"Are you trying to say I'm not human? It would be odd if a member of the Mclane family was not human. I have never seen anything out of the ordinary with my family," said Alexander. He would've known by now if there was something secretive going on in his family.
"I'm not saying that all of your family is not human. I'm saying that you, Alexander Mclane, is not normal. Maybe the person hiding this secret from you is your own father? What do you know about your mother? What family did she come from?" Artemis inquired so that she could piece together who or what Alexander was. It made sense why he didn't die the second time he disobeyed her orders. He survived much longer than a regular human.
Alexander did not know anything about his mother's side of the family. He had little memory of the woman who disappeared one night into the darkness. "I know nothing of her family. My father said he fell in love with my mother when he first saw her and had to elope so that he could marry her. He climbed up the ranks in our family so that no one would trouble her. It might've all been for nothing because I remember her walking out the door and never coming back."
"And you never once found that the slightest bit suspicious? Never talked to your father about her disappearance or why you knew nothing of her family?"
Alexander didn't because it was normal for people to get frustrated and leave their homes. His first instinct wasn't to think his mother wasn't normal. His father played a role in helping the last king hunt down anything God-related. It would've been dangerous for him to take in a woman not human, marry her, and have a child he sent to be loyal to the prince. "My mother leaving us is something a lot of families experience."
Artemis walked back and forth tapping her chin as she thought of all the possibilities. When she first met him, she never noticed that he was anything but human. It's possible a strong witch might've placed a spell on him to cover what he was. "Your mother's fingers, do you remember what they were like? Were her fingernails clean or rotten looking?"
"They were always clean. Why on earth would they be dirty with the wealthy man she married?"
Artemis ignored his words, thinking of another theory. His mother couldn't have been the witch to place a spell on him because she would've needed black magic to cover what he was from a God. The effects of her using such magic would've shown on her body. "You have some knowledge of the sirens so someone from my world would've needed to give you insight."
Artemis glanced at the water where the sirens were still waiting for Alexander. "Could it be," she wondered because of the siren's fascination with Alexander. "Your mother, did she enjoy going into large bodies of water a lot?"
"She did. We used to go swimming in a pond outside my father's home when I was young but after she left, he told me never to go near it. Are you trying to tell me my mother is a siren?" Alexander also looked at the water at the heads of sirens popping out. "I have never seen her with a fishtail when we went swimming. I never even knew they could walk on land."
"You were the one who said your mother had slippery hands when we met, causing her to drop you on the head. Sirens outside of the water can be quite clumsy because they are not used to their new body. They can have legs when they leave the water. That's why they are so interested in you and wanted to offer a gift. They know you have the blood of a siren running through you. I'm so smart," Artemis mentally patted herself on the back for coming to the conclusion of what Alexander was. "I feel a little bit comfortable around you now that you aren't a full human."
Artemis was having fun with the idea that Alexander's mother might be a siren but he found it hard to believe. There was no evidence to prove that she was indeed a siren all because they went swimming together a lot. "My mother was never a siren. My father killed many creatures that were not human. How could he end up marrying someone not like him?"
"There's a chance he tried to resist falling in love with her. Thought that she had put a spell on him and tried every way he could to convince himself to stay away from her but in the end, he couldn't escape love. They call love the most powerful thing in all the world. I hate it," she said because it had something to do with her past. "My only question is how did he manage to find a siren all alone? They hardly ever come out of the water and travel alone."
"Is he the son of a siren?" Artemis asked the sirens in their language. To Alexander, it sounded like she was sprouting a lot of nonsense. "You mean to tell me that you realized he had siren blood running through him but none of you thought it wise to tell this interesting detail? I'll tell you something if I figured it was important. Can't any of you do the same for me? After everything I've done for you, this is how you treat me?"
"Artemis-"
"Shush. I'm going through a lot of emotions because of these sirens. What do you mean what have I done for you?"
Alexander sat back and watched Artemis argue with the siren from earlier. He wasn't sure if she was really speaking to the creature or just crazy.