Chapter 57: An offer.
June 29 2026, 10:41am.
Draven stormed out of the room panting as if he had just run a marathon, and his heart was racing so much that he feared it would jump right out of his chest.
His hands were shaking badly and his body felt so hot, he was almost tempted to call Jemima and ask her to bring him materials for treating a fever.
His lips were curled downwards into something that looked very much like a snarl, so when he stepped out of his study and ran into Azriel, it wasn’t surprising that his mood plummeted even further.
His eyes thinned as he regarded his brother coldly and with a shrug seethed; "What is it?"
Azriel paused.
At first, he had come to inform his brother about their unwanted ’guest’. He was here to call him into the throne room. But after taking one long glance at him and seeing how flustered he was... after taking in his balled fists and the very sweet scent emanating from him— Nyx’ara’s— his curiosity piqued.
So he tilted his head to the side and asked; "What is wrong with you?"
Draven flinched at the question. His eyes, already dark with unfulfilled desire, thinned with a mixture of annoyance and fluster. He crossed his arms over his chest with the intention of appearing nonchalant, but his straying eyes and trembling hands gave him away.
Azriel asked; "Did you just talk to Nyx’ara?"
Nyx’ara.
The name sent a rush of adrenaline shooting down his spine. The name made his face heat up... made his heart race with memories of what had transpired between them not so long ago and made him almost lose his footing...
Almost.
...thankfully he was fast enough to lean against the wall.
He lowered his head quickly, with just enough speed that Azriel did not see the flash of emotion that crossed his eyes, and nodded.
"I just had a chat with her..."
"And?" Azriel chirped in, his eyebrows cocked.
"And what?!" Draven snapped, but upon realizing that Azriel wouldn’t drop the subject, at least until he’d heard what he wanted to hear, he added; "...And she’s infuriating... even more than you are."
A smile touched Azriel’s face as soon as he heard his brother say those words. Usually, everyone knew just how stiff, prim, and proper Draven was. Everyone who knew them well enough knew that it was impossible for anyone to get under his skin. So for Nyx’ara to do that... enough that he is this flustered... then she was not just ’infuriating’
She was a lot more than that.
He cast a meaningful look at the door behind Draven, smiled snidely at him, and hissed; "I doubt you only had a ’chat’ with her, seeing as you reek of her, but I won’t press you for it."
His blatant retort made Draven’s face flush even more. His lips parted and fell. His eyes thinned and his chest heaved, both from annoyance and frustration at not being believed.
He threw his hands up, his face a mask of complete frustration as he snapped; "I only tried to talk to her about her acceptance into NYU!"
"No one asked, and like I said, I am uninterested!" Azriel clapped back.
"But you asked. Didn’t you? You asked barely a minute ago and now you’re making it seem like I am over-explaining."
"Because you are over-explaining!" Azriel snapped back, his smile widening as he rolled his eyes.
Deep down, he was almost jealous. Almost. Deep down, he wanted to be the one with a flustered face and a violently beating heart. He wanted to be the one feeling so antsy after a run-in with that tiny spitfire who he was sure was still stuck somewhere in Draven’s study. But right now, he was simply glad to be nothing but a spectator... a spectator who was watching his almighty brother fumble for words.
He leaned against the wall and let his eyes linger meaningfully on the closed door, and with a voice barely above a whisper, he added;
"...I don’t care what you do to her. All I care is that you do not begin to regard her with any form of respect as we agreed. I want you to remember that while she may appear innocent and sweet, you should never forget that she is the same person who broke our sister, Leilani to bits and threw her off that rooftop... and that we would never be in this position if it wasn’t for her."
Draven huffed. "God, I hate you and I know this! And I hate her more for not believing me when I told her that she has been accepted into NYU!"
Still, Azriel wasn’t buying that. However, he decided to drop it. "Since that’s all that happened between you two, I came to inform you that cousin Damien is here... and it doesn’t look too good."
Draven’s expression darkened before he marched away from Azriel with a frown, but as he went, he didn’t see the way his brother watched him closely, as if inspecting faulty equipment.
And didn’t see the smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
Azriel never left the wall as he watched Draven march away, and it wasn’t until the latter had disappeared into a corner down the corridor that he thought to peek into his office.
The place was a complete mess! Objects and papers were strewn across the room, and... lo and behold, Nyx’ara was there, sitting on the floor with her new phone clutched in one hand and her acceptance letter in the other.
Her head whipped up at the sound of the door creaking open and when Azriel saw her, his heart jumped into his mouth as well.
He frowned.
"What are you doing here?"
Nyx’ara scrambled to her feet. "Nothing... nothing at all. I o-only came to pick up my accept-acceptance letter."
"Oh, good." He mused, his smile widening.
Her voice trembled while she spoke, but it wasn’t his main focus as he listened to her speak. His main focus was the faint red lines marking her upper arm and the way her legs seemed frail as if she could not hold up her weight.
He let his eyes drag over her body for a moment too long, and with a sadistic smile, seethed;
"Could you do me a favor?" He asked, and at first, Nyx’ara wanted to say no. She wanted to reject him and rush off to bury herself inside her room.
However, one stolen glance at him told her all that she needed to know: this was not an offer... It was an order.
She gulped. "Y-yes."
He shrugged. "Come with me."
And that she did, following behind him as they walked all the way to the throne room downstairs.