"You don't have to be sorry, Sage Sabrina Quinn," Asher says softly against my hair.
Kayden's arms tighten, rough but grounding.
"We knew the storm you were bringing," Asher continues.
"And we said yes," Kayden growls fiercely. "Hell yes. Fuck yes. Yes to all of it."
"We'll figure out the rest," Asher finishes.
Fresh out of the shower, scrubbed raw and free of the dress and heels, I pull on one of Asher's hoodies. It smells like him and feels like home.
I call the guys into my room. The whole 'family revelation' didn't blow up into the fight I expected, so I feel steadier, ready to get this off my chest. Maybe I owe them this much, after how long I've kept pieces of myself locked away.
I sit cross-legged in the center of the bed. Asher takes a chair in front of me, in sweats and a neatly pressed t-shirt, because of course he can't not be neat. Kayden perches on the edge of the bed, dress shirt unbuttoned, sweats below like he got halfway through changing and decided effort was overrated.
I clear my throat. "So… I want to tell you about this whole 'Sabrina Quinn' thing."
"You don't have to," Asher says quietly. "Not tonight."
"I know." I hug my knees for a second, then release them. "But I want to. Really. It's… it's a life I had before this one. Before becoming a nymph. So in a way, I'm living my third life now." I sigh, pulling the words together like loose threads.
Kayden smirks. "We already figured you were a rich girl."
I give him a tired smile. "Yeah. Quinns aren't top tier, not exactly second tier either, but still—old money, old connections. That kind of thing. I was born into a world where everything was scripted. The training, the expectations, the awareness that most of your choices had been made for you before you were born."
Asher nods slowly. "That's a lot like how it used to be." His tone is quiet, reflective.
"Exactly," I say, meeting his eyes. "You know what it means."
Kayden shrugs. "You can always escape it."
Asher gives him a sidelong look. "Only if you're the irresponsible younger brother willing to dump everything on the elder."
Kayden shoots back, "Should I remind you thatyouwere getting the estate while I got zilch? Couple centuries earlier, and I'd have been shipped off to the Crusades just to earn a living."
Asher shakes his head, muttering, "We're losing focus."
I can't help but smile at their back-and-forth, a small relief in the heaviness. Then I go on.
"No Crusades in my time," I say softly, "but I was expected to be… someone. Proper clothes, posture, speech. Every move polished. I lived in those boundaries, thinking—foolishly—that once I started university, once I began working, I'd finally be free. I studied business, with environmental design as a minor."
I huff a quiet laugh, but it tastes bitter. "The fact that my parents allowed that minor should've been my first clue. That's how little it mattered to them. A concession. A crumb of freedom."
"They didn't want you to work, but to marry?" Asher asks.
"You got it. When I came back before graduation, therehewas. Someone I knew from childhood, a person who made my life hell back in boarding school. And suddenly, over dinner, Iwas informed I was expected to marry him. Not asked.Told. It had been decided. I was the last to know."
My throat tightens as I recall that evening. "I argued, of course. Asked why they bothered paying for my degree if I was going to be a housewife and a broodmare. Mother said it was proper and expected for a woman tohavea degree, not use it."
"Charming," Kayden mutters, voice full of disgust.
"I tried." The words scrape out. "I tried to accept it. Tried to swallow the life they'd written for me. But then I talked to him, my so-called fiancé, and he laid it all out. His expectations. The terms of our marriage. How he'd 'manage' me." I shake my head. "That was the crossroads. Either accept it and lose the last shred of freedom I ever had, or… leave."
"And you left," Asher says softly.
"I left." My voice is sharper now. "Ran, really. Grabbed some jewelry, some cash, and escaped. I couldn't trust my friends since most of them would've handed me back to my family. So I lived out of a few hotels. Then the money ran out, and I hit the streets. Learned to pickpocket, to survive. Slept rough. When I realized I couldn't keep it up forever, I reached out to a couple people I'd known from my environmental club."
Kayden studies me, head tilted. "And you never wanted to go back to that old life?"
