Chapter One Hundred: The 1st Amendment
1603 Words
Rheyes Kerhid Norvig Yarez
“I don’t understand; what exactly makes you think we will ruin their lives, ruin our lives?”
A breathy and pained laugh escaped the Countess’s lips.
“What kind of question is that? Do you want proof that it has ruined our lives? Look at where we are, look at how we are arguing with each other? The doctor said ‘congratulations’ do you even know what that means? It means that I am supposed to be overjoyed by this, that we are supposed to feel good about this, yet I feel nothing but terror!”
Her eyes glistened, and despite the wretched way she looked, he could not tear his gaze from the ferocity of her beauty.
“Rheyes, I know. I know how it feels to grow up unwanted. Why must we subject them to the same thing when it is a pain that claws at you from the moment you learn to talk!”
“What makes you think I do not want them!”
Rheyes felt defensive, a feeling he had almost forgotten because he had stopped explaining himself from the moment he inherited Kranis.
“You do not want fatherhood; you want your Kin!! The fact that I am birthing ‘your kind’ is all you are after! Has it even dawned on you that you will be walking them, feeding them, clothing them, bathing them, changing their diapers or do you only see scales, a tail and an endless potential to uphold your race’s name? Do you only see them as burdens that the maids and the thousands of servants you can afford to ‘take care of? Because I can tell you, that is not what anyone needs.”
“All of that has dawned on me! That is why I suggested we marry! Because even when I thought there was one, it still felt like too much. I knew that I would need you! That a child needed their mother! If you did not like the arrangement, I would have bought them from you, but I was relieved that you did not fight me on that matter.”
He responded swiftly before she had an opportunity to accuse him of more.
“All that tells me is that you wanted to buy your kin. It is as though you truly do not understand what it means to start a family, and part of that is….”
The Countess’s tone lowered as though she, without his insight, had made a grand revelation.
“Part of that is? Finish, I do not understand half sentences.”
“Part of that is because this isn’t your destination. This is just part of what you must endure before you finally get married, mate and start your family..”
“What are you saying?”
Unlike before, her mannerisms had steadied, she no longer looked unstable or as though she would bolt through the door the moment he uttered the wrong words.
“I am saying…that, I want full custody when we divorce.”
“No!”
“It is not up for debate. It would kill me to envision a child…to envision my children living in the way you describe.”
“What do you mean in the way I describe? You say that as though I will be in a lucid state somewhere or as though I will be abusive to them! I will be there for them every step of the way!”
“No! you will not! You will be making new ones and forgetting-,”
“I will not forget my children.”
His tone was more raised than he would like, but he hated her insinuations.
“It will not be part of your will; once you bond, mate, or do whatever it is that binds you so blindly to your mate, you will forget everything else that is of importance to you.”
“What do you know about taking care of a dragon! Let us begin our argument from there. Do you know the difference between taking care of a halfling and a pureblood is astronomical?”
The Countess scoffed as though his choice of words was wrong, then sucked her lips into her mouth as if to say, ‘See, all you want is kinship.’
But so what if that was true? They were his children; he should damn well hold a right over what happens to them!
“In the time I spend with you, I will read and study everything there is to know about dragons.”
“That is not the same as having an actual-.”
His response was cut halfway.
“I did not say that I would keep them from you. After our arrangement is over, if they need you, I will ensure they have every means possible to contact you if at all you want them to. I just…I want them around love, not duty. So, please.”
“Please??”
He repeated, disgusted by her manner of speech, by her request!
‘Please?’
As though she saw him as a monster who meant only to hurt others, including his own.
What difference was there between her and the emperor, hell, she and half of the population?
“No!”
He would not change his response, with spite added as one of his reasons.
“If you do as I ask, I promise to make Mitchelle appear the better candidate, and I will support the princess in her campaign and…I will help you manoeuvre negotiation with the elves so that the step down in making Kranis the capital and the title exchange goes smoothly.”
He stilled at the offer she presented.
Smooth was an overstatement for anyone. There would be a war; it was almost guaranteed, especially if the lawsuit the Sylra’s placed on Étienne did not hold.
He did not wish to be in the middle of it, so he needed to move cautiously. The other matter that arose was that if he were not married by the time he became the Grand duke of the north, he would be forbidden from marrying his race; due to their violent history during the expansion of Kranis borders, but if he was to settle down, it needed to be with someone he could trust. Any other races did not cut it.
At least, he thought that before he learned that Arusei would birth him a pureblood, even Mitchelle, a dragon, did not hold the capability to erase the human genetics in his seed.
But he trusted Mitchelle, not the Countess, so if she could find a way to make Mitchelle more presentable than she, that would be a good deal.
“I-.”
He hesitated for a moment too long, but her eyes glimmered in a way he had not seen before at his stutter.
“I will deal with the political side; I do not intend to become the grand duke while you are by my side. So do not grow greedy at the prospect of acquiring a higher title.”
As though the Countess did not hear the last portion of his statement, she heaved a deep sigh of relief that, for some reason, irritated him.
“But if you will help Mitchelle look more presentable to the audience outside Kranis, and find a way to help my sister’s campaign, I will give you a bigger say in the custody matter.”
“That’s not a definite answer! I need a defini-”
“There is nothing definite I will offer, especially after diminishing my capabilities as a father when you have not seen me play that role.”
She scoffed.
“Do I need to watch you more closely to predict what I can see as the future?”
“Regardless of what you think, I take my duties very seriously.”
“Yes, well, I hope that trait is not genetic.”
“You do not wish our children to be those of honour.”
“No. I wish them free, as free as the birds that devour the flesh from rotting carcasses.”
“So you want them to resemble you then, to become social pariahs?”
They both took slow and alternating steps toward each other.
He did not understand how a person could feel this…volatile.
“I want them as they come. What percentage of custody power are we talking.”
“Sixty, forty.”
“Seventy, thirty.”
She negotiated.
“No, that’s too high, almost a guarantee, since the courts will consider my race.”
“Fine. Sixty-five, thirty-five.”
“That is better. We can drop by the lawyer’s office. Have yours meet us in fifth and park of Lawford. We can discuss the amendments.”
“Okay.”
The Countess took a deep breath, then placed her hand on her stomach and whispered to her belly.
“I promise, I will at least ensure you will be free.”
It wasn’t that he was curious; his ears were just…sensitive.
“Also…”
He began when he realised the information he forgot to add, but when her dark emerald eyes sprang up to meet his gaze, he thought twice about what he would say.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
If he told her that the emperor would increase the throne race period by five years due to the fourth prince’s scandal, consequently the divorce would have to wait five years, she would think this a part of his plan.
So, he would let the lawyer break the news.
- Writer
