Page 10 of Fractured Empire

Their little faces don’t fall with crushing disappointment, or crumble with instant sadness. But they both shift a little. They’re stiff and unsure. You can only prepare young children for so much, but so far, it seems like we may have been doing the right thing these last couple of months.

“Do you remember how I told you once Mama got too sick, we wouldn’t be able to see her anymore? That she would pass away, and that dying would mean Mama couldn’t hurt anymore?”

Both Bastian and Leo nod along, eyes widening only slightly.

“Well, that’s what happened. She’s not hurting anymore, but that means we can’t see her anymore. So…Aunt Rayna, Uncle Apollo, and baby Vaughn are going to stay here with us for awhile now, okay? They’ll be here to help Daddy, and to help the two of you. To love us and spend time with us.”

“Really?” Bastian asks, looking almost relieved somehow.

“Really,” Rayna answers him, smiling waterily. She reaches out and caresses his cheek softly. “And I’m going to be here for anything you need. If you have any big feelings about missing your mama, you can always tell me. You can tell your daddy, your papa, and your uncle Apollo anything too. We’re all here for you.”

“That’s right,” Dad agrees decidedly. “I’m going to stay tonight, and then I have to go home. But if you want me to come back, you just tell your aunt and she’ll call me to get me back here. Okay?”

Minutes of assurances and repeated explanations of what’s happened go on before we decide that the boys have had enough. There are no tears, only sad faces and confused questions. But I know that no tears on day one doesn’t mean they won’t come. For now, my children put away the worst of their sadness and dig into their muffins, planning out the rest of their day with ease.

I just hope that when the tears do come, they don’t hurt.

Chapter Four

Katya

The soft melody of Beethoven’s Pathétique Sonata comes to an abrupt and ugly end as my fingers dig hard into the piano. A flinch jerks through my whole body, and a gasp flies from my lips.

“Gotcha.”

“You little—” I hiss, cutting myself off before any words not safe for little ears leave me. It’s too late for my baby sister to be roaming around the house, but with Gaia, you never know. She’s only six years old, but she has the sneaking around skills of a teenager. Glaring as I spin around on the polished wood piano bench, I huff at my best friend. “I’ve told you to stop sneaking up on me. It’s not funny, Chloe.”

“I couldn’t help it.” She grins, wiggling her perfectly sculpted dark eyebrows. “You look so peaceful when you’re playing that dreadfully boring music. I always want to disturb you when I find you in here.”

“I locked the door,” I point out with a grimace. “How did you even get in? Actually, why did you even come over? It’s one in the morning, how are you at my house right now?”

She snorts as if the question is ridiculous. “Why are you playing piano at one in the morning, is the better question. You’re such a bore, my dear.”

“And yet, here you are pestering your bore of a friend,” I point out with a hint of snark. “I ask again, how exactly did you get permission to come over in the middle of the night, and how the heck did you get through my locked door?”

Playing piano at night has become a part of my routine since my days have gotten more and more busy. It’s the only time where I can escape my family and get some peace and quiet recently. I can’t complain too much, of course. I adore spending time with my baby sister, and my mother. But a girl my age needs alone time as much as she needs to be surrounded by support and love. It’s a difficult balancing act.

“Father drove me here, he’s talking with yours⁠—”

“Linus is not my father,” I remind her sharply. I don’t have any problems with the man who my mother remarried after my dad’s passing. Without him, I wouldn’t have my little Gaia, after all. But he is not my parent.

“Semantics.” She waves me off. “Anyway, as I was saying…We’re here together. He couldn’t exactly tell me to stay home when he was coming to my best friend’s house in the middle of the night. And you should know how I got into this room perfectly well. Ares let me in.”

“Of course he did.” I sigh, shaking my head and trying to hide a genuine disappointment.

Ares Gabris, my troublemaker stepbrother, is a decent person to live with, until you want space. He bulldozes over boundaries for fun, and he doesn’t seem to find his actions to be anything other than amusing. I don’t know if I’ll ever truly understand him, but he could be worse. He could be evil.

“Aren’t you going to ask why my father just HAD to come see yours in the middle of the night?”

Knowing correcting her a second time won’t make a difference, I bite my tongue. Chloe is a great friend, but all friendships have sore points, don’t they? Ours has always been when she refers to Linus as my dad. It makes me twitchy, and sometimes, I get really close to snapping at her for it. It’s like she doesn’t understand that I remember my dad.

MY dad. The man who raised me, named me, and taught me so many things before he unexpectedly died. He was my mother’s first love, and my first friend. I still carry his last name, even if my mother doesn’t. It feels like a slap in the face to call someone else my father in his place.

“You know I don’t care about mafia politics,” I tell Chloe in a huff. “Whatever brought him over here is none of my business or my concern.” If her gossip had anything to do with me or my family, Mom would have informed me before she even stepped foot in the house.

“Don’t be boring.” She rolls her eyes. “This news is juicy, and it just hit the scene.”

“You’re going to tell me even if I continue to be disinterested, so just tell me.”