Domitian pursed his lips at his son's question. It seemed he didn't understand, at least not completely. "I doesn't matter what I think," he responded, his voice nearly a growl. "Or your professors at school. They won't be in your life forever. I won't be in your life forever." Maybe not even for much longer, depending on how Matilda reacted to the news of his father's new son. Depending on how his father reacted to it, and what cards Calliope had up her sleeve next. His time left in his children's life might already be quite limited, and there was no way of knowing until it was too late to do anything about it. He'd been trying so far for so long to give his children the skills to be independent in the world, and now he was running out of time and it seemed he'd failed. Somehow, even when Domitian was cool and impersonal with both of his children, Nicodemus had come to crave his approval.

"You shape your own narrative, Nico. You control your own life. You decide what is important to you and what you show to others. Do you understand?"

---