Frozen.

EIGHT

I took a shocked step back.

"You're alive." I whispered. I could feel the burning of tears in my eyes. "How?" I mumbled. He watched me with a kind smile.

"My dear girl. You must understand that I was never dead. Your mother took you away for your protection. My disability to see you was just an.... occupational hazard. In this case, the occupation being life." He said sadly. He looked down to the ground beside my feet and then up at my arms.

"Occupational hazard?" I all but shouted at him. Fury was rolling around inside of me. 16 fatherless years and his excuse is occupational hazard? What does that even mean?

I glared at him momentarily. His face wore a mask of shock and hurt.

"16 years and you blame it on OCCUPATIONAL HAZARD!?" I could feel my face scrunching up into a look of anger and hurt. Surely, after all this time, I would get a better answer than that?

"Ashana you need to calm down." Tarn told me calmly. I turned my ice cold gaze on him and practically growled my words.

"No, Tarn. I will not calm down." My rage had entered into the dangerously calm area. Tarns eyes widened and he took a step back with his hand held up away from his chest.

"Tarn." My Dad grumbled. I turned to face him, tucking a strand of hair behind my cold ear in the process.

"Explain." I demanded. He looked confused for a moment before he walked over to stand directly in front of me.

"Ashana Julene Nashure. When I met your mother," his accent was a bit of a cross between Spanish and Scottish. "I was younger. I was not yet where I am now. Although you're birth was one of the best things to happen in my life, I had to come back here. It was the only way to protect you." His voice was sad and kind. "You doona understand what goes on in this.... hidde world." His strange accent drawled on his words.

"Then tell me." I whispered. His left hand reached up to gently touch the side of my face. My head was whizzing with emotions. To be honest, I didn't know what to feel. I didn't know what to do.

My DAD came back. He's alive.

"For now, my child, I canna do that. I wish I could. But here, information comes with time." He smiled gently at me. Although the smile was as genuine as he could muster, his eyes were a pool of deep pain and sadness. It was almost as if he'd suffered an eternity without a love he could've easily reached out and held.

I blinked, incredulous.

"You've had quite a bit of time haven't you?" My tone was slightly more harsh than I had intended. I didn't mean to cause such pain to flash across his features. "I mean I don't even know your name." It's like I couldn't control the tone. With every word I said, it was like a knife tore into his heart.

He nodded and stepped back away from me, turning towards the trees.

"That is ok, Ashana. I understand why you are angry. I understand." I couldn't see his face, only his back. The rabbit stirred in my arms and kicked around until I put it on the ground at my feet. It nodded before hopping off to my Fathers side. He seemed to hold quite a fair amount of authority.

"You don't. You LEFT me, Dad. You LEFT. I never got to know you properly. I never got to experience all the normal things that came with having a Father. I MISSED you." A tear fell from the corner of my eye. He turned around to face me. He took a retake when he saw the tear fall down my cheek and rushed over to stand in front of me once again, grabbing gently onto my upper arms.

"I am sorry, my girl. I truly am. I wanted to be everything a father was. But there are things you don't know about me. Things you mustn't know. Not yet. It is simply too dangerous. But what I can tell you is my name." He wrapped his arms around me. His scent was strange. It was like the forest mixed with roses. The way his arms hugged me, was different. Everything felt DIFFERENT.

I nodded into his chest, breathing in his smell. My father.

"I am Damon Nashure. As of now, my sweet girl, I am the King of this crazy place."

No god damn way.

A/N:

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