Page 14 of Azriel

Even when he’d stopped crying and was talking, he’d had a bit of a dead look in his eyes. Fighting in a war could supposedly mess up a man, and he wondered if Azriel had been traumatized by living there. He said his whole realm had been locked in a war, so that must mean no one knew what peace was like, right?

No wonder the poor angel was so upset. He’d probably seen and heard of more violence and death than Vali could ever imagine. War could traumatize human men, and angels must not be an exception.

Besides that, he didn’t really believe that he was a nephilim either. His eyes and ugly hair were stupid defects.

But he had been born with a tail.

While he chopped onions, and his mismatched eyes watered from it, he tried to force down his doubts. He was a human. An ugly one, but a human who’d been born with an unfortunate extra appendage. He’d ask Mother, and she’d tell him the truth. Father had been some rich loser who wanted snatch but not the potential consequence, and once he made sure she was set, he skipped off into the sunset so he didn’t have to be a Father.

He was setting the table when he heard Mother’s voice through the open window followed by Mr. Lambin, who owned a carpentry shop.

“You really need to say something.”

“Don’t tell me what to do.”

“You know this isn’t right. It's been years!”

“I’m not discussing this further, and watch what you say.” The last part came out like a hiss, and Vali barely heard it. The curtains were drawn, so he couldn’t see either, but a dark shape went by, and the doorknob turned a second later.

Mother tacked on a smile that looked a bit fake as soon as she saw him. “Hi, dearie. That smells good.”

“Thanks. Er, what was that?”

Mother hesitated. “Mr. Lambin bought some stuff from the shop, and he thinks the prices are a little unfair.”

Vali set down his fork and knife by his plate. “Why is he bothering you about that?”

“Because my boss said he was being stingy, and Mr. Lambin thinks I can change his mind. It’s ridiculous. He can go shop somewhere else.”

He was pretty sure there was more to it than that. Maybe Mr. Lambin and Mother’s boss had some other issue too besides prices being a little high. Vali had always thought they were fair.

He had intended to wait until they sat down, but with so many thoughts tumbling around in his head, he couldn’t wait. “Is there anything you want to tell me?”

Mother slipped off her shoes by the door and looked at him. “No. Why?”

“Am I human?”

Dear God, that wasn’t quite what he meant to say.

But Mother didn’t reply with, “Of course you are, Vali. Why on Earth would you ever ask something so silly?”

Instead, she hesitated as she held her little cloth bag that she used for her lunch.

He kept his eyes locked on hers. “Mother…”

“Why are you asking me this?”

Where was the reassurance? “What do you mean why am I asking? I want an answer.”

She headed for the work counter to set down her bag. “Dear Lord, Vali. I was going to tell you-”

“Tell me?! What the hell?”

The angel hadn’t mistook something from his realm and thought it applied to him. Vali backed up from the table as he thought about his damn tail and the fact that his Father hadn’t been some human loser.

Mother fiddled with her skirts even though they were already straight. “I couldn’t tell you when you were young because what if you blabbed about it?”

“What am I?” he demanded.

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