She looks from him to me again. “I look like Mama,” she says defiantly.
“Yes, you do,” he says. “You are very beautiful, just like your Mama. And just as special.”
“What about Papa?” she asks with a waver in her voice.
I grip her hands tightly and chew my lip.
“He loves you,” Sebastian says, coming to my rescue and redeeming himself slightly in my eyes. “Very much. But you belong here now, Delinda.”
“I want to see him,” she cries.
“I know you do, baby,” I say, hating to see her so upset. “Soon,” I add as a platitude.
“How about we go on an adventure first?” Sebastian asks her.
That grabs her attention momentarily, but she is still looking at him like he is the bad guy. “Where?” she asks, keeping her arms crossed defensively.
“Do you know what a unicorn is?” he asks her.
“A unick-orn?” she asks, crumpling up her nose. “What is it?”
“A beautiful, magickal creature that lives in the forests here,” Sebastian says and her eyes light up. She wants to go and find the unicorns, but she is still mistrustful of Sebastian.
“Will Mama come too?” she asks.
“No,” Sebastian says before I can even open my mouth to respond. “This is an adventure for just the two of us.”
I clamp my mouth shut and start to wonder what Sebastian’s deal is. He came in here with his grand announcement and he hasn’t even glanced in my direction yet. What is he up to?
“I want to go and see the unick-orns,” Delinda states grandly.
“There is just one little thing you have to do first before we can go,” he says to her.
She frowns at him and so do I. He has completely taken over this conversation.
“There are some people downstairs that really want to meet you. Will you go with Tabetha and put on a pretty dress and come downstairs to meet them?” he asks.
She looks to me for her answer and I nod at her. I can only assume this is going to be the “hey, guess what? Delinda is the blessed baby” announcement.
“Okay,” she says with a decisive nod. “But then I want to see some unick-orns,” she adds with a baleful glare at Sebastian.
“Done,” he says easily and stands up. She races to the door and pulls it open. Tabetha is waiting outside for her, and off she goes. I am not convinced that all of this has been dealt with as easily as it looks. She must still be reeling from this news. “That went better than I thought it would,” Sebastian says and turns to the window.
“That was too risky,” I snap at him, “just dropping that on her in such a way.”
“She needed to know, and you were going back out,” he says and turns back to me.
“Humph,” I say rudely.
“We need to talk,” he says.
“Damn right we do,” I reply.
“I need to talk,” he amends as he continues to avoid my gaze. “I am fully prepared to stand by Delinda as her father. I will love her as my own and she will want for nothing. I will make her happy and secure, but it is over between us, Aeval.”
“What?” I ask him in confusion. “You are breaking up with me?” I step back from him in surprise. What is going on here?
“Yes,” he says stoically. “I am sorry, Aeval, but I cannot look at you, never mind bear the thought of touching you, since I found out you had a child with my father. It is not something that I can overlook. It’s over.” He finally brings his eyes to mine and they are hard and impenetrable, and I cannot see any emotion on his face whatsoever and it scares me.