Calix’s father’s house loomed as he drove the Koenigsegg up the driveway. I couldn’t imagine the elder Regas man had been pleased to be forced out of the home that had once been his and to have his son prevent him from reclaiming it.
I didn’t know much about the way Calix had gone about reclaiming the city, but it was not lost on me that he never mentioned discussing things with the older man.
Eugene Regas had not been in charge of the Regas family since their return; of that I had no doubt.
“What’s your father’s place in all of this?” I asked. Even if he hadn’t been the one to swing the axe that killed my mother, I would never forget the fact that he’d played a very vital role in her death.
Without his actions, I’d have grown up with Calix to look out for me.
I didn’t think I could ever forgive the man who had become my father-in-law for what he’d done and all that he’d taken from me. Even worse, I didn’t think I wanted to bother to try.
Maybe Calix was right about me becoming the villain of my own story, because I felt anything but heroic since I’d beaten my father with the very cane he’d used to torment me and keep me obedient.
I wanted to revel in watching the world burn.
“Wherever I tell him to be,” Calix answered, confirming my thoughts that his father wasn’t in charge.
“Will you be the one to claim the seat on the council, then?” I asked, cocking my head to the side as he slid the shifter into park. I wanted nothing more than to leap out of the car and race to see Malva where I knew she waited inside the house, but I waited for his answer anyway.
“I will, and you will take the Karras seat,” he said, shocking me into silence. My eyes widened as my mouth dropped open. I didn’t think I’d ever heard of a time when a woman was allowed to sit on the council of the six governing families.
“That isn’t possible,” I whispered.
“Every family must have a representative on the council so long as they are within the city. I have no intention of taking you away from here, and that means that the seat belongs to you as the eldest remaining Karras,” Calix said, reaching across the car to unbuckle my seatbelt as I stared at him in stunned silence.
“They won’t be pleased,” I said, thinking of the harsh men I’d had rare interactions with throughout my life. Most of them had been there the day they’d killed my mother, allowing her to suffer for an affair, as if they weren’t all guilty of the same crime themselves.
Made men weren’t known for their fidelity.
I shuddered as I thought of the day Lydia and my father had brought me to one of the stables in the city, forcing me to watch so I would know the kinds of things a man “would get from a whore if his wife wasn’t to his satisfaction.”
“I imagine there are a great many things about the circumstances that won’t please them,” Calix said with a chuckle, opening his door and sliding out of the seat. He came around to my side, pulling it up and open for me and holding out a hand.
I accepted it, staring up at him as he closed his fingers around mine gently and guided me out of the car.
“But you don’t care,” I observed, falling into step beside him as he led me up the front steps to the manor. The house was nothing to sneeze at, but it wasn’t the elaborate fortress that Calix and I now called home, either.
“Hello, son,” Eugene said, stepping out of the front door and crossing his arms over his chest. “The girls are inside. You and I have things to discuss.”
“They can wait until I get Thalia settled with my mother,” Calix snapped, ushering me through the front door and ignoring the heated glare his father aimed at his back.
“There are far more important matters to deal with than holding your wife’s hand to walk her through the house! We need to plan for taking back my seat and the way the families will try to prevent that,” Eugene said, the urgency in his voice shocking me. It was so unusual for a man to discuss such matters in front of a woman, I’d thought it unique to Calix.
But perhaps it was simply a matter of his upbringing.
“I’ve already begun making arrangements. I will not stand alone when they summon me to face the council,” Calix answered, leading me through the foyer and toward the door to the back patio. He stopped just before we reached it, pausing to speak to his father. I watched through the glass door as Malva ran screaming around the yard.
There was a soccer ball clutched in her hands, cradled to her chest as an older woman chased her. The smile that lit my sister’s face was entirely carefree, nothing like what I’d expected to find in the girl who’d just seen the beginning of her parents’ murder.
“You did this without consulting me?” Eugene asked his son. I squeezed Calix’s hand, catching his attention as I stepped forward. He released me, understanding the silent plea. I wanted no part in the coming argument with his father. I wanted to watch my sister play as she always should have been allowed.
I pushed the glass door open, stepping onto the back patio as the male security guards sitting on the furniture gave me firm nods. Moving as if in a trance, I walked past them all and didn’t stop until the grass at the edge of the lawn tickled my toes.
I knew the moment Malva noticed my presence, spinning to face me with that broad smile on her beautiful features. She broke free of the woman’s grip, screaming happily as she barreled toward me.
I braced myself on the grass as she collided with my chest, flinging her arms around my neck as I sniffled back the tears that sprung to my eyes. “Thalia!” she shrieked, pulling back and smiling at me.
I cupped her cheeks in my hands, turning her head from side to side as I looked her over and searched for injuries. “Have they hurt you?” I asked, glancing at the woman over her shoulder briefly before turning my attention back to the little sister who was my entire world.
“No! Of course not. Evangeline is the best! Did he hurt you?” she asked, looking down and finding me in one piece.
“No, he hasn’t hurt me. Calix is my husband now,” I said tentatively, not knowing how much she knew about the situation or how much she might have been deceived about.
“I know! Isn’t it great?” she asked, looking over my shoulder. Calix stepped out of the house and onto the patio, looking casual in a pair of jeans that were slung low on his hips and a simple black t-shirt.
“Great?” I asked, tilting my head to the side as I studied her.
“Evangeline says he loves you. That he’s always loved you. He won’t let anything bad happen to you. Not like Damianos,” she whispered, leaning in as if it was a secret that she wasn’t meant to tell me.
“Malva, you know he killed your parents. Your mother is gone, too,” I said, keeping my voice gentle. As much as I’d hated Lydia, she was at least mostly tolerant of Malva. She’d indulged her and spoiled her as much as she possibly could, leaving me to suffer as a sacrifice for her child’s happiness. I couldn’t even blame her completely.
I’d been nothing to her.
Malva shrugged, her lips twisting to the side. “I know I should miss her, but I don’t. Does that make me a horrible daughter?” she asked, looking over her shoulder. I caught Evangeline’s eyes, feeling immensely grateful that she’d given my sister someone safe to confide in and seek out comfort in my absence.
Even if it did also fill me with a jealous longing, wishing I could have been that for her.
“I think that means she was a horrible mother. If you can move on from her loss so easily, then she wasn’t doing her job very well. You are the sweetest, kindest girl I have ever met,” I said, blinking back the sting of tears. I’d worked so hard to protect her from the harsh realities of our lives, and now…
Now it was out of my hands for the time being.
“I’m the only little girl you spend time with,” she said, raising a brow at me playfully. Dismissing the emotion clogging my throat, I huffed a sharp laugh and grabbed her around the back of the head. Pulling her into my chest, I clung to her for a few moments.
“I’ve known plenty of little girls in my lifetime. They liked to torment me when I was young,” I explained, pulling back and tucking her hair behind her ear.
Her brow furrowed, a moment of concern touching her blissful face. “What made them stop?” she asked.
I twisted, glancing over my shoulder at the man who watched our interaction with an intense stare. He made no attempt to hide his blatant observation; didn’t bother to disguise the way he watched me. “He did,” I said, letting my lips curl into a smile.
Even after they’d banished him from the city, the girls at school had never bothered me again. They’d ignored me, pretended I didn’t exist like the ugly duckling among them, but it was better that way.
I hadn’t wanted to be friends with kids who were capable of making fun of me for looking a little different, anyway. Malva was fortunate enough that she didn’t have my colorblindness or pointed ears, that her eyes weren’t as big and her lips didn’t stick out too far. I’d always been teased for my features being too big for my face.
Until my face had grown into them.
“Of course he did,” Malva said, grinning and waving at Calix from around me. He gave her a little smile and waved back with a slight flick of his hand.
The last time I’d seen Malva, she’d been staring down the barrel of his gun and terrified of the man she now waved at as if he was our savior from the brutal reality of our world. I turned back to my sister as Calix took the first step toward us, slowly closing the distance between us.
“It’s good to see you, Τζάνεμ,” Calix said, reaching past me to rub the hair on top of Malva’s head. She giggled as she looked up at him, leaning forward to wrap her arms around his waist quickly.
“I’m so confused,” I mumbled, not wanting to remind Malva of the terror of my wedding day but not wanting to be clearly missing information.
“I’ve checked in on Malva every time I leave the house to tend to business,” Calix answered as Malva retreated from his grip and walked back toward his mother. We watched as they resumed their play, twirling through the yard as Malva tried to keep the ball away from the older woman. “I couldn’t bring you yet. Not when you were so upset. You can see how happy she is here. I needed you to be in a place where you can understand first.”
“That wasn’t your choice to make,” I snapped, but I couldn’t deny the truth. I’d have frightened her with my own uncertainty about the turn of events, whereas Calix and his mother had done a fabulous job convincing her she was safe.
I just had to hope it was true.
“I’ve instructed my mother that Malva is to always feel loved. She is to be the center of her world, and my mother never had any other children outside of me. She wasn’t able to dote on me the way she wanted, not with my father raising me to be the heir to the Regas family. I promise you this is just as much a gift for my mother as it is for your sister and you,” he said, wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me into his side.
“For me?” I asked, turning my head so that I could look up at the side of his face as he watched Malva.
“You’ve been taking care of her for too long. Doing everything you’re told because you have to set a good example of what the family will expect from her,” he answered, turning his attention down to my face. “Now you can just be.”
“I can just be what?” I asked, turning my stare back to where Malva waved me on.
“Come on, Thalia!” she squealed, laughing when Calix’s mother wrapped her arms around my sister’s waist and lifted her off her feet.
His answer shocked me still for a moment. “Be whoever you want to be, λουλούδι μου. As long as you do it with me.”
