Dinner went smoothly, with no issues other than Sarah's eyes and her comments. I don't know, girl—maybe I'm just being paranoid, but it felt like she was jealous of me. Maybe Lucius told her something. You be the judge—you're definitely better at this than I am. At one point, she asked me, her tone bordering on mockery:
"Are you really ready to fall into the boring clutches of monogamy for as long as this whole thing lasts?"
Feigning offense, I shot back:
"I'm ready to listen to my heart, and right now it screams Killian every time it beats. The future isn't set in stone."
Weird, right? She's not the kind of woman who would ask a question like that—that's more up the alley of those cloned blondes. I suspect something happened behind my back that I don't know about.
Whispering in my ear, Killian asked me to spend the night at the mansion. With every intention of making me blush, he started murmuring exactly what he was going to do to me in bed. He managed to turn me bright red in a second.
After dinner, we walked around for a bit. Since Lucius had requested it, I left Killian and went over to where he and Sarah were. She walked away the moment she saw me approaching, as if she knew he needed to speak with me alone.
Lucius and I met under that starry night sky. He didn't have his usual steely gaze; something was different. He told me:
"Big changes are coming—very important ones for everyone. He hasn't told me yet, but I know my father is going to give Killian more power. I congratulate him. Do I think he's ready? No, I don't. But my political launch requires me to distance myself from what we'll be doing here. Regardless, I wanted to talk to you so we can get on the same page. We'll meet 'at the vertex' and prepare the first mission. We'll see each other at my wedding, and beyond that, I think we should avoid all contact. You and my brother seem happy, and I have to confess that pleases me. It truly makes me happy. But when I'm near you, I don't know… I just don't know. I want to kiss you right now. I want to hold you like this and pull your lips to mine."
And exactly as I had envisioned it in my mind, it happened: he grabbed me by the waist and his lips went straight for mine. But at the very last second, we both pulled away. No one had seen us, thank God. My heart was racing; I could hear it pounding. He added:
"See? I simply can't. I wish I could trade places with my brother. I wish I were the one going to bed with you tonight. I must be strong. I have to walk away. I think this will all end soon—that what I feel for you can't last forever. It shouldn't."
When he said "this will all end soon" and took my hand, a flash suddenly blinded me: a vision of him falling from a great height, clutching his chest. I burst into tears. I pointed my finger at him and demanded:
"Don't you ever say that again. If what we feel for each other lasts a thousand years, then so be it! You can't just erase feelings and make them disappear at will. It doesn't work that way. I'm with Killian, and you're marrying Sarah. Who knows—you might even end up loving her, or you'll find a better woman than me. When that happens, unlike you—who are clearly nobler because you're happy for us—I'm going to feel miserable. I'm being honest. I'll get over it someday, I suppose. You will too. I don't want to distance myself from you. Isn't there any other option? Some trick that allows us to be together without desiring each other? You know more about all this than I do. If you think there isn't—if distance is what's best… I'll believe you."
He sighed and took a few steps back, saying:
"This is where we end, girl. We'll only see each other at the vertex, and if I ever try to get you alone again, hit me hard enough to make me remember the promise I'm making you right here: I'm going to leave you alone, girl. Be there for each other."
At the exact same time, we both turned around and walked away down separate paths. Killian saw me return looking distressed, his muscles tensing as he asked:
"Is everything okay with Lucius? Did he say something bad to you?"
Moved, I replied:
"No, of course not. On the contrary, we just said our goodbyes and wished each other the best. Your brother loves you very much."
Killian smiled, and the world felt a little brighter for an instant—that brief instant before Sarah arrived and asked me to walk down to the pier with her.
She took my arm the way ladies of old used to do, and we took about a hundred steps before breaking the silence. She asked me:
"How do you do it? I don't want to lie—I'm angry with you. It's not your fault, I know. But how do you make everyone fall in love with you? Lucius is gorgeous, intelligent, and if my arranged marriage helps my father, helps him, and makes me the first lady to that man, then so be it! No one would complain, right? But I want what you have. I want him to love me."
We looked each other in the eye; she wasn't lying. At some point, the wedding had been nothing more than business to her, but now—now that the date was drawing near—she was just a girl who wanted to give her big wedding the significance she had surely dreamed of as a child. I can't judge her. Lucius has everything it takes to be more than a charming prince; it's just that he loves me and not her. Should I help her? I was caught in that dilemma when Sarah said:
"Maybe love isn't in my cards. I don't know. Do you understand that every young presidential candidate is expected to have a child right before the elections? The masses love that. It's no laughing matter; a candidate being a father genuinely works. That means he'll make love to me while thinking of you. My child will be conceived that miserable way. Right now, I'd rather jump off a cliff, but no—I wasn't raised for that. I'm just talking to hear myself talk."
I whispered to her:
"I'm going to tell you a secret: you'll be fine. Your son will be born healthy, long before those distant elections. You'll be happy, and you'll name him Paul James. Your father and Mr. Longfield will be by your side, proud that you chose their names for your little boy. Don't deny him a bicycle. He'll be fine, but between the ages of nine and eleven, keep him away from swings. He will be happy."
Before I knew it, I was surrounded by darkness. I snapped out of it, terrified, and everything returned to normal—everything except Sarah, who stood pale as a ghost six feet away from me. Yes, she had let go of my arm and had almost run away. Trembling, she asked:
"What the fuck was all that?!"
I answered:
"Don't tell Lucius. I still can't control it. We were walking arm in arm and I just saw it. I don't know—it's new to me too, but I know what's going to happen. You're going to have a son, and you'll be happy with him. At least it was good news this time."
She approached cautiously, and seeing that I was also shaken, she said:
"Okay, that is the weirdest thing that has ever happened to me. But I don't know if I wanted to know… no, actually, I did. Thank you. Yes, I definitely wanted to know."
On the way back to the lounge, she asked me why she shouldn't tell Lucius. I explained that he didn't believe in any of this, and that he would most likely try to do the exact opposite just to prove me wrong—to prove that the supernatural is nothing but superstition.
Inside, a thought kept haunting me: why didn't I see Lucius by her side? The thought that he was going to die from that gunshot had to stop immediately, or I'd spend the rest of my days crying. Killian wrapped his arms around me and kissed me when I got back, and everything felt better.
That night, I took off my clothes in his room and went to bed with him. I was only looking for some light affection and to sleep in his protective embrace, but, of course, we ended up ignited by endless kisses that led to us making love—gently and tenderly at first, and then fiercely, exploding together while he bit my breasts and I dug my nails into his waist, sealing my lips so I wouldn't scream and wake up the entire mansion. My boyfriend definitely knows his way around a bed. His mere presence is enough to transform an ordinary night into something wonderful. As I took a sip of water, we talked, right on the border between sleep and waking. He told me:
"You know what, babe?… I see us. I don't have Clara's powers, but believe me, I see us walking down the aisle."
I replied:
"Promise me something, right here and now: our relationship comes first. There will be no business, no agendas, and no money getting in the way when I need you by my side."
He asked, looking puzzled:
"What is it that you know? He's going to announce it, isn't he? My father. He's going to give me a more prominent role within the empire—one small step closer to the top. Yeah, you must be sensing that. Someday I'll be the one running this whole thing, and when that day comes, I'll be the most powerful man in the world, far more than Lucius. Politics are necessary, but being president is a minor gig compared to the big chair at Longfield-Bance."
I saw the ambition in his eyes. I replied:
"To me, nothing will ever be bigger or more important than you. No excuses."
He understood. He promised me the same—that whenever I needed him, he would always be there for me. He even said:
"You're right. I'll learn to say, 'To hell with the empire! My girl needs me.'"
I smiled. He was being sincere, but of course, he didn't know yet that his father was prepared to hand over all the power to him. It wouldn't be a small step toward the top; it would place him directly there. But that wasn't my news to break. I wasn't going to steal that moment from the two of them.
In the morning, when I woke up, I had a new group chat on my phone. It was named "The Vertex," and there was a message from Evangelina that read: "I put this together in an emergency. We need to move up our plans. Bruce, tell them what you told me a few minutes ago."
The detective typed: "We need to make a decision. There's one of those lunatics operating six hundred miles to the north. He kidnaps young men, sometimes teenagers. They disappear on a Tuesday, and six days later, their bodies are found buried upside down near the riverbanks. There are already fourteen victims, and the justice system refuses to investigate beyond ordinary criminals. I know why—I know everything. I'm almost certain it's the police chief, a dangerous, psychopathic piece of shit. Last Tuesday, he kidnapped twin brothers. We only have three days to try to save them, or they'll be found upside down among the maggots. It's your call. The twins are sixteen."
I thought to myself that this wasn't for me, but my fingers flew across the screen like lightning as I typed:
"Let's do it. We're going to save them."
Bruce replied: "I'll be in Longfield in two hours. I'll give you more details as soon as we meet."