CHAPTER 203: CHAPTER 203: BROTHER & SISTER

Chapter 203 – Brother & Sister

"I don’t care," Daela said directly, without any suspense.

She had never cared about the traditions, her only fear was to be discarded by her brother.

But now that fear was no more, dissipated like smoke across a wide plain. Kaden could do as he pleased.

Still, she raised her head, glared at him, and lifted two of her slender fingers.

"Only two," she growled.

Kaden gave an awkward smile. "Negotiable or non-negotiable?" he asked.

"Non-negotiable."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"I mean...even after I agree to give you head pats for twenty minutes straight every day I’m at home?" His tone was mischievous.

Daela paused, hesitated for a moment, then vehemently shook her head.

"Still no," she hissed.

"Thirty minutes?" he proposed nonchalantly, his face relaxed as if already certain of victory.

Daela gritted her teeth. She wanted to refuse so badly, but...

’Thirty minutes of brother’s head pats? It would be a sacrilege to refuse...’ she stuttered in her mind, unable to fathom the sheer bliss such a thing could bring.

But if thirty minutes was possible...why not more? And thus Daela became greedy.

"Make it one hour of head pats, one hour of training with me, and one hour of drinking tea with me on the hill beside Waverith," she proposed, her face blooming into a full smile.

It was a smile Kaden had never seen before, and for a moment he was tempted to accept immediately, because of the beauty of it, but he gathered himself, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

"You did it on purpose," he said.

"Did what?" she fired back, tilting her head, her expression confused, acting like a clueless cute girl — which she was, except for the clueless part.

"For how many wives, with all that you just proposed?" he inquired, ignoring her act.

"Three." She raised her right hand, showing three beautiful fingers, hardened by years of holding swords.

Kaden refused. "Four."

Daela frowned. "You’re being greedy. You don’t need that many wives."

"Who told you that?" He tilted his head.

"Me," Daela fired back expressionlessly.

"And who are you?"

Daela stared blankly at him.

Kaden chuckled. "Four is not many. I’ve seen people with more than ten women. Hell, some have close to fifty. What’s four compared to that?"

"First, you are not them. And second, why four?"

"I like the number four," he said with a shameless grin.

Daela spared him a dark glance, then shook her head.

"As long as you don’t discard me, as long as you keep your words...it’s fine by me."

Kaden parted his lips to respond, but Daela pressed a finger against them and shushed him.

The atmosphere shifted instantly, turning dark, heavy, filled with unfiltered killing intent that made Kaden’s skin crawl. It felt like thousands of swords were prickling every inch of his body.

Daela’s eyes began to glow with an intense blood-red light that tainted the world in crimson, as though the very fabric of reality bled from an unseen wound.

She leaned closer, until she was just an inch from his face, and spoke.

"Do you know what would happen if you neglect me because of them?" she asked, clearly rhetorical.

Her voice was like the whisper of a fluttering flame — sporadic, erratic, leaving you dreading the moment it would erupt in fury and engulf you completely.

She continued, eyes still fixed on Kaden, whose lips now curved into a subtle smile.

"I will kill all of them."

Her words were direct.

This was the kind of thought Daela would normally bury deep inside herself and act upon silently. But now, after what had just passed between them, she had enough spine to say it aloud, to directly threaten her brother with the death of his wives.

And Kaden couldn’t help but smile at this.

"That would be sad, dear sister," he said, strangely and darkly pleased by her dedication.

"I will make you happy again," Daela replied with a serious tone.

Kaden chuckled. "I don’t doubt that. But it won’t happen, because I will never neglect you. So now...are we on the same page?"

He extended his right hand, like an invitation to a handshake.

Daela didn’t quite understand what it was, but instinctively mirrored him and stretched out her own.

Kaden clasped it firmly, looked her in the eyes, and spoke: "I will give you one hour of head pats, one hour of training, and one hour of tea on the hill. And you will help me change the tradition inside this house. Deal?"

Daela listened carefully, her expression serious, making sure her demands were intact. Then she nodded. "Deal."

"Perfect!" Kaden clapped his hands, stood up from the ground, and stretched his legs and back, his muscles clicking into place.

After that he rolled his shoulders and neck, loosening their stiffness.

Daela, at his side, rose calmly without any theatrics, sparing him a strange look, wondering what he was doing.

Kaden ignored her gaze masterfully.

"Don’t you miss brother Dain?" he suddenly asked, his eyes drifting toward the portrait of their grandfather, Raven Warborn.

Raven resembled their father — and thus Dain — with his hulking figure, shredded muscles, and eyes that carried an unserious light.

"I do, sometimes." she answered truthfully.

"Do you have any idea where he is, or if he is even...alive?" Kaden asked the last part with hesitation, unsure if it was right to put it so bluntly.

"He is alive," she said. "But as for where he is and if he is safe? That’s another matter entirely."

She stood beside Kaden, gazing at Raven’s portrait alongside him.

"I see. It must be thanks to an artifact."

Daela nodded in agreement.

Kaden tilted his head as a thought crossed his mind.

"Brother Dain was in Asterion, so I can try to find his whereabouts there."

He chuckled.

"But from the little I’ve heard about him there, he was truly a troublemaker," Kaden said, his voice tinged with amusement.

"What are the odds that one of those troubles keeps him from coming back for years?"

"One hundred percent." Daela’s response was immediate.

"He’s just like Father, a battle junkie and hard-headed. Once he decides something, he’ll see it through even if it kills him." Her voice softened, tinged with melancholy as she reminisced.

"Then I guess I’ll get along with him perfectly. I like death-seeking guys."

Daela snapped her head toward him immediately and held his gaze before grunting:

"I am your favorite sibling."

Kaden laughed. "You definitely are."

She nodded, pleased with his answer, then turned her eyes back to the portraits calmly.

A soft silence bloomed between them like blood-red flowers in a lush, tranquil garden where only the two of them existed.

Two siblings.

A brother and a sister.

A relationship where the sister clung to her brother as her source of light in a world filled with woeful fears.

A relationship where the brother gave the attention his sister craved.

A relationship where the sister was ready to kill his wives if he neglected her.

A relationship where the brother resolved to make sure that would never happen and if it did, he would simply die.

Yes, in all honesty, it was a fucked-up relationship.

But it was their relationship.

And...

"I love you, little brother," Daela whispered suddenly, emotions bubbling up in her throat.

"I love you, sister," Kaden breathed back before raising his hand and stretching her cheeks, causing her to yelp in surprise.

...It was a real one.

—End of Chapter 203—