Ryophlira POV

The heavy click of the door locked from the outside felt like an executioner’s axe falling.

I stood in the center of father’s study, the skin on my left cheek still throbbing from Mother’s slap. The silence in the room was a living, breathing monster, suffocating the three of us beneath the weight of years of unspoken resentment. My brother paced like a caged beast.

"So, are we ready to hug and pretend that everything is okay like old times so we can get out of here?" Aiyolistra said, a sharp, smile breaking across her face as she casually got up out of her chair.

"No, Ail," I said, my voice hardening as I turned to face her. "I want to actually talk about this."

From the edge of the room, our brother stopped pacing, "Ry is right. We need to talk about this."

Aiyolistra halted, tilting her head back with a slow, elegance. "What do you want to know, little sister?" she asked in a mocking, singsong tone that made my blood boil.

I stepped into her space, refusing to let her casual cruelty intimidate me. "Why the South? Why them, when you could have married someone you actually love?"

Her curls shifting over her shoulders as her expression flattened into something entirely lacking warmth. "You ask the dumbest questions sometimes, Ryophlira. You took the man I love. You know, little sister, to everything you do, there are pros and cons."

She began to circle me, her skirts whispering against the carpet. "You deciding to marry the King of the North caused a massive disruption in the agreement and the balance of power. Dad literally cut the tongue out of the Queen of the South. That right there is a declaration of war."

My breath caught in my throat, a cold shockwave paralyzing my chest. "What did you just say?"

"Yes, sister dearest," she purred, leaning close enough that I could smell her heavy rose perfume. "I didn’t just choose the South as my new love. They chose me."

A sudden wave of dizzying isolation washed over me. I turned my head, my eyes wide and frantic as I looked at our brother. "Why didn’t anyone tell me anything?!"

My brother shifted his weight, his eyes dropping to the floor in a rare display of guilt. Before he could speak, Aiyolistra let out a sharp, mocking laugh that cut through the room.

"Because everyone is so scared of the power you possess," she whispered, walking even closer to me, her eyes dancing with an unsettling, triumphant smile. "But you know what? I am stronger. Faster. Smarter. More strategic, and I have eyes absolutely everywhere. Have you ever wondered how I knew you were with him last night?"

A pit of absolute revulsion opened in my stomach. The girl standing in front of me wasn’t just my jealous sister anymore, she was a stranger warped by malice. "You are sick. Very sick."

"No, no," she snapped, her composure cracking for a fraction of a second, revealing the raw, ugly envy underneath. "I am just tired of being second to you."

The fury inside me erupted. I pulled my arm back, channeling every ounce of my built-up adrenaline into a punch meant to shatter her smug expression. But before my fist could connect, my brother’s massive shadow fell over us. He stepped directly between us, his large hand easily blocking my strike mid-air.

"I don’t think either of you will ever resolve this," he grunted, using his strength to gently but firmly push us apart. He ran a hand through his hair, looking entirely exhausted by the us. "But let’s just agree to disagree. Ry, you now belong to the North. And Ail, you belong to the South. But we are family above all, and we will have each other’s back."

"Whatever," Aiyolistra said crossing her arms. "We need to stop pretending we are a perfect family, because we are not."

My brother’s eyes narrowed, his gaze turning incredibly solemn as he looked at Aiyolistra. "Would you really make an enemy of your own blood, Ail?"

"I will put myself first," she replied without a single shred of hesitation.

I pointed a trembling finger at her, my voice ringing with a fierce, cold promise. "See? I told you she is fucking sick. Ail, if this is what you want to stand on opposite sides and fight. I will beat every time without a single tear of regret."

Aiyolistra smirked, her eyes flashing with dangerous defiance. "In your dreams, little dragon."

Turning her back on us, she marched gracefully to the heavy doors and knocked aggressively against the wood. "We are done! Let us out!" she called out loudly.

My brother let out a heavy, dramatic sigh, running his hands through his messy hair again. "All of this over a man is actually crazy," he muttered, shaking his head. "I always thought your first massive fight would be over dresses or shoes."

"Shut up!" Aiyolistra and I snapped in perfect unison, our heads whipping around to glare at him.

He raised his hands in mock surrender, a small smirk playing on his lips. "So you two can be civil when it comes to me, but not each other?"

"Would you just be quiet?!" we yelled together again.

He pointed an accusing finger at both of us, chuckling softly. "See? You two are doing it again."

Losing the last of our patience, both Aiyolistra and I narrowed our eyes and began marching toward him with synchronized, menacing steps. My brother’s smirk instantly vanished. He started backing away from us, his long legs hitting the edge of Father’s secondary desk.

"Hey, hey, let’s think about this," he stammered, raising his palms. "I was just pointing out that you two have a lot in common—"

The heavy brass lock clicked.

The door swung open, and the playful tension in the room vanished in an instant. Mother stood on the threshold, entirely alone. Her imperial aura was tightly coiled around her, heavy and suffocating.

Instinctively, the childhood programming took over. Aiyolistra and I instantly broke formation, sprinting to either side of our brother and grabbing his massive arms. All three of us stood in a perfectly straight line, plastered with wide, entirely fake smiles.

Mother stepped into the room, her gaze sweeping over our overly cheerful expressions. "So... I will assume that you all have settled it."

"Of course, Mother," I said, forcing a cheerful, manufactured chuckle that felt like sandpaper in my throat. "How could we stay mad at each other?"

Mother didn’t buy the performance for a second. She walked past us with a terrifying, slow deliberation, hoisting herself onto the edge of the desk. She crossed her arms and legs, looking down at us like a judge preparing to pass a death sentence.

"Aiyolistra, you stay," Mother commanded, her voice dropping into an icy, unyielding tone. "And you two? Get out."

Without a second thought, and without casting a single glance backward, both my brother and I bolted. We ran out of the room, our shoes clattering against the polished stone of the corridor. We spun around just in time to watch the heavy door slowly glide shut.

Through the closing crack, I caught one final glimpse of the room. Aiyolistra was already dropping heavily to her knees on the carpet, her head bowed in absolute submission before Mother’s on the desk.

I stood in the hallway, my chest heaving as the door clicked fully shut, sealing them inside.

I knew exactly what was about to happen in that room. Our mother was going to get to the absolute bottom of what was going on in her house. More than anything in this world more than war, more than politics, more than her own children’s happiness our mother despised when things slipped out of her control. She absolutely loathed being blind-sided, and right now, the strings of her kingdom were tangling in ways she hadn’t predicted.

As I stared at the locked wood, a cold, sickening dread settled deep into my bones. Mother was going to tear Aiyolistra’s secrets apart piece by piece to regain her absolute grip on the kingdom. And whatever truth she extracted from my sister tonight... it was going to change the fate of the North, the South, and my wedding day forever.