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The last thingMatthyw wanted was to see his father, especially so bloody early in the morning. He made his way through the academy, as quiet as a wraith, taking the servant’s hallways and the back corridors most didn’t know existed. He smelled foul, looked worse, and he still had the raging headache from earlier he couldn’t seem to get rid of because Sally refused to assist him in any way.
All he wanted was to sleep this off, perhaps shower, and then, if the gods decided to bless him, he would get assigned a mission and be able to avoid Adrya all the while. He didn’t think he could take seeing her right now.
But, of course, his fucking father wanted Matthyw to drop everything he was doing to see him.
What Matthyw didn’t understand was why. Unless Viktor somehow knew about what the fuck had happened last night, what could he possibly want with Matthyw?
And there was no way he knew what happened last night. Sally wouldn’t let anyone find out. He was sure of it.
The second he emerged into Viktor’s room, he stumbled forward.
“You smell like a fucking barn,” Viktor said with disgust dripping from each word.
“Funny,” Matthyw said, straightening himself up. “I just came from your betrothed’s bedroom.”
Instead of reacting the way Matthyw hoped, Viktor rolled his eyes. “You truly are a child, aren’t you?” He scanned Matthyw. “Tell me it isn’t true.”
“What are you going on about?” Matthyw asked. He glanced around for somewhere to sit and grabbed a nearby chair before dropping himself into it. He reached up to massage his throbbing temples. Luckily, they didn’t react too sensitively to his touch the way they had before.
“I know this may be difficult for that tiny brain of yours to comprehend,” Viktor said, “but I need to know that what happened last night isn’t true.”
“What happened last night?” Matthyw closed his eyes, the lights from the chandelier over Viktor’s dining table too much for him to take in right now. “Besides the full moon?”
“Don’t toy with me,” Viktor snapped, banging his hand on the surface of the table.
Matthyw winced before glaring at Viktor. “You’ll have to be more specific, Father,” he said. “Plenty happened last night. I’m trying to figure out what particular thing you’d like to speak about.”
“Theonlything I care about,” Viktor growled, leaning forward. “My daughter,your sister.”
Suddenly, Matthyw was much more sober than when he came in. So, Viktor did know what happened, then.
“What has happened with Adrya?” he asked carefully. Hadshetold Father anything? He doubted it, but how else would Viktor know? It didn’t make sense.
“My informant told me that her dear and trusted brother took her to a human brothel, removed her hood so everyone could see her, and then proceeded to make a spectacle of herself by kissing her and touching her in front of everyone.”
Matthyw clenched his teeth but didn’t respond.
“I would still wed her,” he finally said. “Regardless of her reputation —“
“Her reputationyouruined, you mean?” Viktor snarled. He walked around the dining table, grabbed the cuff of Damon’s tunic, and lifted him in the air. “This is what you wanted, isn’t it? You wanted her to be completely unwanted so you could swoop in and marry her.” His nose wrinkled. “You make me sick. You are her —“
“Not. By. Blood.”
“You think it’s your blood I’m worried about?” Viktor demanded. “No one will want her now. And now, I have to clean up the fucking mess, as usual.Fuck, Matthyw. You’ve fucked this up in the worst way. No one will want her now.”
Matthyw smirked. Even as Viktor punched his face, his father was right. Thiswaswhat he wanted. And even as Viktor continued to punch his face, he knew it would be worth it, in the end.
Adrya
Her name was Sally and she kept her word. I left the brothel without being noticed, and even got to the full moon celebration with no one the wiser.
Instead of enjoying myself, I couldn’t help but flash back to the brothel.
My heart ached.
I still didn’t understand what Matthyw was trying to do. I thought he wanted me. I thought he was going to help get my pack back. Instead, he exposed me to a brothel and then left me there by myself. He told me nothing of his intentions, and everything I did learn, I had to find out from one of his lovers. Whether she was a former lover or a current one was irrelevant.
I ran through the forest alone. I realized that I needed to go to my father and tell him I would marry Marcus before anyone found out about Matthyw and the brothel. Because once people did find out, and there was a good chance they would, regardless of the assurances Sally offered, no one would want to marry me. I might have been stripped of my pack, but I still had some intrinsic value. If I was discovered at a brothel with Matthyw, someone who was already married, any value I might have would disappear.
