Page 162 of Taint My Soul

“He’s been indisposed. Go back to your territories and keep making me money. That’s what this family pays you for.” I grit and look at all of them. I turn on my heel. “You are dismissed.”

They all scramble to their feet, adjusting their suits as they pour out of the building. “Saint, I wasn’t expecting you home until tomorrow.” Cross steps forward, breaking the silence between us.

“I was discharged early.” I tell him. “I need you to meet me in the office in an hour. Update me on everything that has happened in the past month.”

“Alright, sir.” He walks toward me and claps his hand on my back. “Welcome home.”

“Thank you.” I smile at him.

I head straight to my father’s office. The door creaks as I shut it behind me. The silence here is heavy and riveting. He no longer has the throne. It’s mine. He’s gone. And I’ll rule the empire however I see fit.

I have trained for this my whole life. Brutally played these mindless games. Relentlessly tried to prove my worth to my father.

Now’s the time for me to take that power. To take the mantle of kingship. To become the next King.

But even all this is not enough to stop the guilt crushing my lungs. I lean forward, hands splaying across the polished table, gaze lifting to the King’s throne. In the generations of men in our family, every king has passed on power to the successor, mostly because they saw them worthy and capable of handling everything and ensuring our family’s networking remains in the shadows.

In the eyes of my father, I’m not worthy. And no matter how much I try to twist it, he would have never given me this cause he saw me as weak and incapable. But I have it now anyway because the same man who betrayed my family had gone out of his way to make sure I had it all in the end. He proved himself to me even though I didn’t need him to.

The door creaks, and I look over my shoulder. Elio slips into the quiet space and pauses behind me, locking his hands in front of me. “Hey, everything okay?”

I straighten up and turn to him, eyes taking in every part of me.

Even though my mind has been insistent on letting him go, on setting him free from all this, I don’t want to. This world has taken so much from him, yet he rose above it. He might be better off without all my darkness, but I’m too selfish to let him walk away.

I cannot imagine a world where we don’t belong to each other.

Where he’s not the other half of me.

I would still be in the Red Vault if it weren’t for him.

When it comes to him, I don’t care how much I have to sacrifice as long as he’s always by my side.

“I’ve just been thinking.”

“About what?” He steps closer.

“Everything.”

He sighs, then gently lays his hand on my shoulder. “You can’t completely erase what happened to you at the Red Vault, but this,” he points at the throne behind me. “You deserve this. You’ve worked for this your entire life. And you don’t need a man who’s months away from going six feet under to determine your worthiness.”

I give him a stern nod as I take a deep breath.

We haven’t talked about how horrifying all those days were when we were apart.

It felt like I couldn’t breathe. Like the world had completely ended for me. Bleak and colorless. And even though I never admitted it when I saw him in the Red Vault, colors bled back into my life the moment I set my eyes on him.

I love him.

I took a chance, and it worked out. I disregarded everything I was taught. I fought against the norms of the family.

I have wanted to tell him that I loved him for a while now. And I keep putting it off, mostly because I’m waiting for the right time. Not just that, but because a part of me is terrified that he could never love a man like me.

“I also want you to know that I’m not going anywhere at all. I’m here for you, and if you ever need help, I’ll be by your side while you get all the help you need.” He lets me go and turns on his heels, leaving me in the silence of the office.

Shortly after, my brother Cross enters the room, and I step aside and offer him a seat. I circle the desk and settle on the throne. It feels foreign to be on this side of it all. But as Elio said, I deserve this because I did everything for this moment.

“What about Virgil?”