Natalia and I descended the stairs together. My hand found the small of her back, a gesture that would have been automatic for any couple heading down for breakfast. Except we weren't any couple, and this wasn't any breakfast.

This was the last meal in the house where I'd learned to pretend to be human again.

The dining room was bathed in morning light, the kind of golden glow that belonged in a commercial for wholesome family values. Rice steaming in the cooker. Miso soup in lacquered bowls. Grilled fish arranged on small plates with artistic care.

It looked like a magazine spread for Perfect Japanese Breakfast Monthly.

It felt like a funeral.

Kimiko stood at the counter, her back to us. She wore a simple blue yukata, her red hair pulled back in a low ponytail.

"Good morning," I said.

She turned. Her smile didn't reach her eyes.

"Good morning, Satori. Natalia. Please, sit. Everything's ready."

Natalia moved to her usual seat. I took mine.

Kimiko brought the fish to the table. Set down pickled vegetables. Poured green tea into cups that didn't make a sound against their saucers because her hands were so controlled.

I watched her move through the ritual of serving breakfast like she was disarming a bomb. One wrong move and everything would explode.

The silence was suffocating.

I picked up my chopsticks. The click of wood on wood echoed too loud in the quiet. Natalia reached for her tea. The soft clink of ceramic was like a gunshot.

"Did you sleep well, Satori?" Kimiko's question was directed at me. Only me. She hadn't looked at Natalia once.

The Liar's Brooch was cool against my chest. She wasn't lying about her concern. She genuinely wanted to know.

"Yeah. Fine."

Kimiko nodded and took a sip of her tea. Her eyes stayed on me, avoiding Natalia like she was a ghost haunting the table.

"Are you sure you have everything packed? The ferry leaves at noon. The traffic to Terminal Seven can be unpredictable on weekends."

"I'm sure."

More silence. Natalia pushed rice around her bowl with her chopsticks. She hadn't eaten a single bite.

I could feel the weight of Kimiko's unspoken accusations crushing the air between us. This whole charade of normalcy was her version of an execution. Death by painful civility.

Kaelen's instincts screamed to lie. To deflect. To put up walls and deny everything until she had no choice but to accept the version of reality I fed her.

But sitting there, watching Kimiko pretend her heart wasn't breaking, I realized something.

She didn't want me to fail.

She was terrified of what would happen when I succeeded in the wrong way.

The best deception wasn't a fortress of lies. It was a glass house. Let her see inside. Let her see just enough truth that she felt like she still had some control. Give her a narrative she could live with.

Even if it hurt like hell.

I set down my chopsticks. The sound made both of them look up.

"We need to talk."

Kimiko's fingers tightened around her teacup. Natalia went very still beside me.

"Satori—"

"No." I pushed my chair back. Stood. Walked around the table to where Natalia sat frozen, her eyes wide. I held out my hand.

Natalia stared at my hand like it was a live grenade.

I kept it extended. Waited.

She took it.

Her fingers were ice cold and trembling. I pulled her to her feet, keeping our hands joined. Turned to face Kimiko with Natalia at my side.

Kimiko had gone pale. Her teacup rattled against the saucer as she set it down.

"What are you doing?"

"Telling you the truth." I looked directly into her eyes. Those warm hazel eyes that had looked at me with so much love when Satori was just a fat kid who couldn't tie his own shoes.

"I love her."

The Liar's Brooch stayed cool.

Because I meant it.

All this time, I'd been so focused on the plan, on the manipulation, on building my empire, that I'd missed the most obvious truth staring me in the face.

I loved Natalia Kuzmina.

Not as a chess piece. Not as my keystone or my queen or any of the other titles I'd assigned her.

I loved her.

The silence stretched. Natalia's hand squeezed mine so hard I thought my bones would crack. Her breath came in shallow gasps. She was staring at me like she'd never seen me before.

Kimiko opened her mouth. Closed it. Her eyes were suddenly bright with tears.

"You... you love her." Her voice cracked. "You're telling me you're in love with your sister."

"Yes."

One word. Clean and simple and completely devastating.

Natalia made a small sound beside me, something between a sob and a gasp.

I kept talking. The words came easier than they should have.

"I know it's wrong. I know what the world would do to us if they knew. I know every reason this is a terrible idea." I looked at Natalia, at the purple eyes swimming with tears, at the girl who'd gone from hating me to being the only person in this world I actually gave a shit about. "That's why I tried to push her away. Why we... staged that fight. I thought if I could be cold to her, if I could find someone else, maybe it would go away."

The brooch remained cool.

Because the fear was real. The desire to protect what we'd built was real. I was just twisting the timeline, making it seem like love came first and ambition second, when the truth was messier.

Kimiko pressed a hand to her mouth. A tear escaped, tracking down her cheek.

"Satori..."

"But it won't go away." I turned fully to Natalia now. Her face was a mess of conflicting emotions. Shock. Joy. Fear. "I'm done fighting it."

I brought her hand to my lips, pressed a kiss to her knuckles. She trembled.

"So this is my promise. To both of you." I looked back at Kimiko. "I will become so strong that the world's opinion won't matter. I'll build something where the Nakano name means power, not scandal. I will become worthy of her. Not because some arbitrary social standard says so. Because I'll be strong enough to protect her from every consequence of choosing me."

The brooch was ice against my chest.

Every. Single. Word. Was. True.

This was the core of everything. Strip away the schemes and the system and the gods playing puppet master, and this was what remained. I wanted to be strong enough that no one could take her from me. That simple.

Kimiko covered her face with both hands. Her shoulders shook.

The Red-Hot Habanero was nowhere to be seen. This was just a mother watching her son make a choice that would scar him forever.

"What about Luka?" Her voice broke on his name. "Satori, what am I supposed to tell him? He asks me about you two every day. He sees you together. He's not blind. When he figures it out..." She shook her head. "He's a good man. The best man. He doesn't deserve this deception."

There it was. The kill shot. The one argument I couldn't counter with pretty words about love and kingdoms.

Because she was right.

Luka deserved better than this.

I opened my mouth. Closed it. For the first time in this entire conversation, I had no answer.

And then Natalia spoke.

"We won't tell him."

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