The Trouble with Hades

Chapter 43

I didn't expect that a party would erupt like it had but I probably should have. After the service ended, the chairs were shifted and tables were added. A dance floor was created, and staff started bringing in meals. They were efficient and fast, serving what seemed like fifty tables within minutes.

We ate, we talked, we laughed. I got to meet a lot of my family and, of course, my grandfather. In Haureth, I could see a lot of myself. The more I looked around at the figures in the vast room, the more I was grateful that I'd accepted my father. He was giving me the family that I'd always craved. Sure, I had Brad, Niko and Beatrice but this was something else. It was a family on the grandest of scales. I didn't have a family tree. I had a family forest.

After dinner, we had dessert. Not only was it the cake that we'd cut but a wide variety of little cakes, tarts, cookies, and pies. They'd set up a vast table full of sweets and candies, plus another that was full of fruit.

My feet were tired after dancing with Anzide, so I helped myself to a pile of candy and fruit as well as a few little treats from the dessert table. And, of course, this girl had to have a piece of her wedding cake. It was tradition, right?

My feet were up, and Anzide was next to me, picking away at his own plate of food. We were at the far end of the room which had a broad balcony. It was the strangest view and it blew my mind when Anzide told me that they'd created a window that reflected a view of space. I couldn't reach the window, I couldn't alter it, but I had an insane view of the galaxy.

Hearing a noise, I turned to the sound of the glass door opening. Music flowed out as Karina slipped through the door and closed it again.

"I was going to ask why you're sitting in the dark but now that I'm here, I can see why. That's one crazy-ass view, right?"

"It sure is."

She sat down and began unwrapping the little candies that were from the table that I did not go to. It was the one designed for the vampires and I don't know how they did it, but Karina was eating a blood candy.

"So, apparently, I'm going to be a big sister."

"We're not alone."

"At this point, I don't care."

For a bubbly person, it was not the view that I expected. I glanced at Anzide, and he pursed his lips with a smile. No doubt he was in her mind and could see what was troubling her.

"I guess that Nora must be pretty happy."

Because she seemed happy every time I looked at her. To be fair, she was either eating at the table with Brad or dancing with him. They were still in the new love phase, so it was only natural to see them both smiling.

"I suppose."

"You seemed pretty excited a few days ago. What changed?"

"It's really happening. I guess that it didn't occur to me that it would. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for them, but it just feels,"

"Like you're being left behind? Forgotten? That someone is taking over your world, you're no longer the center of your mother's life, and you'll struggle to get her attention?"

Karina looked up at me and nodded grimly.

"You know, Brad felt the same about Anzide. If there's anyone that understands what you're feeling, it's him."

"I guess. The problem is that they're also talking about the future. Specifically the house that Brad's buying. They've already talked about us moving in before the baby is born. I know that they're not going to kick me out or anything,"