Page 65 of The Brotherhood

Elias narrowed his eyes slightly. “I never said I wasn’t.”

Volkan grunted, unimpressed, and returned to his meal.

Beth welcomed the distraction, liking that the apprentices seemed to have no hesitation arguing in front of their masters. As if this kind of debate was encouraged, even expected. With the Kings interjecting when they found something amusing.

Beth stole a glance at Sinrik beside her. He was watching the exchange but his attention had been absent for the last several minutes. Every now and then, she felt his gaze flick to her. Not in a scrutinizing way. Not in a way that demanded anything. Just… checking. Measuring.

“You’re not eating,” he murmured, his voice low enough that only she could hear.

She swallowed, shifting slightly. “I’m not really hungry.”

He picked up his muffin and placed it on her plate. “Eat a little,” he said, softer now. “For the baby.”

Her throat tightened with how he said it. Was he still feeling connections to him?

She picked up the muffin and took a small bite, mostly to appease his worry.

He leaned back in his seat, his hand resting along the table’s edge, close enough to her plate that if she reached for anything, she’d likely brush it.

“Told you she had a soft influence,” Oblivion said, his voice carrying just enough to catch Beth’s attention. She looked up to find him watching her, his wrinkled face alight with quiet amusement. “Sinrik doesn’t have the patience to coax anyone into anything, and yet there you go.”

She felt her face heat slightly, but before she could think of a response, Sinrik beat her to it.

“She’s stubborn,” he said dryly, sipping his drink. “Doesn’t take orders well.”

Oblivion gave a thoughtful nod. “Even so, she listens to you. After breakfast, I hope we can pick up where we left off.”

Beth was still on his previous words, wondering what they even meant or what that proved. “Of course,” she said, glancing at Sinrik as she took another nibble of muffin.

“Tell me, Miss Sweetling,” Nexus said, his voice smooth as silk. “What do you think of all this?”

All eyes turned to her and she regarded her plate, catching the slight twitch in Sinrik’s hand. She forced herself to lift a pleasant smile. “Of what?”

“Chaos,” Nexus said, tilting his head. “As you have experienced it.”

Chaos. The air seemed to still as she considered it. Considered why he asked. What was he wanting to know from her. Why it mattered what she thought? She took a slow breath, her mind racing with too many thoughts for such a complex topic. A topic she felt was useless to obsess over the way they did. “I honestly don’t know a thing about it,” she decided to say.

One of the Kings chuckled. “Of course you do,” he said. “Not knowing chaos is like not knowing…air.”

The answer and arrogance that carried it, forced her to bite her tongue before responding. She took a careful breath and said, “More like me not knowing your mother the way you know her.”

“So you have no firsthand experience with chaos?” Colton challenged lightly.

She regarded him. “I have more experience with what prevents chaos.”

“Ah, but chaos is not something to be prevented,” Oblivion murmured. “It is inevitable. Like the tide, like the turning of the stars.”

Volkan added his grumbled, “You don’t stop chaos any more than you stop time. You endure it. Adapt to it. Perhaps even become it.”

Beth exhaled carefully, twisting the napkin in her lap. “You talk like it’s an omnipresent, all-consuming force, not just the consequences of human choices.”

“It is a law,” Nexus said, sipping his drink. “Just as gravity pulls, just as entropy increases, chaos moves forward.”

Her hope of not offending these men was dwindling. “I really mean no disrespect to any of you. But… I think all of you have spent so much time in your theories and studies that you’ve forgotten the rules of real life.” Her voice remained steady but charged. “There are people who cause chaos and there are those that don’t. There is one common factor between both. And it’s love. The one who doesn’t love causes chaos and the one who does love, does not. To me, it’s just that simple.”

The Kings were silent. Some watching her with amusement, others with the calculated patience of men who had already made up their minds about all things.

“Romantic,” Oblivion finally stated.

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