William Solaire is not a father
He never held a baby in his arms that shared his flesh and blood
William Solaire never conceived a child
“I am not your father,” he chides his eldest progeny when she’s new to the vampire life and stirring up trouble and he had to pull her out of the situation
She scoffs and mutters something unflattering under her breath that William pretends he can’t hear
William Solaire is not a father
He uses a silky handkerchief to wipe blood off his youngest progeny’s face when his training of his new powers went awry and he ran face-first into a wall and broke his nose
William Solaire knows he’s not the boy’s father. The boy is angry at what’s happened to him and is all too eager to remind William that he’s not the boy’s father with acidic words that cut deeper and hurt more than any pain the Old Blood King has felt in centuries
William Solaire is not his progenies’ father. The world changed so much between his turning and their births. The world changed. He did not. Not much, anyway. How could he ever be their father?
“You’re not my father!” William’s eldest’s own First Blood snaps in an accent that’s different from those he’s been around for the last hundred years. William knows this former-Freelancer has been through too much, and a great deal of that pain has been tied to blood relatives
William Solaire is over five hundred years old and well versed in patience. He takes the man’s vitriol without so much as a flinch. A daemon six miles away senses an overwhelming tidal wave of sorrow
William Solaire is not a father
He never raised a child from infancy, but guided three new blood vampires in the last fifty years, mostly on his own
His progeny and their progeny do not share his flesh, but they do share his blood
William Solaire is a Maker and a clan king, he insists to himself, not a father
William Solaire is not a father, he believes, even as his youngest progeny takes his name as the boy’s own
William Solaire is not a father, as he tells his eldest progeny he is not mad at her, merely disappointed with the choice she made
William Solaire is not a father, though he guides his eldest’s First Blood through caring for two newborns on his own
William Solaire is not the boy’s father, mopping up the boy’s tears after a terrible attack that forced the boy and his young partner into an impossible decision too soon, and made the boy a Maker himself
William Solaire is not a father. He will insist he is not, if you ask him
He is aware that his youngest progeny calls him the “old man,” which is a common modern phrase often used to denote a person’s father. He does not believe the boy means it that way. Even when the boy gives him a long, crushing hug with a broad smile on his face
William Solaire is not a father, but he lets the boy’s partner get away with playful mischief that his three—two, he reminds himself—progenies never could
William Solaire was never a father. He will insist, if you ask
So don’t ask. Merely watch
You’ll see that William Solaire is not a father
But that doesn’t mean he isn’t a dad
Youre damn right I’m crying
But also ain’t a dad, he a daddy
IM SORRY?
Im sorry…