What had Lior called animals? Trustworthy? Loyal?He was having second thoughts about it now. Summer always liked to disappear as much as he did, or used to, and then, he appreciated that, but she always knew when to come back.Always.Last night, after he had returned to his room, he waited for her. For an hour, but the cat refused to come to him. So, he found himself searching for his feline and it led him to a room that he wasn't sure he wanted to be at.Lior stood at Nine's door, the memories of the night coming to haunt him again. He wondered if she would still be wearing the same dress she had that night too. Goddess, what was he supposed to do if she was wearing that?He stood there, torn between leaving and knocking before the door suddenly opened, Nine standing there with the traitor in her hands. There had been a happy smile on her face when that happened, though when she saw him, it died away.Lior felt his face form a frown at the action. When had she stopped being happy t

Nine stared at the shirt she was knitting. It was a small sized one, and a hobby she had suddenly thought of today. She had nearly forgotten that she was good in doing things with her own hands, and doing this for her baby, felt nice.Beside her, was an Ora that was mumbling incoherently to what she was doing. Nine noticed that she had come into her room not in a very good mood and asked if she'd like to join her.And Ora had admitted that she couldn't knit though Nine had showed her some of the basics. At the beginning, Ora seemed calm at first, but as they progressed, it was clear that whatever had upset her earlier was getting to her again."Ora?" She asked, her voice soft. She put the tiny shirt on her bed, turning to face the woman that looked like she was about to curse the wool in her hands to hell and placed a hand on her lap. "Are you okay?""Me?" Ora asked, not even looking at her, her entire focus still on what she was doing. "I'm perfectly fine. It's this damned thing that

Skye knew it was a dream but that was the easy part. Waking was the harder one.He was in his room again, staring at six year old him hiding in the closet. He could tell his Mother was probably sniffing him out already. Astrid liked to do that a lot when she was drunk, hunt Skye down but he knew if he stayed long enough in the closet, she wouldn't find him because his smell would mix with the one of his clothes, and usually, she never did.Except at that moment, the door to the closet suddenly opened as his Mother's wild eyes glowed sadistically in the dark. "Found you."He jolted up from the bed he was in, a curse leaving his lips at the headache he was feeling. Beside him was the naked body of a girl that he could scarcely remember what her name was as he slid out the bed, now putting on some sweatpants while he stayed his shirtless.On his back was a tattoo. A tree tattoo with branches that crossed all over it, bearing no leaf. Most women who saw it always liked to touch it, asking

Lior wanted to see Nine but Fujikiwa was a man that seemed to like pushing someone to a near death situation and Kenji liked to abuse the fact that he could bully him without having to worry about breaking any Royal rules.Still, he was grateful for it. He knew if he eventually saw her, he'd run out of what to say and just... Stare at her. He was beginning to realize he barely ever looked at her and his brain kept trying to come up with her face and whenever it did, unfortunately, it was an image that caused the thing underneath his legs to rise.Kenji tormented him for it and Lior had nearly cracked his head open with the wooden sword he had before Kieran stopped him.Now, he was to have a meeting with Elder Whittaker but the man had not arrived yet. "What do you mean you haven't found anything on her?" They were in his Study again, Kenji in his military uniform (Kieran made it a compulsory wear for him) and Lior had on a white turtleneck sweater with black pants and a black wool c

Before Elizabeth Byron became the wife of King Leonard Byron and Queen of Raester, she was Elizabeth Venezia.Daughter of Elder and Lady Venezia. Members of the Royal Council and Highborns and sister to Astrid Venezia.Life was perfect. That was until there had been a fire that burnt down their house and every possible asset that their family had. Elizabeth had been in boarding school at the time and Astrid was spending a sleepover at a friend's place.Both their parents, dead, and all the possible things they could have inherited, burnt along with them.Many times, Elizabeth would tell herself that it must have been someone who hated her parents that caused this, but she could never truly prove this so she stopped thinking of it.When she had returned from school, she found out that her baby sister, Astrid, had been sent to an orphanage as no Highborn family would take her, and neither would they take her.At first, she hadn't believed it, but with the months that passed, she realiz