“Like you,” she says softly.
The observation hits me like a physical blow. She sees it. She sees the same self-destructive engine in me that drove my brother into the grave, and she’s not wrong.
A muscle in my jaw tightens. “Yes.”
The word hangs there, a confession. She gives a small, almost imperceptible nod, as if I’ve just confirmed a terrible truth she already knew. Then she looks away, back at the glittering, indifferent city below.
“And now our parents are married,” she says, her tone flat, devoid of emotion. The second, more grotesque elephant. “That makes us… what? Step-siblings?”
The word tastes like acid. It’s a label from a world I no longer belong to, a world I am trying to pull her from. It’s another chain, another lie forged by our parents to bind us to their rotten world. I feel a flash of the earlier rage, cold and sharp.
I reach across the console, my movements slow, deliberate. I take her hand. Her fingers are cold, but they don’t pull away. They rest in mine, a silent surrender.
“That man is not my father,” I say, my voice low and hard, leaving no room for argument. “Not anymore. And that woman…” I let the words hang, my contempt for Caroline a venomous thing. “That contract they signed is a business deal. It’s paper. It’s a lie meant to cover up other lies. It has nothing to do with us.”
I squeeze her hand, forcing her to look back at me. I need her to understand this. I need to erase that word from her mind forever.
“You are not my sister, Aria.” My voice is a deadly serious vow. The air crackles with the intensity of it. I lean closer, my eyes boring into hers, branding this truth onto her soul.
“You are mine.”
She just stares at me, her lips slightly parted. I can see the frantic pulse beating in her throat. She doesn’t argue, she doesn’t agree, she just listens. She hears the vow beneath the claim. The promise of protection inside the cage of possession.
"What now?" she whispers, her voice hoarse.
The question is so practical, so grounded that it almost makes me laugh. We have just detonated a nuclear bomb in the center of our lives, and she is asking for a map of the fallout zone.
I don't answer immediately. Instead I gently disentangle myself from her, my movements slow, deliberate. I help her off my lap and back into the passenger seat. The air between us is charged, intimate. I reach over and pull her coat closed, my fingers brushing the bare skin of her collarbone. She shivers but doesn't flinch. My knuckles, raw and bleeding, leave a faint smear of red on the dark fabric of her coat. Blood for blood. A fair trade.
I fix my own clothes, the motions mechanical. Buckle. Button. Zip. I am putting the armor back on, but it feels different now. It is no longer just to protect me from the world. It is to protect her.
I start the car, the engine a low, powerful growl in the night. I pull away from the overlook, away from the prying eyes of the city, and head further up into the dark, winding roads of the hills.
"What now?" I repeat her question, my voice quiet. "Now, we disappear. Now, I take you somewhere safe."
She is silent for a long moment. I can feel her watching me, her mind working. "Safe," she says. "There are no safe rooms, Cassian. I told you that."
"You were right," I admit, my eyes on the dark road. "There are no safe rooms. So I built a safe fortress."
She turns to look out the window at the dark, unfamiliar trees flashing by. "Another cage?"
"A cage is to keep something in," I say, turning the car onto a private, unmarked road. "A fortress is to keep the world out. There is a difference."
"Is there?" she asks, her voice soft, but with an edge of steel.
I stop the car. We are in front of a gate, this one modern and unassuming. It slides open without me touching a button, recognizing my car. We drive through, and it closes silently behind us.
At the end of the drive is a house. It is not like my father's marble tomb, it is not like my industrial loft. It is a structure of dark wood, black steel, and vast panes of glass that drink in the moonlight. Our Fortress is nestled into the side of the mountain, surrounded by ancient trees. It is isolated, it is invisible. It is mine.
I turn off the engine and finally look at her.
"Aria," I say, and I wait until she meets my gaze. "I told you that you are mine. That was not a threat. It was a promise. Itis the only promise I will ever make. I will keep you safe. I will destroy anyone who tries to touch you. My father. Your mother. Anyone."
I reach out, my hand hovering for a second before I gently touch her face, my thumb stroking her cheekbone. Her skin is so soft.
"You are not my prisoner," I continue, my voice a low, intense whisper. "You are my purpose. You walked into that house to start a war, and you succeeded. But you are not a soldier in that war. You are the prize, you are the kingdom. You are not my weakness, you are the reason for my strength."
She stares at me, her eyes searching mine, looking for the lie, for the manipulation. She finds none. Only a terrifying, absolute sincerity.
