The Dark Beast's Love

The dinner had been even more disastrous than the little incident in the garden. His brother hadn't held back any comments about his brother's lack of manliness and it got to the point where I had to dig my nails into my palms to keep myself from jumping from my chair and give Christoff a piece of my mind. Meanwhile, Hector only cowered under his brother's mean words, only getting smaller and more awkward with every passing moment. At some point at dessert, he'd awkwardly taken my hand out of nowhere and I had jumped so violently at the suddenness that Christoff's grin grew into something that could only be described as malice. Hector, embarrassed by my reaction, immediately retreated his hand and kept it to himself the rest of the night.

When my brother finally knocked on the door, it felt as if I was let out of a prison. I'd never expected myself to be so happy seeing him again, but I was, my heart was singing in harmony because I was. However, as I subtly tried to get away from the Wallaby family, without seeming too eager, I felt a hand grab mine, a weak grip indeed, but still enough to stop me and have me turn around in surprise. "I'm glad I get to marry you," Hector said, eyes on the floor and ears dusted pink. "You are very beautiful.”

A wave of guilt came over me as I watched Hector's nervous figure. I had hoped that despite my act to play nice, Hector would realise that we could never be anything to each other and therefore not take my scheme too hard on the heart. But him, standing in front of me as he did with his shoulders up in his ears and an embarrassed smile on his lips told me that it was not the case, and that I would crush whatever confidence he had left by marrying Nathan. Hector was a kind man, but he wasn't one for me. Still, I had to swallow down my own shame as I spoke.

"You are far too kind, Mr Hector," I gave him a truth. "And I'm looking forward to the coming month and weeks." And then ended with a bitter lie he wouldn't be able to decipher until it was too late.

"Thank you for taking care of my sister," Varius spoke on behalf of us both. We're looking forward to the joint family dinners weeks from now."

"So do we," Hector's father responded. "I must say, we really got more than what we bargained for in this arrangement. Liliana has become quite a surprise. In a good way of course."

I ignored my instinct to snarl at his words.

"I'm pleased to hear," My brother said, even his tone was a little strained. "We'll hear from you."

They both shook hands one last time before my brother offered his elbow and escorted me out of their house and down the empty streets. I did not miss the way my brother was glancing at me from the corner of his eye as we walked in silence, but I did not feel the appeal of disturbing the peace that hung in the air. However, I lost my patience when we finally reached the poor quarters and stopped in a halt before turning to face Varius.

"What?" I asked with my hands resting on my sides and a raised brow.

"Took you long enough," My brother muttered but said nothing more as he studied me carefully. "Well?..."

"I didn't actually expect you to behave," Varius admitted as he narrowed his eyes. "This isn't exactly your choice, and the Liliana I know would have brought hell upon everyone who didn't listen to your opinion."

I

I gave myself a moment to be amused by the vision the accusation caused. "Well, I can't really do anything, can I? Father has already made the decision for me."

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"That has never stopped you before," Varius pointed out. "Not when he didn't want you running around in town and certainly not when he refused to have you spend time reading."

"I still think reading is a useful skill," I frowned at the memory of that argument. "And I proved father wrong by making deals with the town's butcher."

Which was a lie, of course, but none of them needed to know that. If they ever found out about the hunts in the woods there would be more than just an argument going on under our roof. "Yeah you certainly did, so why now? Why settle now?"

I had not expected anyone to comment on my sudden change of behaviour, even less from my brother.

"Because I don't want to have another conflict about marriage," I whispered and based on the shadow that pulled over Varius' face, he'd understood what I meant.

It was a horrible card to pull, an evil manipulation from my side, but it was also the only thing I could have said that was enough to convince Varius. We barely spoke about our mother's death, and when we did, it was always in arguments. It was not a complete lie, because the moment my father had introduced Hector as my husband-to-be, my mind had flashed back to the night my mother died and the argument we had before, but like many things, I pressed all possible emotions until they no longer existed and hoped that I'd get peace the day the beast died under my hands.

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I don't know if my brother blames our mother's death on me. It was after all my fault that she slept on the couch that night because I refused to go into the house. I had completely forgotten that it was a full moon that night in the haste of everything and would live to regret that mistake for the rest of my life. If Varius blames me for our mother's death, he hasn't said anything, and I'm not sure if I could handle him telling the truth.

"At least Hector seems to have taken a genuine interest in you," My brother muttered, unaware of the extra guilt he just added to my shoulders.

"He's just... misunderstood," I tried, hearing how off the tone was but doing nothing to save it.

"He's not the type of person I would have chosen for you," Varius admitted. "More money than us or not, even his brother is a better choice."

"His brother is almost as much of a coward as he is," I immediately pointed out. "Hector may be afraid of much, but his brother doesn't even dare to stand up for his family. That is more cowardly than anything."

My brother only chuckled at my response. "It's a little hard to stand up for someone who'll break under the weight of a leaf."

I knew that it was an attempt to joke, to lighten the mood after the indirect mention of our mother had brought in heavy clouds but I couldn't help but feel my anger flare up at the obvious insult.

"And if it was me?" I asked instead. "If I was the one who feared everything and everyone. Would you have let them talk?"

My brother froze when he heard my question, but answered without hesitation. "I would kill the beast with my bare hands if those were the requirements for protecting my family."