CHAPTER 4 — UNDER THE BLACK SUN (TRISTAN)

The dining table was a battlefield beneath a crystal chandelier. Twelve seats, twelve different factions, all orbiting around the black sun that was my father. But my eyes, as always, were locked on only one point.

Aurora.

Seated to Cassius’s right, she was a statue of perfect marble. Her golden-brown hair fell in voluminous curls over her shoulders, framing a face I could still trace from memory with my eyes closed.

Her smooth skin, full lips, and caramel-colored eyes that once burned with passion for me were now fixed on the plate in front of her, as empty as the existence she was forced to lead.

It was a vision that was both dazzling and agonizing. Her beauty had matured, yes, but the inner flame that made her unique, that made her Aurora, was smothered under layers of ice. Ice that I had helped put there.

Raphaël, my friend and brother I had gained amid the chaos of war, had kept his eyes inside this mansion. I knew about every humiliation. Every “lesson” Cassius had given her in the early years to tame her stubborn spirit.

I knew she was forced to design empty jewelry for empty women, to dress like a mannequin, to accompany the old man as a shiny accessory.

I knew she had lost her parents in an “accident” that, years later, we discovered had been ordered by the very man who now pretended to be her protector.

Cassius had taken everything from her and forced her to become this: an elegant, frozen shadow, while I was forced to watch from afar, powerless, consuming every piece of news, every image, like a man dying of thirst in the desert.

“…And then, when Colonel Löwe led the assault on the complex in the East, the reports say the precision was absolutely surgical.” Erika Meyer’s voice, beside me, cut through my thoughts as she mentioned my codename.

She was leaning against me, her blue eyes shining with interest. The same girl I had used as a weapon against Aurora years ago. Now I was using her again, as part of my charade.

I let a superficial smile touch my lips.

“The reports tend to exaggerate, Erika,” I said, my voice neutral, while my attention remained divided between the performance and Aurora. She didn’t move. Not even a blink. It was as if she were somewhere else. Or nowhere at all.

“Modesty, Tristan.” Cassius’s voice came from the head of the table, icy and sharp. He was studying me, his eyes as green as mine, trying to decipher my game. “The army seems to have polished you. I expected… something different.”

“Expected a broken animal, Vater?” 

The thought came filled with a hatred so familiar it was like breathing.

“Expected them to finish the job you started?”

“Discipline has its uses,” I replied, raising my glass of wine. I made a vague gesture toward the other guests, a bunch of subservient shareholders and politicians. “And so does knowledge. I believe it could be useful to Delyon Armaments, now that I’ve graduated in weapons engineering. Times change, and technology advances.”

One of the shareholders, a man named Schwarz, nodded with exaggerated enthusiasm.

“Excellent idea, Tristan! Your field experience combined with your academic training… would be an invaluable asset to the company. The colonel engineer!” He laughed, as if he had made a great joke.

Cassius didn’t laugh. His fingers tightened around the handle of his knife.

He hated the idea. He hated that I had returned not ruined, but stronger. He hated that I could offer something he couldn’t completely control. And above all, he hated that everyone around the table could see my value, threatening his absolute position.

“We’ll see,” he said, his voice a cold breath. “Delyon Armaments is not a training ground for adventurous soldiers.”

“Of course not,” I agreed, keeping my tone smooth, almost disinterested. My eyes, however, drifted once again to Aurora. “It’s an empire. And empires, to survive, need to evolve. Or they are swallowed by those who evolve faster.”

This time, an almost imperceptible tremor ran through her shoulders. A small contraction. She understood the threat behind my words.

Erika tried to pull my attention back, talking about a new line of precision rifles. I listened, answered on autopilot, pretending interest. But my true attention was on the woman sitting across the table.

She thought I was here to play her husband’s game. She thought that, like in the past, I had become one of them.

She didn’t understand. I wasn’t here to play.

I was here to set everything on fire. And take her with me away from the ashes.