As he approached the man who’d held him in terror’s thrall, Sven’s features became distinct. If Valter appeared diminished, then Sven was utterly wasted. What little Matt could spy of his body, mostly encased in those computerized arms of the bed, was twiglike, covered in flesh gone gray. The bones of his face were prominent, his skin scant covering so it was little more than a skull topped by snowy wisps of once-blond hair. Only his blue eyes, nestled in cavernous hollows, betrayed any sign of life.

Those eyes rolled in Matt’s direction from their dim contemplation of the ceiling above. They lit on him. Blinked. Focused.

“You.” A dry-leaf rattle of a voice issued from his thinned lips. “Unholy. Corrupt. Abomination. Get out.”

Matt continued to approach. Valter shambled ahead, his angry but eager gaze moving between father and son. “He’s come to beg your forgiveness, Sven. He’s here to atone for his sins against you and God.”

Matt reached the bed and continued to stare at his father. Sven wasn’t a monster, but the husk of a too-mortal man after all. Sudden regret flashed through Matt. Sorrow filled him. He’d waited so long to confront his demon, and the horrors in his mind had kept him from facing Sven when his father was still strong. It would have been better to have acknowledged his monster had been built in his nightmares, to have encountered his father while he was still a man instead of this impotent husk.

All he saw in his memories now was a brutish bully, a mere mortal who’d glutted on violence and hatred.

The skull bared yellowed teeth at him. “Don’t want your pollution in me. No donor cells.”

“He’s repented, Sven. You have a chance to live. Let him help you,” Valter demanded.

“No.” Matt’s answer wasn’t for his uncle. “No, I haven’t come to apologize or beg your forgiveness. I’ve come to tell you that you were wrong.”

Blue eyes glinted sparks.

“The only thing I’m sorry for is fearing you too much to have this conversation until now. I should have told you years ago how wrong you were about me. About life and everything.”

“Shut up. Get out,” Valter snarled. He took a step toward Matt.

Dr. Yalow’s trill managed to sound firm as she confronted him. “It’s you who needs to leave, Mr. Larsen. Your manner is threatening. Please go.”

“Make me, fuzzball. I’d like to see you try.”

“She doesn’t have to.” Silver-skinned Beonid twins wearing security uniforms stepped into the room. “Doctor, where should we escort him?”

“To the waiting room, please. He’ll be allowed in again once the patient’s son has left.”

“This isn’t over, devil spawn,” Valter spat at Matt. “Not by a longshot.”

Since words were apparently all he had, he departed with security.

“Won’t talk to this foul creature,” Sven rasped at the doctor.

“I understand, Mr. Larsen. However, Matthew is the one chance you have at life, if you can somehow come to an agreement.” She sighed, signaling how hopeless she knew the situation to be. If not for her commitment to preserving life, she would have no doubt given up.

“I need just a moment more.” Matt turned his attention to Sven. “If either of us is foul, it’s you. My love for Lucas was real. It was pure. I’m not surprised you couldn’t understand it as such, because you’ve never known unconditional love. Even Mom feared you turning on her, and she had the best claim on your withered heart.”

Sven turned his head, refusing to look at him.

“I’ve found love. You can’t touch it. You can’t touch them. Yes,them, a Kalquorian clan of three men. I’ll spend the rest of my life experiencing what you were incapable of giving, a pure, wholesome, undying love. You can’t do a damned thing about it.”

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