CHAPTER 5
Mattheo
Once she's no longer with us, Tom stands up, silently challenging me. I really care about him, but he always pisses me off. Always poking his nose where he shouldn't. I see him clench his fists, and I smile darkly as my jaw ticks.
“Haven't I beaten you up enough all these years for you not to provoke me, little brother?”
His gaze hardens and his jaw tightens as well. He takes a step forward, moving closer to me. I raise an eyebrow, silently challenging him to start the fight he seems desperate to start.
“She told me about the arranged marriage.”
“What the hell do you care, huh?”
“I know you, Mattheo. You're not a good man,” he says in a harsh tone.
I chuckle darkly, tilting my head to the side as I study him curiously.
“And you are, Tom? Have you forgotten all the innocent people you've killed?”
“Unlike you, I would never hurt a woman!” His voice rises as he almost shouts.
His words take me by surprise, but I do my best to hide it. Instead, I glare at him, maintaining the usual mask of coldness on my face. “I didn't hurt her. Or any woman. Did she tell you I did?”
I feel anger rising inside me. Was that bitch spreading lies about me? Sure, I may have been a little rough last night when I choked her, but I didn't hurt her.
I didn't squeeze that hard.
“No, but I know you, Mattheo. You treat women like shit.”
I chuckle, uncrossing my arms and putting my hands in my pockets. “I don't see how that's a problem. They love it when I fuck them like sluts. Not one of them has ever complained before,” I shrug.
He huffs, his anger rising at my words. I don't understand what his problem is.
She's just another slut for me to fuck, and he's never cared before.
The only difference with her is that she's going to be my legal wife, and I have to impregnate her to have an heir.
That doesn't mean I have to treat her any fucking differently.
“She's not like the ones you usually fuck!” He raises his voice, making me raise an eyebrow in silent question.
“Damn, Mattheo, can't you see how innocent she looks? She's willing to let you treat her like shit just to please our fathers!”
I roll my eyes before pulling a cigarette from my pocket. I light it and inhale the smoke, feeling it fill up my lungs. That toxic shit always has a way of calming my nerves a little.
“It's not my problem. Father wants me to have an heir and he wants her to give it to me. That's all. Innocent or not, she's nothing but a fucking womb for Heir Rigast. Like it or not.”
He takes a step back, running his fingers through his hair in an annoyed gesture.
“She's a human being, Mattheo. You can't use her like she's nothing.
She has feelings too, and I'm pretty sure she doesn't want this marriage either.
I know you only agree to it because it's Father's order.
Guess what, she agreed to it for the same reasons!
That girl's father sold her to ours to prove his loyalty, and she's so innocent that she doesn't object to it—to please him! To please them both!”
I watch him silently, smoking my cigarette as I watch him pace. I try to understand why he seems so concerned about this poor girl's fate. My brother never thinks of anyone but himself. All that matters to him is proving his worth to our father.
Then, realization hits me and I inhale the smoke while laughing darkly.
“Damn, you wish you were the one to marry her, aren’t you, little brother?”
He stops moving and his head swivels towards me. If a look could kill, I'd be dead.
“You want her? Take her. She's all yours. I don't fucking want her,” I shrug.
He huffs angrily, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“First of all, we both know you're next in line for father's throne, not me, which means I don't need an heir. Second, I don't want to marry her instead of you, Mattheo. I just want you to treat her well. She deserves it.”
A dark, mocking snort escapes me. “I still don't see what any of this has to do with you. Why the hell do you care how I treat her?”
His jaw clenches painfully and he turns his head to the side, avoiding my gaze.
Yeah, that's what I fucking thought.
“Don't think I'm stupid, Tom. You'd like to be the one who has to marry her. You met her, what, an hour ago? Did she put a spell on you or something? You want her.”
His eyes meet mine again, murderous. “What if I do? We both know I can't have her,” he snorts, seething. “Look, all I ask is that you treat her right. Don't fucking hurt her in any way. Please.”
My eyebrows raise in surprise.
Shit. He must really like her to beg me.
I laugh darkly. “Don't tell me you're in love Tom? Rigasts don't have feelings.”
“I'm not. She just deserves to be treated well, Mattheo. Like I said, she's not like the women you're used to.”
“And how could you know that ?” I roll my eyes.
He's starting to get on my nerves. He's barely met her. How can he know what she's like? I've been around her longer than he has and I don't know her.
“Because I looked into her mind. Not for long, but enough to see how innocent she is. In her memories, I never saw her leave her father's house. He probably kept her locked up to protect her. I'm pretty sure she knows nothing of the real world.”
I sneer disdainfully, rolling my eyes.
“Do you really think he cares about his daughter after offering her hand in marriage to the Dark Mage's son?” I ask sarcastically.
He sighs, running a frustrated hand over his face.
“Fuck, I don't know, okay? Just… Don't hurt her, Mattheo. She's not like us.”
“But she will be,” I retort, growing increasingly angry with him.
“She’ll get the Trace and be corrupted by its magic, like the rest of us.
She’ll also have to do whatever Father asks her to do.
He’s going to give her a task to complete while we’re at the Academy.
She either succeeds or fails. He won’t hesitate to kill her once the child is born if she doesn’t succeed.
She may be innocent for now, but she won’t be for long.
You’re not so stupid to not know that. I don’t know what task she’ll be given, but it will probably be to kill someone.
Will she still be innocent in your eyes after committing murder?
And that’s if she’s even capable of doing it! ”
He purses his lips into a thin line, looking away as his jaw ticks. I snort. In love or not, he's pathetic for feeling anything for her. She's nothing but a fucking womb for my heir. She'll be nothing more in my father's eyes. Or mine.
Tom runs a hand through his hair, pulling it in frustration.
“I have to go. I swear, if I find out you hurt her, I'll kill you myself, Mattheo. Brother or not.”
I frown, taken aback by his words.
Is he fucking threatening me?
“It's a promise, not a threat.”
I glare at him for reading my thoughts. He leaves, punching my shoulder hard as he passes me.
I clench my jaw and fists. He has the nerve to threaten me just for some bitch.
I follow him with my eyes, watching him enter the Manor and close the door behind him.
I pull another cigarette from my pack and light it, inhaling the smoke.
Tom's words keep playing in my head. Is she that innocent? Do I really want to ruin the little relationship I have with my brother for some slut?
I run a frustrated hand through my hair, pulling at it so the pain keeps me from drifting off into thought.
The truth is, I don't want to. Tom and I aren't close, but he's still my little brother.
It's always been my job to protect him, and it still is.
If I have to be less of a jerk to her to make him happy and protect him, then I'll make an effort.
Fucking hell.