Prologue #2
They put on a persona, whatever mask best suits the person they’re using to push their agenda forward.
Every person here cares only about themselves and what others can do to make them richer or more powerful.
I’m not fooled, and neither are Sylas, Wesley, nor our fathers.
Still, every so often, we’re forced to come to these parties and show a united family front for everyone to see.
It’s not exactly a performance when it comes to my parents and me. I admire my dad, and want to be just like him when I grow up. He is a strong, powerful, and smart man. People respect him, most fear him.
Those aren’t the only reasons I idolize him, though. He looks at my mother like she’s the greatest person on this planet, like the Gods hand-picked her just for him.
He would burn the world down, and everyone in it, for her.
To me, that is what makes a true man. He’s focused, not on what the world can give him, but on giving the world to the woman he loves.
I might only be thirteen, but I’m already starting to understand those powerful, all-consuming feelings.
And that's the reason I’m dreading tonight’s party. I don’t want to do what we’re about to do, but it needs to be done.
Now is not the time to cherish my Lotus Flower. Someday she will be mine, but not until I can guarantee that I have the power to keep her safe from the world we live in.
“Jasper,” the sound of my father’s voice pulls my gaze from the mirror and over to him.
He stands in my bedroom door.
“Are Wesley and Sylas here?” I ask.
He nods. “They just arrived with their families. Other guests are arriving as well.”
I follow after him as he leads me down the stairs.
“Jasper.” My mother’s voice settles the unease swirling in my stomach. “Let me help you with that.” She steps up to me and fusses with my tie.
“I’ll go greet our guests.” My father leans down and presses a soft kiss to the top of my mother’s head. She smiles up at him like he’s hung the moon in her honor.
My mother is a beautiful woman. While my father is of Korean descent, and I favor my father’s looks, my mother is American. Her skin is a porcelain white, with not a single blemish on it. Her bright blue eyes stand out against her jet black hair.
“How are you doing?” she asks me as she continues fixing my tie.
“I’m fine.” My tone is cold and void of emotion, despite the chaos inside me.
“Don’t lie to me, Jasper,” she scolds softly. “I’m your mother. I know you better than anyone else in this world.”
I look away, not wanting her to witness the conflict in my eyes.
“You're doing the right thing. That girl deserves the world.”
My eyes snap back to hers, jaw grinding in frustration. “I want to be the person who can give her that!”
“I know.” She nods. “I have no doubt that you could. But this life we live, the world we’re in?
It’s no place for her, not now. She’s not ready yet.
But you, Sylas, Wesley? You are. You have to be because there is no other way.
Letting her go is the right thing to do, but watch her close—keep her safe.
She is a bright, shining star who has the world at her fingertips.
Don’t let the poison in our world drain her.
Grow strong, take your rightful place, then claim your queen. ” She gives me a playful smile.
“What if she doesn’t end up wanting me?” I ask, ashamed of how pathetic it makes me sound. “What if I become the very thing we’re trying to protect her from?”
No one goes into this kind of life and comes out unscathed.
“Oh, sweetheart,” she laughs, the sound almost musical.
“That girl adores you three. I don’t think time apart will change that.
When you're ready, she will understand. As for how this life is going to shape you, that is yet to be determined. But I know your heart, sweet boy. I know who you are deep down. This life won’t take away that light.
Not completely. It didn’t with your father, and I believe it won’t with you. Not if you don’t let it.”
It’s easy for her to say that. While I want to be like my father, there’s no guarantee I will be.
“Us three?” My brows furrow.
“Yes. All three.” She pats my chest as she finishes the tie.
“Sylas and Wesley are just as enthralled with Nola as you are. Rather than risk your friendship or back down, share her. They are the only people, apart from your father and me, that you can trust in this world. Build your connections rather than weaken them. You're going to need one another for the journey you’re set to embark on.”
Share her?
They are my best friends, my brothers.
Maybe. But for now, my mother is right. Nola isn’t ready to be thrown into our darkness. Hell, I don’t know half of what's yet to come.
Until I know everything, until I have this whole organization in my hands, we need to distance ourselves for her sake.
Mom looks to the side where Wesley and Sylas are waiting.
“Go to your friends.” Mom steps away. The two of them rush me immediately.
“Is she here?” Sylas asks.
“I don’t know,” I mutter, looking around.
“So… we’re really doing this?” Wesley asks, his brows pinched behind the rim of his glasses.
“Yes,” I sigh reluctantly.
“Do we have to?” Wesley asks.
“Yes,” Sylas says as if it were a dumb question. “Our lives are fucked up, man, and they’re about to get even crazier. You know what we have to do next week.”
Wesley’s lips curve into a smile. “Oh, I know, and it’s about damn time. I could have lost my virginity to Sasha last month.” His smile falls. “Stupid rules. At least once we get it over with, we’re free to fuck whoever we want.”
My mother says Sylas and Wesley’s feelings for Lola are the same as mine, but it’s moments like this when I’m not so sure.
Yes, they are both protective of her, but to me, it feels like they care in a brotherly way, like we do when it comes to Sylas’ little sister, Callie.
What I feel for Lola isn’t brotherly. Not at all.
I’m not looking forward to what this life will demand of me, but it’s my birthright, and it’s what I’m meant to do.
I’ve accepted it, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.
“I don’t get it. Lola lives in the same world we do. Why are we protecting her from it?” Wesley asks.
“Lola’s dad does, not her. You see how protective he is of her. The only reason she comes to these things is because of us. I bet he would be happy to leave her home and away from all this if Lola wasn’t hell-bent on coming here.”
“So that's it?” Wesley asks. “We’re just done with her? No more being friends?”
“We will watch her and make sure she’s safe, but she will no longer be part of our lives.”
“This fucking sucks,” Sylas complains.
“Who's gonna tell her?” Wesley asks, looking between Sylas and me.
“I will,” I answer, even though it’s the last thing I want to do.
Sylas is too nice, he will beat around the bush.
Wesley wouldn’t say anything; he would wait for one of us to do it.
I need her to understand that things are changing. If it means I have to make her hate me, then so be it.
We’re doing this for her. “Hey.” A bright voice makes my heart leap out of my chest. “There you guys are.” She laughs, out of breath. “I thought we always met outside?”
Wesley and Sylas look at me like deer in the headlights.
“Go,” I tell them.
They flick their gaze to Nola, something like hurt flashing in their eyes before turning around and heading to their fathers.
“Where are they going?” Lola asks, confused. She looks so pretty tonight in a pink sundress, and her platinum blonde hair pulled into a ponytail.
“We’re not kids anymore.” I turn around to face her. “The three of us are men now. Our days of running around in the garden and chasing you through the maze are over. It’s time to grow up, Nola.”
Her lips part in shock, and it kills me as I push past her, going to join my father at his side.
I try not to seek her out, but I look to the side when she finds her father. He leans down to listen to what she has to say.
He nods his head, and the pair turn around and walk out of my house.
That would be the last time I saw her up close for a long, long time.
I just hope that by the time I claim her as mine, I haven’t become just like the monsters of my world.
If I am, I will continue to stay away.
If I can’t give her the same kind of love and devotion that my father gives my mother, I’ll let her go.
Even if it kills me.