Zoe's only wish is to be able to run barefoot through grass, but she knows it'll never happen. Ever since she was born, she's been unable to touch anything living without it instantly dying. It's a curse she would do anything to get rid of, but that...
It looked the same as always. The garden with all of the plants that I and my father took care of. It was the end of summer and I could see that the final tomatoes were ready to be picked. The lavender was starting to get ready for fall, while the pumpkins had finally started to grow in my absence.
It looked the same as always, but my anxiety started running wild as soon as I saw the house.
"Father," I said and moved towards the house. I hadn't taken many steps though before the door flew open and all my worries disappeared.
He stood in the doorway, looking as healthy as ever. There was some earth on his clothes, which meant that he had worked in the garden earlier that day. His brown hair was slightly damp, which made me sigh at the fact that he had put on dirty clothes after having taken a shower. And his hands held a towel, likely because he had been in the middle of some cooking or cleaning.
There was a moment of bewilderment in his eyes as he looked me up and down. But then his whole being burst into a smile. He took quick steps towards me at the same time as I ran forward. I flung my arms around him and he hugged me in a tight and warm embrace I had never felt before.
"Finally," he mumbled as he kept me close to him.
"Father," I said and realized from the quiver in my voice that I was crying. "Why..."
I wanted to ask him why he had never told me, why he had let me think I was a monster, why he had never talked about my mother. But I couldn't get the words out.
"I'm sorry, Zoe. I'm so sorry," he whispered, and I could feel it. Feel how sad he was and how much it had hurt him.
"Why couldn't you tell me?" I asked when I finally found my voice again because I just knew in that moment that it wasn't that he hadn't wanted to. He just hadn't been able to. And I remembered what Ash and Pine had told me about the faerie, about Rheseis. Not so much that she had something to do with it all, but that she had stopped Ash and Pine from talking to me at one point.
"Was it because of Rheseis?" I asked and pulled out from my father's hug to look at him.
He frowned. "How do you..."
He finally seemed to notice that I hadn't come there alone. He looked over my shoulder at Felix, Ash, and Pine. I took one more step back and saw that he was especially looking at Felix and then me. Felix had his eyes on me and fidgeted with his hands. His eyes clearly begged me to help with an introduction. I first turned to Ash and Pine, however.
"Do you know Ash and Pine?" I asked father, and he started by shaking his head but then nodded.
"Only by name," he told me before addressing Ash and Pine. "Oak talked a lot about the two of you."
They smiled back. "She talked a lot about you too," Ash said.
"Her eyes always sparkled when she did," Pine added.
Father gave them a wistful smile before looking back at Felix. It was clear Father knew who Felix was to me, but he waited for me to confirm it.
I walked over to Felix and took his hand. Instantly, I felt him calm down and his nerves settled. I led him forward to my father.
"Father, this is Felix. My mate."
"Nice to meet you, sir," Felix said, and it looked almost as if he was about to bow, but thought better of it. I stifled a laugh. I knew without a doubt that Father would love and accept him as my mate. He knew the Goddess had chosen Felix for me for a reason and trusted that Felix was the only one that could make me truly happy. But from a human perspective, I guessed it all felt differently. Felix knew how much I cared for my father and likely assumed that if he didn't approve, things would get hard. And as a human, that had not grown up knowing of mates, he also didn't know that the only thing my father needed to know was that we were mates and the approval was automatic.
I could see on my father that he had a similar train of thought as me, and a gleam of mischief streaked over his eyes. It was something I recognize, but that I hadn't seen in so long. It made me remember a time when I was very young, before all of the comments around me had properly gotten to me. A time when I had almost been like most children and me and Father had played and laughed together.
"Is that so?" Father said and looked Felix up and down with as much content as he could muster in the situation, which wasn't much, but for the already nervous Felix probably was plenty. "And what makes you think you're worthy of my daughter?"
"Father!" I exclaimed and also did my best to play my part in Father's prank.
Father gave me a glare that I pretended to cower under.
"Well?" he added and looked sternly at Felix.
Felix took a deep breath. "I know I'm not worthy of her," he said with his eyes fixed on my father before turning to look at me with so much love that I felt heat spread throughout my entire body. "But I will stay by her side and do my best to become worthy for as long as she lets me."
I felt every word in my body and the joy, comfort, and safety it gave me. My mate, my Felix, my happiness.
"You really found yourself a good mate, Zoe," Father said, and the beaming smile he gave us made me feel invincible and for the first time in my life I completely and utterly felt like everything, absolutely everything, would be okay.
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