"Countryside?"
Flame's voice rang out, stunned, and all five of his brothers turned toward him with wary interest.
"You know her?" Blackmoon asked, brows furrowing.
Flame stepped deeper into the room, eyes fixed on the girl standing at the center of their chaos.
"Not really," he murmured. "She was a college mate. From that rural town I was banished to."
He stopped just inches from her, gaze searching her face like a man seeing a ghost. Maybe it was the weight of his father's forgiveness, or maybe… she was real.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, his voice softer this time and just like that, silence fell over Dafwem's dominion. A forbidden silence. Heavy. Uncomfortable. Thick with unspoken questions.
All six brothers stared at the girl, waiting. Demanding but she didn't answer.
Instead, she took a small step backward and dropped her gaze, as if trying to disappear into the polished floors beneath her. The curse of low self-esteem, Flame thought. She was always like that.
Before the tension could rupture into violence or anything, a voice sliced through it from the hall.
"Oh. I see you've already met."
Dafwem appeared at the entrance, smiling. His gaze swept across his sons, then settled on the girl with eerie satisfaction.
"She is Goddess," he said. "And she will be your new stepsister."
The words dropped like a blade across the room. The brothers didn't speak. They didn't move.
"Let her freshen up," Dafwem added. "We'll talk in an hour. Over late dinner."
Then, as if he hadn't just shattered the balance of his already cursed household, he turned and walked away to his study.
Dafwem closed the study door behind him and leaned on his desk, arms crossed. The silence here was different. Older. Personal. He had heard Flame's voice called after him and he'd expected outrage. Soon, the rest would follow.
The Forbidden Six.
They were his creation… and his curse. A punishment etched into flesh and soul. His price for gluttony.
Forty-nine years ago, Dafwem Godlike was the revered god of protection. Pure. Noble. Worshipped but nobility didn't grant him what he truly desired. Power.
He wanted it all.
The command of the sea. The wrath of undying flame. The shift of a werewolf under the moon. The blood and memory of a vampire. The illusions and healing of a fae. The divinity of a fallen angel.
So he devised a cruel plan. He summoned the Forbidden Seed from the edge of the sky and planted it in a human womb, turning her into a vessel. He believed her blood would transform him but the Infinity One saw his betrayal.
Instead of ascending, Dafwem was stripped of his godhood and exiled to the human realm. He was cursed to serve humans, to earn redemption, a quota he had yet to reach.
The woman he used did not die immediately. She birthed his punishment. Sextuplets. Six sons, each carrying one of the powers he coveted.
The Forbidden Six.
"Father, what the hell just happened?" Flame's voice came first, dragging Dafwem from memory.
Flame stepped into the study, red flickering faintly in his eyes. The mark of dragon's blood.
The others followed.
"You heard me," Dafwem said plainly. "I'm in love with her mother."
"You're a fallen god. You can't fall in love," Ocean said quietly, his voice calm, unreadable. Typical for the merman.
Dafwem raised an eyebrow.
"And I thought you, of all people, would understand." He turned away and picked up a leather book from his desk, letting out a long sigh. "It's being handled. We'll discuss it over dinner."
"Dad."
He froze. That voice. Blackmoon.
The one with the calmest authority. The born leader among chaos. Dafwem turned slowly, facing all six sons the Infinity One had used to curse him. His creations. His consequences.
He looked Blackmoon straight in the eye and waited.
"She is human, Father," he said quietly. "She won't fit in."
Dafwem nodded and shrugged his shoulder.
"They don't have to. Just accept her and her mother," he replied, then pulled back with a bright, practiced smile. "Since you all have agreed, we will proceed with…"
"I don't want a stepmother. Or stepsister, for that matter, Father…"
"And no one cares about your opinion, Lucifer. You are the one who killed your mother with those twisted invisible horns of yours. You have no say in this matter. Understood?!"
The snap brought order into the study.
Lucifer set his jaw, his eyes locked on Dafwem's for a heart-stopping second before he turned and walked out, slamming the door behind him.
Like that, one by one, they all walked out until only Blackmoon remained, still trying to pinpoint where the thread had come loose. He felt there was something fishy.
He stared at his father, who had walked to a row of books on the shelf, his back turned as he pretended to be busy.
"You are banished as the god of chaos. You are not capable of loving anyone," Blackmoon's voice came through, compelling Dafwem to pause. "Is there something you're not telling us, Father?"
Dafwem set his jaw and slowly turned to stare at Blackmoon. He was just too smart for his own good.
"Maybe the Infinity One granted me the grace to fall in love and be loved in return." He looked away with a sigh. "Go talk to your brothers. Keep them in order. Especially that devil."
He moved back toward the desk.
"We'll talk everything over in the dining hall soon."