Chapter 334: Back to the Grind
"Separating you from me doesn’t work."
Even after years of distance, she was still just as infatuated with her big brother as before, if not worse.
"Duh." Alice’s reply came immediately, as obvious as breathing. She even gave him a look as though he had just declared the sky was blue.
Kaiden pinched the bridge of his nose. "... We’ll have to ask Mother for some sort of arrangement. Because if you go rogue every time someone so much as looks at me funny, it’s not going to end well. What you did today wasn’t just reckless for your future; it put me at risk, too. What if the world puts the pieces together? The deal was that I would never be associated with the Ashborns. If their youngest daughter keeps showing up to murder my enemies, people will connect the dots. They are already asking so many questions about my existence; the last thing I want is to grant them more ammunition."
Alice, of course, tuned out most of that. Her eyes lit up at the very first part. "What sort of arrangement?!"
"..." Kaiden exhaled once again, then leaned back in his chair. Time to enter negotiator mode. "What would help your heart calm down enough not to repeat what happened today?"
"I want to hug and kiss big brother every night before going to sleep in his arms!" she declared instantly, chest puffed with pride at her perfect request.
"No."
"Ugh!" She yanked on her restraints. "Okay, then just sleep togeth-"
"No."
"Big brother!" she whined, voice cracking, but his unimpressed stare didn’t even blink. "Going on dates?"
"No."