"Grandson," he corrected quickly, eye flashing about as if worried for listeners. Had he been spoiled in his youth? According to what Laruku had told him, it was entirely possible; however, evidence against such a notion told him otherwise. Laruku and he had been in equally tragic conditions; while Laruku had lost his eyesight entirely, Jefferson had only lost one his eyes—but in exchange lost power in one of his legs. The two boys, supposedly raised as brothers, had grown to be brutally scarred, angry, lonely creatures. How could two boys, raised in a spoiled, comfortable home beneath the guardianship of an entire pack and its leaders specifically, have ended up in such unfortunate conditions later in life? Jefferson didn't refuse to believe he'd once been spoiled, but he felt no reason to dawdle on the thought.
"Spoiled, I don't know," he said, dipping his head. She didn't know a thing, it became obvious to him then. She was his daughter, and she didn't know? Surely it was his fault, somehow; he didn't speak of his past (or lack thereof) openly, and only a few had ever been informed. A number of those who did know, of course, had died or vanished: Iskata, Laruku, Cercelee, Deuce, Haku. Perhaps, just perhaps, the story of his past was as much a curse for everyone else as it was for him. "Addison, I'm an amnesiac. I don't remember much before a few years ago. I don't have a fucking clue how I lost my eye, among other things." He had no memory of a two-eyed existence. His vision had, as far as he was concerned, been restricted as far as back as Maluki's reign. His leg, however, was a different story. The Patriarch turned away, a scowl darkening his features, and relished in the silence.
With shame lingering in the green, he soon glanced back. "Leading a pack is a lot of responsibility. You've taken over guardianship for your little sister; that's only the beginning of it all. Running this goddamn pack of loonies has been the hardest thing I've ever done." Harder than murder, facing his past sins, or meeting his vengeful triplets for the first time. Harder than raising Addison, or saving Geneva, or raising Pripyat. "The least I could do was make sure you were happy growing up. You'd been through enough already." Including having me as a father.
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