Page 214 of Eternal Craving

“It’s taken me all these years.” He sighed. “This takes some getting used to.”

All this time, I’d grieved for the son I thought I’d lost.

“I was searching for answers,” he responded to my silent ruminations.

“You took your time.”

“Forgive me.”

I looked away. “Sunaria?”

“She made me what I am.”

I swallowed hard. “I told her not to go back to England.”

“I sensed her passing.”

“How long have you been in Spain?”

“Years.” He glanced at the boat. “You do realize the fashion in England includes the wearing of wigs.”

“The women?”

“The men. Thanks to Louis XIII.”

“Of course,” I said, “a French aristocrat.”

He smiled. “Stay here with me.”

The thick evening air was stifling. I stared at the boats in the harbor.

He followed my gaze. “Don’t get on that ship, Father.”

He used that term of endearment like there was no wedge between us.

A bell pierced the quiet.

“It’s over,” he said. “Let her go.”

I met his gaze. “It’s the only way I’ll have peace.”

He looked away. “What will you do?”

I smiled without answering his question.

“Don’t follow that path – it won’t bring her back.” He stepped closer. “Come with me. We can make a new life together.”

I felt conflicting emotions, betrayal being one of them. I tried but failed to empathize with him. Sunaria had deceived me, breaking the promise that I’d kept, and I hated her for it.

Jacob sighed.

Sunaria had tried to tell me on the very evening I thought he’d passed away, as I had climbed into my coffin deep within the depths of Belshazzar’s.

And yet I still loved her.

“Come with me to London,” I said.

He shook his head. “Things are never what they seem.” He held my gaze. “You know that.”