Ehlian’s brows drew together. “His sister?”
“Yeah. That secret visitor was closer to home than Sandar ever imagined,” Willian said. “She spent the last two years gathering incriminating evidence against him.”
“Calia?” Ehlian asked, shocked. “That sister?”
“Do they have another sister? Yes. Her.” Willian let out a small laugh, then added. “I have to give it to her. That was a brave move. Exposing one brother to free the other… it couldn’t have been easy.”
“There’s no guarantee Hayce ever walks free if they never track down Sandar.”
“You never know. The evidence his sister gathered might be enough to prove his innocence.” Willian shook his head in disbelief. “For an Apex telepath, that alpha seems pretty dumb to have everything spelled out in those messages. I guess power doesn’t come with intelligence. Same goes to Sandar.” He muttered under his breath that he couldn’t believe Apex telepaths still existed, then added, “But it could be enough for Hayce to be released early.”
“Well then.” Ehlian swallowed. “Good for him.”
Willian cast him a careful look. “It seems he told you the truth… and a few lies as well.”
“He told me nothing, Willian,” Ehlian said.
“And it’s pretty obvious why,” Willian said pointedly. “Sandar wasn’t exactly discreet when he nearly split your mind open.”
“Hayce was only looking out for himself, not me, or anyone else,” Ehlian said through a tight jaw. “Only himself and his plan to get out. He made it pretty fucking clear I meant nothing to him. He won’t come to see me.” His voice caught, a lump rising in his throat. “And he’d better not come see me, or I swear, Willian, I swear…”
“Okay,” Willian said gently, pulling a chair for himself and sitting down in front of Ehlian. “You know him better than I do, so… I’m here. On your side.”
Without Willian’s steady presence, Ehlian knew he wouldn’t have made it this far. “I wish I could fall in love with you.”
“Oh, please don’t,” Willian replied with mock horror. “Your outbursts are atrocious. And you make terrible pasta.”
Ehlian let out a laugh. “Can’t deny that.”
From the living room, the HoloTV cycled back to the same news segment. Through the open doorway, Hayce stood there again, nothing more than pixels and illusion. For abrief, traitorous moment, Ehlian’s gaze met the hologram’s eyes before he tore it away, filtering out every noise and words.
*
Hayce was released from prison two months later.
And then he was everywhere.
Everywhere Ehlian turned, everywhere he looked, everywhere he went. His tall frame filled the flashing screens on buildings; Ehlian passed his hologram on the street as shops projected the news; he caught his name in passing conversations.
Everywhere, all the fucking time.
Yet it almost felt like they were reporting on a phantom. Hayce seemed to have vanished from the face of Arox. He was probably sick of seeing himself everywhere and stayed in privacy. Well, he wasn’t the only one. Ehlian was fucking sick of it too: of seeing him, of hearing about him, of passing through his body on the street without feeling him, without feeling his touch. He just wanted it to be over, wanted the vicious news cycle to let the story die and move the fuck on. Wishful thinking. They would suck the story dry until people started to lose interest, and stupid people just didn’t want to lose interest.
Ehlian suspected that behind closed doors, Hayce was working tirelessly to save the Cartivair empire from crumbling. His release and the unprecedented revelation of his innocence had driven sales up, but public sentiment was still split. Sandar’s guilt had left a mark on the company’s name too. It was the second devastating scandal the company had endured in four years. It would probably take some time before Hayce regained control and began untangling the mess his brother had leftbehind, or at the very least, until he had the empire’s board firmly behind him. Now he was the rightful heir, the head of the empire. But until Sandar was captured, uncertainty would loom. To this day, no one knew where Sandar had found refuge.
Two months later, Hayce finally made his first public appearance. It wasn’t on a news channel surrounded by presenters, or in some private interview. Oh no. It was at a lavish ball, Hayce fitting seamlessly into high society. He was one of them, after all. Prison hadn’t stripped that away from him for even a second.
Flawless, graceful, beautiful omegas circled around him, angling for his attention… never quite touching but ready to pounce. Hayce was easing back into his old life, rebuilding connections as if prison had only been a detour and everyone tied to it nothing more than an inconvenience. Hayce would want to sever that part of his life completely. Cut it out. Forget it ever existed.
The longer Ehlian stared at the pictures, the smaller he felt. Someone pale and insignificant. A nobody. Hayce’s status was nearly that of royalty. He was no less unreachable.
Did he really think Hayce would settle for someone like him?
Where even was Hayce now? Nowhere near Ehlian.
Because Ehlian was the last thing Hayce needed.
What Hayce needed were powerful allies. An omega who could be a perfect, strategic match to strengthen the empire in status. It hit him just how vastly different their worlds were. It had already been apparent in that lavish prison cell, but here on Arox it intensified tenfold.
