Aerin swings the door open. It isn’t Royal Guards attempting to break in. In the threshold stands the other two Tolvare children.
Bruin Tolvare looks relieved to see Aerin. He attempts to enter once more but bounces off the new wards. Aerin snickers, and Bruin gives her an exasperated look.
“You can come in,” Aerin says. The wards heed, allowing Bruin and Cisera to cross. Aerin leads them to the couch, where she plops down with an offhand ease entirely wrong for the situation.
Malice shuts the door behind them, perching himself against the end of the counter, arms folded over his chest.
“I thought you were being kidnapped!” Bruin accuses, dropping down into the chair across from Aerin. Cisera stands behind Bruin’s chair, silent and stiff, the opposite of Aerin’s nonchalance.
Aerin shrugs. “Just some simple redecorating.” She strums her fingers on the arm of the couch.
“And that includes taking down all the cameras and changing the wards?” Cisera questions coldly, taking a step forward. Bruin throws his arm up, stopping his eldest sister’s advance.
“Now, now. I’m just playing the same game as Father,” Aerin says coolly, her tone rapidly shifting from casual to intense.
“You broke the contract!” Cisera hisses.
“I didn’t break it any more than he did. It isn’t my fault that he presented such anappealingloophole.” Aerin grins coyly, glancing over her shoulder at Malice. Suddenly three sets of identical golden eyes are on him. Malice doesn’t move, doesn’t flinch.
Bruin clenches his jaw. Malice has no idea what Aerin is suggesting he’s done, what contract they are discussing. He hopes that the continuation of this discussion will shed light on the things Aerin herself isn’t telling him.
“Gods, you are such a whore. Of course you slept with your personal guard. You’re disgusting,” Cisera spits out at her sister, those angry eyes moving off Malice and settling on Aerin once again.
“Cisera,” Bruin scolds.
Aerin leans back into the couch, the nasty smile she seems to reserve for her sister unfurling on her face.
“You’re one to talk. Fucking the help is only unbecoming when you’re a frigid bitch about it. And we both know the only frigid one here is you, Cisera.”
Before Cisera can hurl insults back, Bruin speaks.
“And what about the new piercing?” He gestures to her bare midriff, “What about avoiding me at the gym? Partying more? Isawyou doing Pixie Dust for Gods’ sake, Aerin.”
Aerin’s anger becomes so palpable Malice can feel it in the air, can feel the way it builds, bubbles. He grips the countertop behind him, knuckles going white.
“You don’t get to play big brother after betraying me.” Aerin’s voice is cold as ice. She stands. “You’ve gotten your eyes on me; you know I’m not in any more trouble than usual. It’s time foryou to go.” Aerin crosses the room and yanks the front door open.
Cisera is quick to stride out the door. Bruin, like a scolded child, goes slowly. Once they are both in the hall, Aerin lets her voice ring out again.
“Don’t come back.”
Cisera turns to face Aerin, a sneer on her face.
“Now I know why Father keeps you sequestered away here. Because he can’t stand looking at such a disappointment.” The words are thrown like knives.
Malice expects the rage to bubble back down the bond, Aerin’s fury to warm his chest. Instead, her response is cold, calculated.
“If anything, I’m the only one keeping our family’s legacy alive. The Tolvares have always been whores, after all.”
In the space of a breath, everything happens at once. Cisera raises her hand and swings to slap Aerin across the face. Malice growls so low and loud it shakes the walls. His eyes burn orange, Reikan on the cusp of bursting from his skin. And Aerin… Aerin catches her sister’s wrist, easily stopping her.
Aerin laughs with shock and vindication. Cisera’s face turns red with some combination of rage and embarrassment.
“You’ll never have what I have, Cisera, no matter how much you long for it. Hasn’t Father taught you that by now?” Aerin taunts. Cisera snatches her wrist from her sister’s grip.
“What could I possibly want thatyouhave?” Cisera sneers haughtily. Bruin seems to understand that Aerin is wielding her words like a sword, aiming to kill. He grabs Cisera’s upper arm, pulling her down the hall.
“Father’s unwavering attention,” Aerin replies, a smug smile on her face.
