Page 169 of The Wild Prince's Favorite
Kassein could only guess the kind of pressure that would put on a boy’s shoulders.
“...What do you want?” Kassian eventually asked, his eyes set on the rain outside.
Kassein took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself for the hard argument ahead.
“I want the north.”
That got his older brother’s attention. Kassian turned to him with a confused frown, studying Kassein rather than asking what he meant. Slowly, he took a couple of steps back and let himself collapse into the oversized golden throne.
“You want the north,” he repeated slowly.
“From the tip of the continent to the Shadelands,” Kassein said. “The Onyx Castle too. I know the north is of little interest to the Empire now, and the local villages need someone to–”
“How dare you,” Kassian hissed from the throne he was slumped on. “After all you’ve done, after everything, you have the nerve to come back here, unannounced, and ask the north from me?”
Kassein clenched his fist. Alezya, he had to think about Alezya, and how much she needed him.
“You wanted me to pacify it,” Kassein retorted, his resolve getting firmer. “You can’t oversee all of the Empire from this throne, Brother. There are things happening in every street, every city, every shadow, and you cannot control it all. Give me the north, and let me take it off your hands.”
Only a subtle twitch of the vein on his older brother’s temple and the tight fist on his armrest gave Kassian’s reaction away. His brother was furious, but he knew Kassein’s words held some truth.
More surprisingly, Kassian kept his ire silent for a few seconds, and surely, that meant there was more to it. Kassein exchanged a glance with Tievin, who looked nervous but equally confused. It wasn’t like Kassian to waver. It wasn’t like his oldest brother to flinch or let anything get to him. Since first taking his seat on the Emperor’s throne, his brother had become as cold as ice and as unyielding as a fortress wall. But this time, for the first time, they both noticed a crack in that wall.
“...Kassein?”
Kassein’s head whipped back to the entrance of the throne room.
Their youngest sister, Sadara, stood there in a silk nightgown, holding two cups, probably one for herself and one for Kassian.
“Oh my dragon!” she exclaimed, a genuine smile spreading on her face.
Ignoring all the tension in the room, she ran to them, shoved the glasses into Tievin’s hands, and jumped at Kassein’s neck to hug him.
It took him a second to recover from the surprise and hug her back. Sadara had always been the sweetest and quietest of his sisters, and she was also the closest to Kassein in age, being less than three years older.
When she finally released him, he could see for himself how she’d grown more beautiful while he was gone, with her dark skin that contrasted exquisitely with their mother’s green eyes, long dark brown hair, and full lips like their father’s. While Cessilia looked a lot like their mother, and Kiera was a mix of their parents, Sadara was a copy of their father, his very feminine double.
“I have missed you,” she whispered, ecstatic.
“I missed you too,” Kassein confessed.
“You too, Tievin,” Sadara smiled, taking the cups back from him.
“Long time no see, Your Highness. Your beauty has blossomed even more.”
Sadara gave him a tight smile but didn’t approach him. Kassein had always noticed how Sadara was wary of men outside of their family and hated anyone but her relatives touching her at all. His sister was twenty-one, but she had grown early into a beautiful woman, and she disliked the extra attention she got for it.
She turned her attention to Kassian, then back to Kassein, frowning as she slowly took in the tension in the room.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
Sadara’s arrival had noticeably shifted the atmosphere in the room, and she fixed her gaze on Kassian, who was staring at her intently as if they were having a silent conversation. Kassein realized he might have been waiting for his sister to come back for whatever he had interrupted with his arrival.
Still, he couldn’t leave without Kassian’s approval. Thus, he cleared his throat and, ignoring their older brother’s glare on him, quickly explained his request to his sister. Sadara raised her eyebrows, glancing several times toward Kassian while he spoke.
Then, she gave him a faint nod.
“Kassian?” she pressed him.
