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I bowed, but before I stepped toward the door, I suddenly asked, “Are you still deciding who to appoint for the marriage proposal?”

“Yes,” he murmured under his breath. “It’s been a vexatious process. Sonia has been assisting me ever since the month arrived due to my indecisiveness.”

“Will you elect yourself then?”

“Anabella and I underwent the process three years ago when we came of age,” he whispered, and the façade slightly diminished as his eyes settled on mine. “Our blood compatibility concluded with very poor and inauspicious results. Though she was prepared to continue with the marriage proposal, I promised it under my own terms. She rejected it.”

If the blood compatibility results were negative, then the match was ostracized. For Regal families, if the pair continued with the marriage without seeking other compatible spouses, they would lose their titles if no heir spawned.

He cleared his throat as he shook his head. “She wants a husband who will only love and lust for her. But I can only care for her as a friend. She understands I cannot be with women.”

Another knock vibrated against the door, and Sonia entered, her greeting bow indicating my departure. I retired to my chamber, a sudden shadow blurring past me and onto the chaise on the first floor.

Kaleb’s suffocating ego swallowed the room. I forced my gaze onto the floor as I sensed his presence looming. He didn’t stand. Rather, he curved against the cushion to face me.

“Dear little brother, do you understand what tomorrow will unfold?” He asked, his shrill voice a resounding chime.

“Yes, Brother.”

A blood-thirsty grin blossomed as he said, “Good. Although it wasn’t prevalent, I was still afraid you may have forgotten our agreement since I hadn’t paid mind. Though your immersion within your role has been too remarkable to cause such doubts.”

There was never an agreement, you prick,my tongue itched to say.

“I expect the grandest of betrayals tomorrow with that pest of a guardian,” he said as he stood and stepped to my side. “And Alek, remember, you’re under my hold, but if you continue lurking in and out the shadows, know that mutt of a guardian won’t be the only one entangled in this grand tragedy.”

“What?” My lips blurted out.

Kaleb’s eyes widened with a prominent glee. “I may have let you roam freely for too long little brother, but fear not. Once you break her into thousands of pieces, then what you’ve been masterminding will go unheeded. We shall all share the last laugh.”

* * *

In the dead of night, when the clock marked the fifth year of our mother’s death anniversary, my walk to the cemetery was bleak and heart-wrenching.

Sunflowers rested still and tall within the vase, the golden canary petals holding a deep warmth on the edges and pale gleam closer to the corolla. It was a sight that I continuously reveled in once I rested upon the pew, the night its accessory.

It exposed the sorrow that pressed in my stomach.

“Mother, I hope your rest has been well for the past five years,” I began, a chill breeze seeping through the space.

“I come here today to apologize once more for the very incident that stole your life from this world. If I hadn’t hidden in what’s now Christopher’s study —on that wretched third floor within the library—perhaps I could have heard your willowing cries. Perhaps I could have stumbled upon your fleeing body before it was too late. Perhaps I could have witnessed exactly what took place to avoid such horrid rumors.

“As always, my apologies, mother. My apologies for being such a coward. My apologies for not saving you. My apologies for letting one of the guardians discover your body once my brothers returned when it should have been me hours before. My deepest, sincerest apologies for not being a strong son, but a weak bastard.

“My payment for such has succumbed me to loneliness, into the darkness that you had once abided in. Alas, this grand lonely path has now been shined upon. For that, I have come to a heart-wrenching decision.

“Alongside Tristan, Katerina, Christopher, and now Raphael, I’m not as alone as I believed myself to be. With them, the sense of hope that I had lost alongside you has been fully ignited, but it’s grown brittle in a short span due to Kaleb.

“For that, my apologies for what I’ve decided upon, as it disobeys all you’ve taught us.”

Her voice trailed in the depths of my mind, ever so slight yet profound.

“Promise me you’ll never follow my path,”she had said before sending us off to the Christmas Ball that led to her tragedy, “that you’ll never hold the chasm of titles and authority to determine your worth. It will ruin you just like it did me, your father, and all who rule our kind.”

Yet, those words failed to include the reality we lived in, one without a choice. Our mother painted a lie within her picture, showcasing a dream that was never attainable within our existence. Bearing a choice signified we had options, and while few made themselves apparent throughout the years, they never sustained what was truly needed.

Protection for those I cared for, those I loved dearly. Deeply. With Kaleb’s hold on me, it was impossible— unless that hold was stripped permanently.

“I will be accepting the marriage proposal.”