Page 50 of Night’s Fall (The Four Realms #1)

Suddenly, the room was a flurry of motion as everybody moved because Aleksei had taken his brother by the throat and was lifting him to the tips of his toes by it.

“Son,” Queen Calisa was at his side, and her word was a plea.

“ Drahko ,” I was at his other side, my hand on his arm, my voice soft, but my word was also a plea.

“You speak of the True Bride ,” Aleksei whispered sinisterly.

Oh gods.

I hadn’t heard that term in ages because there hadn’t been one in ages.

But the True Bride was me .

“And your brother’s mate,” he bit off. “ She will have respect, or you will regret your actions until your dying… fucking … breath . Am I perfectly clear?”

Timothee was choking, but also nodding.

Aleksei flung him into the chair.

I latched onto his arm, and he allowed me to pull him away two steps, but that was all he allowed.

“Am I clear about the rest of it?” he asked Timothee .

“Fuck you,” Timothee spat, rubbing his neck.

“Is that a no?” Aleksei asked dangerously.

“No. I’m clear. Because I have no choice. Right ?”

“Correct,” Aleksei said. He turned to Errol . “ Now you. Have I made myself clear?”

Errol turned to his father and whined, “ Dad .”

King Fillion was staring at his eldest son.

“Dad!” Errol called sharply.

Slowly, the king turned to Errol . “ You wound me, every time you lay your weakness at my feet.”

Uh…

Whoa!

That was unexpected.

Errol’s pretty face went ashen.

“I despair, but you don’t see it, what you do to me. You don’t care. But you are my son, what am I to do?” the king asked.

“Dad,” Errol said quietly.

“This family does not abide in this Palace because of the fortune of hereditary blood. It is because, from the first True Heir , we vowed to protect the people of Night’s Fall , and the two of you,”—he looked to Timothee —“not only fail miserably in holding this promise sacred, you actively and repeatedly seek to break it. Is this my penance for showing you softness? Is this my penance for showing you love?”

Aleece made a sad noise, the emotion that was squeezing my heart.

Neither of the younger princes replied, nor did they meet their father’s eyes.

“I’ve spent years, desolate, wondering where I’ve gone wrong,” the king stated.

“ I was so proud of you in your youth. My fine four. So beautiful. But then you two took everything I gave and twisted it into something unsavory. Was it me, in the guilt I still carried at feeling my own siblings’ envy of my status, that acted mistakenly because I wanted you to feel special? To feel heard? To feel seen?”

Neither male had an answer.

Then again, that was more than likely true on a variety of levels.

There simply was no answer. Their behavior was inexcusable.

“Fillion, my love,” Queen Calisa murmured, her voice an ache.

The king’s attention shifted to Aleksei .

“Is this official?” he asked confusingly.

“It doesn’t appear it needs to be,” Aleksei replied quietly.

“But in these chambers,” the king pressed.

“We both know, in these chambers, it has to be,” Aleksei said.

The king nodded. “ Let there be no upset, son. Truth told, it’s a relief.”

And with that, saying nothing nor looking at anyone, with dignity I admired, the king walked out.

“Son,” Queen Calisa called.

“Don’t,” Aleksei said tersely. “ You know I don’t want it.”

“And you know it was an inevitability,” she replied gently.

She moved to him, touched his arm, glanced at her two younger sons, her daughter, and followed her husband.

“Don’t even open your mouth,” Aleece warned.

Timothee’s eyes had fired, and he was openly pouting. But he kept his mouth shut.

“Laura.” She called my attention to her. “ I’ve been looking forward to meeting you. But not like this.”

“Same,” I pushed out, so blown away by all that had happened and perplexed by a lot of it, I was unable to say more.

“So that’s it?” Errol demanded of Aleksei . “ One day, you just walk into a room, issue orders, act like a bully, and we’re supposed to click our heels and salute?”

“Thank you for asking, I’m just fine after someone tried to kill my beast,” Aleksei returned. “ Thank you for asking, I’m extortionately happy I’ve found my mate. Thank you for asking, I’d love for you to get to know her and her friends better.”

That said a lot.

And, right…

We were doing this now.

Since it needed to be done, I kept my mouth shut and my hold on my mate.

“Like you reach out,” Timothee spat.

“I asked you to join my ring ice team. Then the team asked me to lose you because you’re a dirty player and an inveterate cheat.”

Color started to hit Timothee’s face.

Aleksei carried on.

“I asked you both to stand up with me when I was engaged to Anna , and the night of our engagement party, you made a messy, inebriated pass at her,” he said to Timothee , then he turned to Errol . “ And you got drunk and were caught urinating on her mother’s prized roses.”

Errol suddenly was fascinated with the oval coffee table in front of him.

Aleece crossed her arms on her chest and glared between the two, and I had the distinct impression what Aleksei was sharing was news to her.

Aleksei, sadly, wasn’t done.

“I asked you both if you were interested in working with one of my businesses. Tim , you threw that offer in my face. Rol , you took me up on it, and then I had to sack you for sexually harassing a colleague.”

Errol now made a study of his shoes.

Ugh.

These males were a disaster.

And I was seeing Aleksei and I might need to spend less time having sex and more time talking ( might ).

“As ever, you’re perfect, and we’re fuckups,” Timothee bit out.

“You said it, I didn’t,” Aleksei fired back.

“ But I’m far from perfect, Tim . You simply haven’t bothered to try to get to know me.

Also , I don’t put everything I am into being a fuckup for whatever shitty reason you have for doing it.

You are not me. You will never be me. You’re you.

That could take any form. Are you happy with the person you crafted yourself to be?

Because if you are, we’re dealing with something a great deal deeper here, because you’re fucking insufferable, and anyone in their right mind would know the many ways you are. ”

Timothee shrugged. “ You twist us into villains when we’re just normal males. We’re just not shining examples of glory, like you are.”

“A normal male does not drug a woman to force her to have an abortion, Tim .”

“You don’t get this, but she was blackmailing me,” Tim retorted hotly. “ She got pregnant on purpose. She had me by the balls. What would you do?”

“I wouldn’t have gotten her pregnant. It’s a simple matter of taking the serum once a week,” Aleksei returned.

“She can take the serum too,” Timothee rejoined.

Aleksei sighed.

And I counted my lucky stars that my male regularly imbibed the birth control serum (and yes, we oh so had talked about that ).

I did too, but you could never be too careful (until you didn’t want to be, of course).

“I won’t apologize to that bitch,” Timothee decreed. “ The rest, I don’t give a fuck. Do what you have to do. You’ll see what kind of female she is when you sit down with her. She was out to get exactly what you’re giving her.”

“And this is why you take the serum, Tim ,” Aleksei said with strained patience. “ If she is indeed a female like that, you don’t hand her the rope to hang you.”

“I can’t be fussed with remembering to take a freaking serum once a week,” Timothee mumbled.

“For fuck’s sake,” Aleksei groused.

Aleece joined the conversation.

“You know, sometimes you make it really hard to love you two,” she declared, aiming this at Timothee and Errol .

The first narrowed his eyes at her.

The other surprised me by having the good grace to look abashed.

Aleece kept at them.

“I’m mortified to my soul our future sister-in-law, new to our family, is standing there, watching you behave like this.

” She said this to Timothee , and then turned to Errol .

“ I’m chagrined she felt she had to step in and clean up your mess.

” She shook her head. “ I’ve tried. I’ve really tried to understand where you two are coming from.

I try, and then I hear about more shit you both get up to.

I’m exhausted with the effort. I’m done.

I can’t beat it back anymore, make excuses for you.

I also can’t fight the feeling any longer that I’m just so fucking ashamed of both of you. ”

She moved to leave but stopped and looked back to me.

“I’m sorry for my family, Laura . We’ll chat some other time.”

I didn’t get the chance to nod my acceptance, she was gone.

“Great. Thanks ,” Timothee said snidely. “ Now you’ve turned Aleece against us.”

“I’m curious,” Aleksei said. “ How does it feel to have the world land on you, and anything and anybody but yourself and your own actions are to blame for the shit that befalls you, which happens to absolutely nobody. Rather than your actions impacting you and those around you, which is what everyone else experiences?”

Timothee changed tacks.

“You blew it with that ritual, brother,” he sneered.

“You’re following the wrong tapes, brother . The impact of our attendance was overall positive,” Aleksei replied.

It was?

Germaine didn’t make it out to be that way.

“But even if it wasn’t, we stood for compassion today and gave a family thrown into one of the hells no one wants to visit a thin thread to cling to, that we grieved with them and we didn’t blame their loved one for something that wasn’t her fault,” Aleksei concluded.

“Always with the answers,” Timothee retorted.

“Fuck, Tim , just let it go,” Errol said on a sigh.

Timothee turned on his younger brother. “ You’ll toe the line, and now, instead of kissing Dad’s ass, you’ll kiss Aleksei’s feet because you’ve got a dick the size of a toothpick and couldn’t think yourself out of a paper bag.”

For a flash, an expression hit Errol’s face that set ice into my veins.

Then he shot back, “ Fuck off.”

“Gladly,” Timothee returned and stormed out.