Shaxoa's Gift by DelSheree Gladden

else.”
    Stepping away from him, I started piling the
items I had collected into the extra bag. My father got up, rushing
to my side. His hands tried to take mine, but I refused his touch.
He was begging me to listen, to stay with him still. Unable to bear
his pleading a moment longer, I pushed him away and met his eyes
one last time.
    “Stay away from me. I will wait for
Uriah, and wherever his path leads him, I’ll follow. I’ll stay by
his side no matter what. Unlike you, Uriah has never given me any
reason to doubt his love. I trust him with my life, Dad, way more
than I would ever trust you,” I snap. “Uriah is the kindest, most
caring and loving person I have ever met. He treats me like a
queen, even though I’m far from it. Look at what he’s been willing
to do to save me, what he’s still doing to rescue me. He’s a
thousand times the man you are.”
    I start to turn away, but pause, having one
more thing to say to him. “It makes no difference what you think
you know, Dad. Even if you told me Uriah was going to be bombarded
by a horde of zombies, or turned into one of the dark gods with no
hope of ever doing a kind deed again, I still wouldn’t abandon him.
I will face whatever you think is coming for him head on, without
fear. You pretend to be so strong and powerful, but you aren’t.
You’re scared, Dad, scared of losing, of being tested and finding
out you aren’t who you think you are. I’m not like you. I’m not
scared.”
    My words struck my dad. Stumbling back a step
he seemed to shrink before me. He knew I was right. He had tried to
find a way around whatever he thought surrounded Uriah. That
failed, so he tried again to swindle the gods. How would my life,
Uriah’s life, have been different if he had just stood up and faced
the secrets he refused to share with me from the beginning? I
didn’t know what had him so scared, but I could see he was
terrified I would walk away from him. Perhaps he really did love me
in some way. If he didn’t care, like I always believed he didn’t,
he would let me go without a backward glance. The realization
softened my voice. “I can’t stay here anymore, Dad. I don’t know
when I’ll be back, but if I ever do come back, it will be with
Uriah. I won’t lose him.”
    His head drooped at the finality in my
voice.
    “I wish you would tell me what you know. If
you really wanted to protect me, you would tell me.” I waited,
hoping he would come through for me this one time.
    The slow shake of his head saddened me. “I
can’t, Claire. I just can’t.”
    “Fine.”
    Shouldering my bags, I grabbed my cell phone
off the desk and stalked out of the room. Scurrying footsteps
brought my mom and Sophia into the hallway. Their faces were tense.
I didn’t know if they had planned this, or if my dad had surprised
them both, but it didn’t matter. Even if they had planned it, I
felt no anger at them. It was good that I had finally faced my dad.
My anger at him had already started to dissipate. I felt no better
about what had happened, but at least I had confronted him. At
least I knew he had a reason for doing what he did, even if he
refused to share it with me.
    His refusal to tell me what he knew went
against everything he claimed to have done to protect me, but it
wasn’t surprising. If he believed himself some sacred keeper of
knowledge, he wasn’t going to give in. Not without some strenuous
convincing. And I knew I didn’t have the strength for that right
now. That didn’t mean I was letting this go. I would be back for
answers, soon.
    The one good thing about facing him was that
he finally told me he loved me. He was an idiot for doing what he
had done, but even misguided love was better than none at all, I
supposed. I realized that in some strange way, I might be able to
forgive him one day. Before I would look at him and see only a
selfish man, hungering after money and prestige, but now I saw
another side of him, a carefully hidden side that