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Chapter 35

Brothers VII

~VELIS~

While Dolly Was Sleeping Earlier

I tuck my favorite master into a borrowed bed and place a kiss of protection on her forehead, infusing her with relaxing energy to soothe her tired body, soul, and mind. My lady. My master. My Dolly. My wife.

I can’t think of her as anyone else’s, even after learning she may not have been intended for me. Even more so now, with a threat as big as destiny looming, I can’t give her up. And I’ll never let her be taken.

I wait for her breathing to slow and deepen, then lift my weight from over her and retrieve the note Arrik left for me.

The gemstone pond outside the manor. I have a proposition.

I seal the room with magic, locking her in safely before ripping myself into the void. I appear beside the gemstone pond where Dolly tricked my brothers out of their contest earnings, securing my destiny while altering theirs. It was also the first kiss and bonding she shared with Arrik. Likely why he chose it.

He sits along the reed-lined shores, his posture relaxed, the dark bow beside his hip. The water ripples with the cool night wind.

“Arrik?” I call out as I approach.

“Velis,” he responds, gesturing for me to sit beside him.

“I kept her busy, as you instructed,” I say, referencing the telepathic message he sent me just before Dolly wished us away to the mammoth plain orchards. “She’s sleeping now.”

He tips his face to the sky, exhaling slowly. “I know. I feel her.”

“What have you found out?” I ask. “Anything in those tomes?”

“Dead ends. I think it’s true when they say their predatorial tendencies have been all but erased. This bow must be an anomaly. Something that went undetected for millennia, hidden within a djinn’s vessel. I have theories. And I have solutions. But you aren’t going to like any of it,” he says.

I can already assume what kind of ‘solutions’ he’s been coming up with.

“I’m not giving her to you,” I state firmly, the tension between us thickening.

“Fucking hear me out, you child. There’s no denying that what she wants in this moment is a vanilla, cookie-cutter life with you. You, with your healer studies and your lairdship and your conventional drive—you are security. Alone, I’m too risky for her. She’s been damaged by men with some of my traits.”

“Plus the fact that she’s already my wife . And I don’t know what baked goods have to do with anything.”

Arrik is silent for a moment, then responds, “She’s not your wife, Velis. Oops, you tethered before your wedding night. It doesn’t have to mean forever. You’re both young and stupid. If you’re serious about this, you need to be serious about this because Dolly is intelligent, and she will get bored of you. And when she eventually becomes mine anyway, I don’t want to have to unbundle all that baggage.”

“Arrik...” I say tiredly, already feeling the exhaustion of this back-and-forth.

“I mean, just look at her, Velis. You won’t even give up your lairdship for her. You can’t even be a man for her and leave this goddamned legacy behind. Some of us have nothing, and you want it all. She’s the girl of our dreams, and you’re the only one she desires. It says a lot that you’re already splitting your affections between her and the estate.”

I haven’t even gotten a chance to offer it up to him yet, the dick.

I hop to my feet. “You always paint me as the selfish one, but you know damn well I’ve never cared about the lairdship or any of that! I wanted to research doom diseases , Maka damn it! And I told you, this is the only way I can protect her. She’s better off as a djinn laird’s wife than a shiny-souled human on the run in the human world. I want to give her everything, Arrik. She deserves everything . And she sure as hell shouldn’t end up with some whoremongering vagabond!”

“A whoremongering vagabond? Tch. Yeah, well, look how much shit you’ve put her through since dragging her into our world—which I never would have done , by the way. You should have remained with her, under the radar at her shitty human dwelling. At this rate, she’ll have nothing. She’ll be dead. Listen,” Arrik continues, tempering slightly. “Let me pose a question. Assuming we find a way to kill the cupid and free you from its wrath, there’s no guarantee her heart will remain committed to you forever. She’s human, Velis. And her feelings for me have already grown. With fate against you, would you really risk losing her, OR would you prefer a guarantee?”

“I’m sorry—do you seriously think I’d be up for sharing her with you?”

“Then how about this.” Arrik flicks his wrist to conjure a knife. “If I kill you, Dolly’s fate map will align, and she’ll run into my arms, as confirmed by the cupid. I could blame it on Beckham. Say he snapped. Because the problem in this whole situation is YOU, Velis. And you’re being pretty fucking stubborn for the one who STOLE my soulmate.”

“You feel so entitled to her,” I scoff, waving my hand to turn the knife into an Earthen banana.

“ I do? Ha! Fine. If you won’t listen to reason, all bets are off. I guess I’ll pitch that last-ditch effort after all,” Arrik says, frustration riding his tongue. “See who she chooses if I really put my all into it.”

I have no fear of that. I know she will always choose me over him.

“So then why are you so insecure about this?” he says.

“I’m not. I just know it’s ludicrous. It would never work. What, are we supposed to trade off lunch dates with her?”

“Haven’t we already done that? And now, hear me out—” He lets the silence stretch just long enough to irritate me. “What if that’s what her heart desired most? What if we were compelled to make it happen?”

“But it isn’t what her heart desires most, Arrik. She’d never go for it,” I argue.

“Master is a naughty, nasty girl when she thinks no one is listening in. You don’t live inside her dreams the way I do. She’s already considered it.”

I don’t need or want to hear that from him. “It’s crazy. Think of something else.”

“Oh, I’ve thought of many other something elses. And this one is crazy. Crazy enough to thwart destiny. Because here are the things I know to be true: The opposite of destiny is chaos. Beckham’s existence here proved that. Dolly is capable of casting wishes to alter her own fate, and ours too. Dolly’s soul is strong enough to sustain two tethers. And Dolly is in love with us both, even if she won’t admit it. There are going to be other men out there after her. Even when not fated to her, it’s hard not to love her. Someone else could turn her heart, her soul. We could work together to ensure that doesn’t happen. After all, who could resist both of us? The cupid says she chooses you and you die, or she chooses me. But what if we offer a third option? One wrought of the chaos inside her.”

“I don’t know,” I say, preparing to shut it down. Allowing their feelings to grow under supervision is one thing. Letting it become a physical relationship? That’s a line I don’t think I can cross. “It’s not that I have a better option,” I admit, my mind spinning for one. “But I’m not like you, Arrik. My pride won’t allow it.”

“You think I’m thrilled about sharing her?” Arrik snaps, his territorial reflexes slipping through. “That’s why we bend the rules of wishing, use compulsion to our advantage. If it’s truly what she desires, your instincts might shift. Even she and Beckham were bound to spare each other. I’ve run the numbers. The outcomes look good.”

“We don’t know that for certain.”

“We know nothing for certain. That’s the point. And as I said, there are alternatives. I’m simply bringing up the one that will result in her immediate happiness. If it doesn’t work, we can explore other options. Wishes —all of which would cost her soul. For example, she could wish one of us off to another timeline. Or create a replica of herself, like I did with that cat, using a portion of her shiny essence.”

He pauses, and I feel the gravity of each option settling over me.

“Or we can start with the original plan if you’d prefer. See if she can stand wishing me out of her life. Spoiler: it won’t work. So, unless you have a better idea, we’re running out of time.”

His assurance is palpable, almost maddening.

But if I push deeper, just beyond the arrogance and confidence, I see the truth—the quiet desperation he’s trying to mask. It’s in the way his grip tightens, the beat of hesitation in his eyes, just for a second. He’s terrified of losing her. And it’s killing him to offer her to me .

He’s never loved or desired anything more.

“I won’t be second to you, Arrik,” I say, my voice low but firm, my greatest fear hanging in the space between us. “I can’t.”

“But I can be second to you. I don’t care if she favors you, as long as she has the freedom to be with me, too.” He pauses, reading my expression. “If you believe she’ll always choose you, then you’ve got nothing to worry about. And if it works? I predict it’ll be enough to get this damn cupid off our backs for good. If it doesn’t, we move on to Plan B.”

There’s likely little chance it will work.

I drag in a breath, letting it hover in my chest. I promised to be her partner, her lover, her future, and I want it all.

I want it all .

Does that mean all or nothing?

Just for a second, I picture life without her—the harsh reality of her scent lingering on pillows devoid of her warmth. Glimpses of her life while I live only adjacent to it. The person who should be at my side no longer on the throne beside me. How could I ever give her up after everything?

And then there’s Arrik—my brother, the only other person I trust to protect her. Even as we’ve tried to move on without him, I’ve relied on his loyalty time and again to save her life.

Another vision comes to mind—one where I never have to carry the burden of her darkest secret again. Holding her, finally free from the dull ache of her pain. A heart’s greatest desire outweighing a heart’s deepest shame.

Master’s darkest desires granted.

Maybe his loyalty will be enough now.

But giving him this edge? It’ll unleash chaos into our lives forever.

“If she agrees to this, you and I will need a deal, Arrik. A pact that ensures neither of us pulls her completely from the other. One enforced by strong fucking magic.”

Because if my options are giving her up, letting fate kill me, or convincing the world’s most committed monogamist to go along with this insane fucking plan...

Arrik raises an eyebrow, masking the flurry of emotions I’ve just stirred up in him before cutting to business. “Hex magic? It’s what I use with the other two.”

“Something that keeps us both in line. If either of us crosses a boundary, the other has the power to step in. No manipulation. She doesn’t deserve the guilt of keeping the balance between us. And you know she’ll try. We agree—right here, right now—to honor her choices, even if she changes her mind later.”

In some senses, it’s like putting him on a leash.

Arrik considers my offer for what feels like an eternity, his shrewd eyes narrowing as if he hadn’t expected me to agree to any of this—let alone be the one laying down terms. His silence stretches, and for a split second, I’m sure he’s going to refuse.

“Fine. For Master’s sake, it’s a good idea. If you’re willing to share her, I’m resolved not to steal her from you. I’ll start working on the hex.”