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“You don’t think,” Bryce interrupted, shrugging his shoulders.

“That is the problem. This place is crawling with witches, and Bianca’s existence is meant to subjugate them.

These people are not officials used to being around power.

Do you honestly believe she’s been treated like any other patient?

I’m sure they’re on their best behavior when you can witness, but what do you think happens behind closed doors? ”

Julian’s mouth was still open, his expression stunned. Meanwhile, Damen’s hands dropped.

“What?” Damen looked at me. “What happened? ”

I finished my cheeseburger, no longer as excited to eat the second. “I told you already that nurses are mean,” I said.

Julian and Damen’s expressions became similarly murderous.

Damen’s eyebrow twitched, but Julian spoke first, “What have they been doing?”

“They’ll turn off my lights.” I glanced toward the door and bit my lip. “No one will really talk to me directly, and they won’t let me talk to them. I’m supposed to be able to read my books, but they won’t let me have them after you leave.”

I looked at Julian. “They’re not nice when they change my bandages or give me medication. They said I’m dangerous.”

“I’ll show them dangerous.” Damen jumped to his feet, but Julian touched his arm. “What?”

“This needs to go to Miles.” Julian’s expression had closed off, and his eyes darkened.

“Fine,” Damen said after a moment. “We’ll just have to stay with her all the time until then.” He then fell back into his seat, covering his eyes, as he added, “We’re still not listening.”

My appetite returned as I cautiously took another bite of my burger. I had no idea what Damen was talking about. However, it hadn’t taken me long to notice that if no one else was talking, he’d keep giving out information anyway.

Julian looked at him. “We need to get her out of here.”

“I’m trying,” Damen replied. “Miles said he had an idea, but I haven’t heard anything about it.”

Bryce cleared his throat. “Speaking of,” he began as he stood and faced me. The look in his eyes made my skin prickle, and I doubted his next words would make me happy. “We should let everyone know we’re married.”

My food suddenly tasted like ash, and I stared at him. “What? ”

Before Bryce could explain his delusions, Julian interjected. “Pardon me?”

Damen was staring as his face slowly turned scarlet.

“It’s Miles’s idea.” Bryce shrugged. “If she were married, a spouse’s claim on the conservatorship would override her parents’. He’s started the paperwork already. Supposedly, we fell in love and wed soon after classes began. If you want to leave, just follow along. I’ll get you out.”

My heart was thundering as the cheeseburger dropped to my lap.

It was a brilliant idea. But this was Bryce . What were his motives?

“Is that why you brought me food?” I narrowed my eyes. “You’re using a cheeseburger to bribe me into marriage? What kind of engagement gift is this?”

“I’ve more class than that. The food is extra.” Bryce lifted a brow. “I’m getting you a ring.”

Damen jumped to his feet and pulled me behind him. He didn’t seem to care about the mess he made and my meal fell to the floor in his hasty movements.

“Absolutely not,” he seethed. Before I could even process what was happening, Julian had also moved between us. I couldn’t see Bryce anymore.

“You must be joking.” Julian’s voice was tight. “Or Miles has lost his mind. Once it comes out who she is, the Council will be difficult enough to navigate. It’d make it far worse if she reneged on the agreement.”

“Hey…” I tugged at Julian’s shirt. “What do you mean?”

“The Council?” Julian glanced at me. “They’ll attempt to throw the rule book at every little thing—”

“I’m not talking about that.” I pulled his sleeve again. “What is it?” Damen had mentioned it once before, but I’d never thought to learn about the details. There’d been more pressing matters at the time.

The furious expression faded from Julian’s face instantly, and Damen tensed.

“Darling, I didn’t realize that you didn’t understand,” he said, his tone a mixture of horrified and apologetic. “This was something we willingly agreed to some lifetimes ago.”

“Why?” I had never thought to press this subject before, but now it felt urgent.

Damen turned and placed his hands over my shoulders. “It was a suggestion presented to the Council that stated that we cannot enter into a marriage or have children.”

“What kind of idiot came up with that?” My voice squeaked. Was that really what it said? It wasn’t like I wanted any of those things, but still. “What business of theirs is it that—”

“Darling.” Julian pressed his finger to my lip, silencing me. “This was your idea.”

Surprise pushed away my shock, and I blinked at him. “What?”

“ You’re the one who went to the Council,” Julian said.

“You helped write it. There are a number of arguments for it, all of which are very sound. At the time, it made sense, and the Council agreed. In those days, we had issues with our direct descendants. Then there was a prophecy that had the Council concerned.”

“We’ve always planned on revisiting the idea at a later date,” Damen said. “We needed to come up with something more permanent. But part of the agreement is that only you can change the rule.”

“A certain number of votes is also required.” Julian glanced at Damen. “But that’s not going to happen now.”

Damen rolled his eyes. “There’s no merit to that bogus prophecy. I’ve already poured countless hours of research into it. ”

“What prophecy?” I looked toward Damen.

“Divination isn’t an exact science,” he said as he touched his glasses, and the light reflected off the lenses as he looked away. “I’ve never seen—”

“What’s the prophecy?” I interrupted him, turning my attention back to Julian. He would tell me. “What is it?”

Julian sighed, then led me back to the bed. Bryce was only mildly watching the conversation, so I assumed he knew about the topic already.

Julian sat beside me and held my hand. “Titus was the only one of us who never had children. Even now he…” Julian paused, glancing at Damen.

Damen pulled up one of the chairs, answering as he sat. “He’s a virgin,” he stated, completely unfazed.

My face heated at his words. Titus? Once I got over them not being monks, I had assumed…

And Titus , the one who most closely resembled a living sex god?

Titus with his long, flowing hair and Adonis physique?

“How?” I asked. “He said that Forbes —”

“He’s always had admirers in all his lives.” Julian shot Damen a disapproving look. “That includes this life. But he’s also a dragon. He’s focused and possessive, and in terms of romance, he’s not interested in anything less than full commitment. A mate.”

“Titus has never had a mate,” Damen broke in, a curious expression on his face. “Mates have to be of similar strength. And no one has ever been at our level, and his full attention has always been on you, in any lifetime.”

I blinked at him, unsure if I understood. “But—”

“Shifter forms are inherited through the father. There has never been another dragon outside of Jin. Besides that, out of all of us, a dragon would be the most difficult to kill. Shifters are not human,” Julian said, touching my shoulder. “Any of his children would be terrifyingly strong.”

“There was a famous onmyoji who had a vision that was submitted to the Council, and they will do anything they can to make sure Titus can’t procreate,” Julian said.

“But they can’t kill him ,” Damen interjected, and the way his voice had deepened caused my heart to race. “It’s practically impossible to get past a shifter’s defenses.”

“But—” I began again. “What is the prophecy?”

“It states that Titus will have a mate and, when the dragon hive is formed, the winged demons will lead to the destruction of the world,” he said.

“But…” I glanced between the two of them. “You said no one has been able to reach Titus’s level. So it won’t happen.”

“None of us had been female before,” Julian said slowly. “When the law was made, the possibility wasn’t even considered. The Council thought a talented Er Bashou might qualify, even if it were unlikely.”

“But then you were born, and the meaning was clear. A decision had to be made,” Bryce grumbled. “The only way to keep you safe was to send you away.”

Something in his words turned my blood to ice. But Bryce found the bright ceiling light extremely fascinating as he remained unable to meet my eyes.

“You must be joking,” I told him. Surely he was not implying this horrible thing. “We don’t even look alike!”

Bryce frowned, looking back to me, before he pointed at his own hazel eyes, his widow’s peak, and last, his wavy, brown hair. All features I also possessed.

I couldn’t deny that, now that he’d pointed it out, it was true—we did look somewhat similar, but …

“Some of those are dominant traits!” I snapped. “That proves nothing.”

“It’s unlikely that all of these traits would manifest by chance,” Bryce told me, raising an eyebrow. “You must return to class. There are some foundational elements missing from your education.”

“Shut up!” I pointed at him. “I understand genetics! I just can’t believe that you… you… Who is Bailey? Why did you…”

My question trailed off. No, the thing with the dragons was just an excuse. There was no way any loving and attentive parent would agree to abandon their baby. It seemed too easy and convenient. He was wrong.

Besides, why did he suddenly care now? He never said a word when I’d confessed that I was looking for my family.

“You proposed to me!” I pointed out. “You can’t be my brother!”

“That’s exactly why,” Bryce replied, his tone even.

“As Miles pointed out to me earlier this afternoon, this would only be a marriage on paper. Then there’s the added benefit that so long as you’re not hurting yourself, I have no interest in controlling you.

You can make your own medical decisions, including checking yourself out of here.

In the meantime, we’ll figure out everything else. ”

“But, we can’t be married,” I said. “It wouldn’t be legal.”

“No,” Bryce agreed. “It wouldn’t. But, as Miles also pointed out, I doubt anyone who might know will say anything. Besides, it’ll work nicely in masking your relationship with your quintet—as Damen’s plan to ignore reality is ill thought out and destined for failure.”

I paused, touched my lip, and nodded. That was true; I’d been thinking the same thing.

“Besides,” Bryce added, glancing at the onmyoji. “Damen and I were best friends for many years. I’m certain the two of us can reach some sort of understanding.”

“ I loathe you .” Damen’s voice was dark, commanding. Instinctively, I turned my attention to him.

He was an imposing figure, his frame rigid and menacing. His hands were clenched, and the focus of his molten gaze was entirely on Bryce.

“She won’t be able to stay on campus as a married woman,” he said. “And she’s not staying with you.”

“That’s up to Bianca,” Julian said, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. “Besides, she hasn’t even made a decision yet. What do you think, darling?”

This was happening so fast. My thoughts were in overdrive.

Bryce was my brother. The crazy rule that the boys hated was my fault. And there was that prophecy, which held implications I couldn’t digest at the moment.

And now I was supposed to be married?

However, this could be my chance to find out who they were. I might even meet my birth parents.

But did I want to?

Yet it was strange to think of Bryce as anyone other than my challenger. But he was apparently a member of my biological family, and he was trying to help me. However, I hardly knew him, and the thought of being alone with anyone other than the boys filled my heart with dread.

What was I supposed to say? “I-I-I—”

The brunette nurse opened the door, a faux apology written on her expression as she glanced between Julian and Damen. I froze at the sight of her, and it didn’t escape my notice that she didn’t look at Bryce or me at all.

From the sudden tenseness in Julian’s arm, he picked up on it this time as well .

“Sorry, sirs—” Her voice was deceptively bright.

Julian had placed his hand on my shoulder, and I squeezed it. Dread rushed through me at her tone. Or, maybe I was imagining things.

“—visiting hours are over,” she said. “Miss Brosnan needs her rest.”

“My last name isn’t Brosnan,” I said, forcing myself to focus through my panic.

My skin felt strange, but I stood and brushed my gown with shaking hands. “My name is Bianca Dubois.” I glanced at Bryce, who stood straighter at my words and added, “Now that my husband has arrived, you’ll see that he wants me released from this establishment immediately.”