His mouth feels dirty in the aftermath of the apology. He is not used to saying sorry, and he is not good at it. But he assumes that saying the word will go some way towards making it okay, because that is how it works, is it not? He assumes Kid will accept, as what son would not delight in earning his father's favour?

He is wrong.

It does not cross his mind that the boy could try and manipulate him. For one, he does not think the lad capable - he's too young, too innocent, to have a mind that black and a heart that cruel. And for two, no member of Volterra's family would ever do that to another of their kin, to another horse whom they share blood and flesh with. They will fight, yes, squabble and scrap for dominance as children are wont to do, but they are above such petty cowardice as mental manipulation of their family.

Or so he thinks. Again, he is wrong.

Kid states that there is not to be any more of this, and the gesture of his skull-painted muzzle implies the relationship between them. He then proceeds to repeat back what Volterra had already implied he would do; take care of any and all his children. "That is what I have just said, Kid. Of course, I will show you how to fight - is this not what I began to do during our last meeting? I will teach you my language, as I have taught Zhu, and would have taught you from a far earlier age had I known you existed." Of course he will teach his boys to fight, and his girls too; of course he will share with them he and Nymeria's sacred tongue, so they too can converse in secret.

Of course he will be a father to them, if they will only let him.

It is rare that the mammoth stallion is caught off-guard, but Kid's next words achieve exactly that. "Pull...out?!" His eyes widen, his lower jaw dropping gormlessly for a moment until he remembers himself and snaps it shut. "Pull out? How do you even know what that is? Actually, don't answer that. I would rather not know." He shrivels his nose in disgust - this is not a conversation he imagined he would be having with his son until Kid was far older. Heavens, the boy is far more worldly than even sex-mad Volterra had been at that age! It has never even crossed his mind to haul his body from his lover at the point of ecstasy; to spill his seed onto the ground rather than into her. It seems...unnatural. All those could-be children, wasted in the dirt. Those future emperors, those future queens, never to exist.

Volterra is far from being a prude, but talking about this with his son makes him feel quite queasy. He'd pictured Kid coming to him in a year's time, asking what these urges were in the depths of his loins, what this weight was between his thighs, what to do with it, how to lessen it. He'd imagined growing awkward then as opposed to now, explaining the logistics and the mechanisms and the joy of it. He didn't expect to be having this conversation quite so soon. Just another part of his dream that's inexoribly changed.

The tone turns serious again, and the demon's feral eyes fix on his son's as Kid declares that he won't forgive him. Volterra nods; he had expected nothing more, although he'd hoped...His apology had not been pitiful, far from it - he will grovel at the feet of none, and if Kid is expecting his father to bow and acquiesce to every command, then he is to be sorely mistaken. There is humility, and then there is stupidity. Volterra ensures he stays strictly within the bounds of the former.

The child finishes speaking, and the goliath smothers an exasperated sigh. Had Kid listened to nothing he had just said? Does he really think he needs to tell Volterra to interact with his offspring? The stallion made it abundantly clear that the only reason he did not have a presence in his children's lives before now was because he did not know they existed. The moment he found out about Zhu, he took him under his wing; taught him Hungarian, taught him anything he wanted to be taught. The moment he found out about Kid, he attempted to do the same. The moment he met Tyrath, the same. In other words, the moment Volterra found out he was a father, he embraced it with open arms and began making up for lost time with every single one of his sons. Had he found out about his children and still made no attempt to be in their lives, then that would have been unforgiveable, but that is not the case. Ignorance, not laziness, prevented him training them earlier.

But he crushes his frustration down, clenches it beneath a wall of steel. Saying it would be like talking to a rock, that much is apparent to him. Kid has decided how he wants to feel, and no amount of logic or reasoning or truth will change that. In a way, that stubbornness and indomitable willpower is to be respected - after all, where else has he got it from but Volterra himself? - but it's also a considerable barrier between them and reconciliation.

"Then let us begin now. What would you like to know? Ask of me anything, Kid; I will endeavour to either tell you or show you the answer."