𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚐𝚒𝚛𝚕(𝙰𝙲𝙾𝚃𝙰𝚁)

𝔠𝔥𝔞𝔭𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔢𝔩𝔢𝔳𝔢𝔫

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　　☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　　☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

age: 17

    I heard them that night. In the room next to mine. I had ignored the anxiety in the pit of my stomach and just tried to block it out.

    But I knew what it meant.

    Morrigan had told me about the plan her father set in motion. That she was going to be married off to Eris Vanserra.

     She had sobbed all night while Astraea and I held her. None of us had gotten any sleep. And now she was fucking Cassian in the bedroom beside me.

     The next morning was awkward. We ate breakfast, waiting for the others to return. Astraea was cooking pancakes for her seven year old. Both Astraea and I acted like we couldn't scent them all over each other.

     The door opened. Rhys and Az were laughing, shoving each other around as my mother filed in behind them, rolling her eyes.

     And then, everyone froze. As soon as the scent hit them. Rhys carefully looked from one to the other.

"Are you two insane?" he asked too quietly. Morrigan tensed at the venom in his voice.

"Morrigan, dear," Mother sighed, shaking her head.

    I realized then that this was much worse than I thought it was.

"What were you thinking?" Rhys suddenly exploded. Both of them flinched. "Are you fucking kidding me? They'll kill her for this!"

"They won't kill me--" Morrigan began.

"Yes, Mor, they will!" he snapped. "Do you even realize how bad this is?"

"I wanted to choose who I gave myself too," she explained, tears springing in her eyes. "That's all I wanted, Rhys."

"Your father . . ." he trailed off. "Cassian, how could you do this?"

"It's not his fault," Mor insisted. "I asked him."

     But Rhys was already storming over to our brother, dragging him out of his seat. I jumped up, trying to get Rhys off of our brother as he punched Cassian in the face.

Luna began sobbing, and Astraea was at her side immediately, scooping her up and stroking her hair.

"Rhys--" Cassian tried to reason, but was cut off by a blow to his lip.

"Rhys stop it!" I yelled, trying to pry them apart. Azriel appeared behind me, dragging me away from them. "Azriel, let go of me!"

"You'll just get yourself hurt," he said. His voice was calm, but there was violent anger laced in his words.

     Morrigan was in tears as she watched them fight. Mother stormed over, grabbing my brother by the collar and yanking him away.

     There was fire in Rhys's eyes, but he knew better than to fight against our mother. Cassian groaned, wiping blood from his face.

"Morrigan, you can stay here as long as possible," she said quietly. "But when your father expects you back, there is nothing we can do."

     She sniffled, nodding as she wiped her eyes. Maybe the scent of Cassian would disappear before then.

"Cassian, Rhys, go to your rooms," she decided.

"You can't send us to our rooms--" Rhys began to argue.

"Go!" she yelled. They quickly obeyed at the rage and stress in her voice.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　　☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙