(Chase Dubois)
The sound of Tilly crying on the other side of that door was going to haunt me forever.
I replayed her words on a loop all the way back to my room.
Everything or nothing.
Fucking Greyson. She could have been content with what I could give. Romance and flowers and poem notes slipped under the door.
We could have had something. It wouldn't have been everything but it would have been something.
I would have be kind to her in our marriage and she would find other things to occupy her time, something to distract her from the fact that she married a crippled, an invalid who couldn't perform in the bedroom.
My idiot of a brother ruined it all with his tongue and his skillful hands... Fucking Greyson.
And he called her a whore in the process.
And he was just down the hall.
Everything or nothing. Well, now it was nothing.
Now, like almost everyday a part of me wanted some quiet, and some damn alcohol, maybe a cliff to jump out of. I would have preferred a nice rope for my neck, except my stupid damn legs wouldn't even stand on a chair.
Everything or nothing at all.
"Invalid! Invalid! Invalid!" I screamed out loud in frustration. " Stupid invalid!"
I turned my chair and headed not for my room, but for my brother's.
I was going to make him tell me exactly what he'd said to her. And then… I didn't know.
I had ideas... interesting ideas.
I pushed his door open without knocking.
The scene inside stopped me.
My father was in the center of the room, all fury and scorch earth. Mother was a worried figure at his side and a hand on his arm.
And from the inner chamber, I could hear the sound of Greyson throwing things into a bag.
It took me a minute to realize that our father was there to ensure Greyson's exile back home.
"He leaves tonight," Father was saying, his voice was dangerous. The type he uses for council meetings when he's talking about enemy territory "You will go with him, Mulan. Make sure he gets home without burning down an ally."
"Kale, please," Mother whispered. "He's upset. Let him stay. Sending him back like a misbehaving toddler won't earn him respect of the pack"
"Upset?!" Father's laugh was harsh. Way too harsh for my comfort. It wasn't a laugh I was accustomed to. Hell, he wasn't the man I was accustomed to.
Two years ago, he would have handled this... this situation, differently.
He would have handled Grey differently but then again, two years ago, I had working legs and a future as Alpha king of the pack, and my name whispered sent fear into the heart of our enemies both home and across the sea.
Now, I'm...this imposter. In need of my brother's cock to father children, in need a dragon wife to stand on top.
And Greyson had been reduced to an angry vengeful monster.
"Upset?" Father asked again. "I am upset, Mulan! My second son is a walking bag of uselessness. A spoiled, selfish brat who would jeopardize everything for a cheap thrill! Asking for a dragon...trying to get himself killed in the tournament. Going after his brother's bride to be and making a whore out of her. He is a disappointment, Mulan and he is upset?. No! I am upset!"
From the other room, the packing sounds didn't stop. But I knew Greyson could hear every word.
My own anger got shoved down, buried under a heavier, older weight.
"Father," I said, my voice cutting through the tension.
He turned, his expression hardening only a fraction. I think sometimes he wishes I had died too instead of being a constant reminder of everything he could no longer have.
"Chase. This doesn't concern you."
"Why do you do this?" I asked. The question came out quiet, tired.
Because I was tired of it. Because it was a question someone needed to ask "Why is every single conversation with you about how worthless he is?"
Father's eyes flashed in anger "I know his your brother but—"
I know what he was about to say. I didn't need a reminder of Tilly Ann and Greyson storeroom rendezvous.
I looked down at my hands in my lap. I couldn't meet his eyes. The mention of it—of him with her—was painfull "lately, you're missing the point."
"What point?!" Father roared, making Mother flinch.
I hate that she does that now.
Flinches like she wasn't who she was.
When she was Mulan Stormhart -Dubois, daughter of a king... sister of a king...wife of a king. Warrior Queen like you've never seen before.
Now, she it just seemed like she was holding her breath for the next disaster.
"Enlighten me!" Father yelled "What glorious point excuses his constant, humiliating failures?!"
I finally looked up at him. "That he's your son!"
The words echoed. Father blinked.
"He's not just my brother or the pack disappointment," I said, my voice dropping but gaining strength. "He's your son. And you are his fucking father."
I took a deep breath. And I held my father's gaze. "He's your son. You watched him take his first step. You watched him fall on his first try. You love him. Could you try and remember that?"
I watched him be quiet for a while. I thought it was working. I thought if I reminded him of who he used to be, he would remember.
It didn't work.
"And I am a king. I don't have time to hold his bloody hands" Father's fists clenched.
I watched him. It seems there was no healing us.
We were who we are now.
A crippled invalid. An angry monster. An abusive father. And a warrior Queen who flinches at every sound. There was no healing us.
Mother subtly moved closer to him.
"I want him gone," Father stated, ice in his voice now. "If I am to salvage this alliance, I cannot have him here, like a lit match in a powder room."
"Well, he can't go," I told him.
"Oh, he will."
"Yes, I will" Greyson said from inside.
"No." I shook my head. "She wants everything. It's all or nothing, now. I reckon you would do anything to salvage this alliance even if it destroyed us?"
I watched him. He didn't argue with it.
"Then Greyson has to stay. This whole… charade you've built… it falls apart without him."