Chapter 50 – Hood

"What are you doing in my chamber, I wonder, Esmeray, dear sister?" Raven asked with a soft, controlled voice, as if performing for an audience, his piercing red eyes settling on the woman sitting leisurely across from him.

Sarah stood behind him, doing her best to keep her face neutral.

The young woman smiled at her brother’s words. She wore a deep black dress that barely reached her knees, her hair long and flowing like a waterfall of blood, red eyes shimmering with mischief and something primal.

Six earrings in each ear. Her right nostril pierced.

Smiling wider, she leaned forward and pressed her elbows on the crimson table at the westward side of the room, all ten fingers adorned with luxurious rings.

"Well, what else, brother?" Esmeray said, her voice slurring lazily. "I heard news. News I desperately wanted to share with you. So here I am."

"If it’s about Cassius getting married," Raven said, sipping his coffee, "I’m afraid I can’t bring myself to care."

"Why not? He’s the grandson of our bitch of a mother, which makes him our lovely little nephew." She said it without ceremony, making Sarah tremble inwardly, wondering whether she was supposed to hear an insult directed at the Queen. "Oh my, don’t tell me you don’t care about your own family?"

"Esmeray." Raven’s voice was still calm, still controlled, but his red eyes went hard. "Don’t act like a Vorn-cursed fool in front of me. You know well enough that no one in this family cares about anyone else. And you least of all."

"I care about you, brother."

"You care about nothing but yourself." He paused, then leaned his face forward, every movement carrying that same quality of performance rather than naturalness. "Your pupils are dilated. You haven’t taken your pills, have you?"

He sneered, shaking his head in open disdain as understanding settled. "So you’re planning to go again today."

"I need to." Esmeray whispered, her voice thick with something festering, eyes trembling in their sockets, smiling with a slight flush. "The pills don’t always work and you all know that. So I need to go. And for that, I’ll need you to cover for me again, brother."

"Ah!" Raven exclaimed. "So that’s the real reason for this visit. You don’t actually care about our lovely nephew at all."

"Brother, fuck this family. And fuck everyone related to it." Esmeray laughed freely, then winked at him. "Except you, of course."

"Because I help you satisfy that disgusting habit of yours." He said flatly. "Esmeray, when are you going to stop walking into brothels and sleeping with anyone willing?"

Her face didn’t move at his crude words. "Around the same time you stop sleeping with all the maids in this house because you can’t have that hypocrite girl Anesthesia."

Sarah’s body went rigid. Her head dropped instinctively, shame and inadequacy wrapping around her entire soul.

Raven’s jaw locked, his eyes going cold at Esmeray’s unbothered grin.

"See?" She said. "Two can play this game, brother. Don’t pry into my habits and I won’t pry into yours. So let’s not waste time—" she cocked her head to the side "—will you help me? I need that bitch of a mother off my back."

"You’re going to ruin yourself, sister." Raven said.

She smiled. "Aren’t we already?" She rose from her chair and leaned her face toward his, stopping an inch away. "I take pills to control a devouring urge. Without them I’m no different from a Vorn-damned whore selling herself for pocket change."

"Respectfully, I’m not seeing the difference, sister."

"That’s where you’re wrong. I don’t do this for money."

"Which makes it worse."

"You’re one to talk." She scoffed. "You use the poor maid behind you to relieve the frustration of not having Anesthesia. Funny of you to judge anyone. And you..."

She turned toward Sarah, grinning wider.

"...aren’t you tired of being my brother’s toy? Come be mine instead. I’ll take—!"

"Are you done?" Raven cut in, looking at Esmeray sternly. "I’ve heard you. You can go."

"How long do I have?" Esmeray laughed, forgetting Sarah immediately, straightening her back.

"Two hours." He said. "That’s how long I can divert mother’s attention from you. Tell me which brothel. And this time, sister, don’t create a scandal."

"Two hours?" Esmeray smiled, fully upright now. "More than enough. And which brothel? My favourite, of course. The Bliss’s House."

She flashed a flirty grin at Sarah, blew her a kiss, then turned and walked toward the door, her body already thrumming with anticipation for what she was about to feel.

She reached the crimson door, took the handle, and paused when Raven’s voice came from behind.

"What about my proposal?" He said.

"Oh." Esmeray hummed. "The one about seducing... Emrys Stormblessed?"

"Yes."

The princess chuckled. "Don’t worry. I like his pretty face. I’ll do everything to get him where I want him. Meaning, between my legs." She laughed, "Oh my, I can’t wait for the meeting."

"I hope your head is on straight that day, sister. One public mistake and you’re as good as dead."

"You know that’s not entirely true." She said at last with a chuckle, then walked out, leaving Raven and Sarah in the room together.

Silence dropped between them like something heavy.

The Prince sighed, briefly closed his eyes, and buried his head in his palms.

"Bloody family." He muttered, understanding more clearly with every passing day why their First Ancestor had written so many rules before disappearing.

The First Rule was if any member of the Hood Family died under unnatural circumstances, the Hood Bloodline would lose a critical part of itself — a permanent weakening.

’Devious ancestor. You knew us, didn’t you.’

Because without those rules, the Hood Royal Family would have destroyed itself from within long ago.

And one of the most grating rules was...

"My Prince." Sarah whispered, voice barely holding, tears threatening though she fought them back. She had her duty to perform. "Tomorrow is Thursday. Is there anything you need me to prepare for the Gathering?"

...the Hood Family Gathering. Every Thursday, every member was in the same room, same table.

Whether there was anything to discuss or not, it didn’t matter. Missing it came with severe punishment.

No exceptions, not even for the King and Queen.

’I hate this rule more than any other.’ Raven thought, then nodded slowly to Sarah. "Same as always." He said, then rose from the table and walked toward the exit.

"I’m going to see my mother." He added. "I need to make good on my word to my sister. And Sarah, erase this conversation from your memory."

With those last words, the Prince walked out. Sarah was thus left alone.

She finally let herself collapse onto the floor, her chest heaving with painful sobs, tears soaking her face before she could stop them.

She pressed her forehead to the floor, both hands over her mouth, trying to swallow it all down.

It was useless.

If instead of storing and erasing memories, her power could rewind time...Sarah would have killed herself before she ever agreed to become a maid of this family.

They were all the same. Every last one of them. Heartless, cold, incapable of love even for each other, let alone for anyone outside their bloodline.

And yet here she was. A hapless, helpless woman who had fallen in love with one of those monsters and could no longer pull herself free, despite wanting to desperately.

She clutched her chest, her heart hammering, her body curling inward, and prayed to anyone who would listen to the plight of a woman abandoned by everything.

"Please," she wheezed, voice broken. "Pull this heart out of my chest. I don’t want to feel anymore. I don’t want to feel anything."

It was the only way to survive inside the Royal Palace.

As always, no answer came.

Sarah cried harder, then forcibly pulled herself together, because she had a job to do. She was the maid of the Prince.

Even if lately, her only job was to shatter her own soul and heart and body in order to soothe the wounded one of a man who would never truly see her.

But...

"It’s my job, isn’t it?"

She told herself that. Tried to believe it, even. Because it was far easier to survive inside a bubble of comforting lies than to face a truth that would extinguish the last flicker of life still burning inside her.

And so the Maid of the Prince returned to her duties, after using her Aspect to erase everything she had heard between the Royal siblings.

...

"Are you... are you truly sure, Young Master?" Océane asked carefully, standing beside Cassius, who had dyed his hair brown and put on black glasses to hide his Desdemona features.

They stood in front of a cracked, stooping building. A half-broken sign hung from one side, looking ready to fall at the slightest breath of wind. On it, one could just about read:

Humstrong’s Alchemical Store.

Cassius twisted his lips at the sight, confirming this was the place.

His footsteps shuffled almost imperceptibly, the mud and damp ground beneath them releasing a stench so powerful that both he and Océane had worn identical permanent frowns since arriving in the alley.

It was that bad.

But Cassius had more important things to worry about.

With a focused and silently wary Océane at his side, he approached the door with the Tier Five Mind Barrier necklace now hanging around his neck.

Océane reached the door first and opened it for him.

What met them was a body flying outward at blistering speed, accompanied by a furious shout that shook the building around it.

"GET THE HELL OUT OF MY STORE!"

The body slammed into them before either could react, sending them both toppling into the muddy ground.

Cassius cursed then looked down at his beloved shirt. Stained. His eyes went red.

—End of Chapter 50—