'Who are you and what do you mean, you were asked to expect me?' Alexa asked stupified, her pain at finding out that she was an illegitimate child temporarily forgotten.
'Ha,ha,ha', he laughed, his voice rich and melodious, his eyes twinkling. 'We have been keeping watch over you since you were born but we dared not make our presence known until the right time!'
'We?' she queried. 'Who are 'we'?'
'The witches clan!' he said, looking at her intently.
'Okay', Alexa said, her palms raised to stop him saying anything further until she could dissect what he had already said. 'What has the witch clan got to do with me?' she asked.
'By the way, my name is Myles. Myles Prescott at your service!' the strange silver man said.
Alexa was still bemused but from what the man Myles had said, she deduced he must be from the witch clan and that made him a wizard.
'So, Myles Prescott, you are saying you are a wizard and you have been waiting in the forest here for me to make my appearance?' she asked incredulously. 'How long have you been here and how did you know I'd come here?'
'We know, there would come a time when you will want answers and it isn't as though this is the first time you are coming here!' he said. 'Please be seated', he said waving her to a seat.
Alexa did not feel inclined to seat. She looked around her for the first time. Really looked around and found objects - funny objects, a crustal ball on a table in the middle of the room, some old books on a shelf and lots of bottles, which she assumed contained potions of various kinds as expected of witches ... and wizards of the one before her is to be considered.
'You were saying that I have been here before?' she asked as she finally decided to take the seat offered her. She did not know the reason but she was not scared in the least, not of the man and definitely, not of this place.
'You were always coming here anytime you felt down and lonely, have you forgotten so soon?' he asked.
'Yes, I always come here and I found some form of peace but I never saw this hut!' she protested.
'That's because it was covered with a spell of invincibility', he explained. 'Only witches could see it and even then only qualified members of the witch clan. Your mother prepared this place for you. Her love drew you here when you felt unloved'.
'You knew my mother?' she asked hopefully but recalled Amelia telling her that her mother had seduced her father and later abandoned her because she didn't care for her.
'Your mother never wanted to have you. She just wanted to be with my husband's, Amelia had said. 'When you came along, she decided to keep you because she thought you would be a boy, so that you could compete with my sons for their inheritance. She was disappointed when you turned out to be a girl. She abandoned you without even bothering to suckle you', she laughed mirthlessly. 'You should forever be grateful to me because I stepped in and adopted you as my daughter, even though you were a continued reminder of my husband's infidelity and your mother's irresponsibility!'
'How dare you speak of my mother that way?' Alexa shouted.
'The truth has to be told', her step mother insisted. 'Your mother was a whore and never planned to be a mother. Which mother abandoned her child when she is barely a day old?' she asked. 'But why am I wasting my breath, you also abandoned your child, didn't you?' she asked mockingly. 'What did you do to him or her, throw it away, abandoned it on someone's doorstep? Aborted it? You are as irresponsible as your mother was and as much a whore too. Acting without wanting to take responsibly for your actions!'
Alexa had heard enough. 'Who are you to judge me?' she asked. 'I heard your daughter has a child for the Prince. How is she better than I? She was with him without ring properly wedded to him first. Being a Prince does not change the fact that she threw herself at him!'
Slap! Alexa covered her cheek. 'How dare you speak of my previous daughter that way?' Amelia asked. 'How dare you mention her in the same context as you? She is engaged to the Prince. Are you engaged to the man or men you have been sleeping with?' Do you even know their names?'
Alexa swallowed hard. She deserved this. She had regretted that night since the morning she woke beside that stranger. She could decide to stop all this by consenting to marry Wayne. Her children had grown close to him and in fact he was more qualified but she owed it to her children to find their real father first. If he was as irresponsible as she has been thinking of him, then she would know what to decide in favour of her children.
'Cat got your tongue?' Amelia asked. 'Keep away. I warn you because I would not want you seducing my daughter's fiance. I wouldn't put it pass you!'
This was too much and Alexa ran off into the forest, tears pouring down her eyes.
'Of course, I know your mother!' he said.
'You speak of her in the present. She is still alive then?' she asked.
'Yes, she is but she had to stay away and right now, I do not know exactly where she is!'
Typical! Alexa thought. Amelia was right when she said that her mother never wanted her, let alone loved her!
'How can her love draw me to this place as you claim when she does not even know how to love?' she asked, her voice full of the pain she had endured all these years.
'Says who?' Myles asked. 'Is that the lie you have been fed?' he asked.
'It's not a lie', she insisted. It's the truth and even a halfwit will know that!' she said and standing up, walked out of the hut.
'Where are you going?' Myles asked.
'Away from here. Away from anything that represents her!' she vowed. 'I hate her. I hate that she is my mother and I want nothing to do with her!'
'Don't you at least want to hear about her, hear her side of the story?' he asked, astonished at her reaction. He had expected her to be very curious but she seemed not to care.
'No, I don't!' she said and because she felt like going back to hear more about this woman who had birthed her, she ran off again. She was afraid of what she might find out.
Myles looked after her fleeing figure and shook his head. He could bring her back with some spell but he stopped himself. 'She'll be back!' he told himself. 'She will not deny herself the opportunity to learn more about the woman who gave birth to her!'