All I Am

Chapter 2

Cassius nodded. "I'm letting her sleep in."

"And she wouldn't let Maria help?"

Cassius shook his head.

"Maybe you could talk to Iris about it? Or Avouelle. She doesn't have the same skillset as Iris and Maria, but she is the aether elemental master. She actually might be a better person to ask, because her abilities are-"

Fazia, Cassius, and Alton all looked back at the girls after hearing a loud thud. One of the girls had collapsed on the floor beneath a massive ivy vine snaking its way around the room.

"Tyara! What did I tell you girls about overexerting yourselves!" Fazia scolded, storming back over to the group.

"Are you sure you'll make it to our meeting?" Cassius asked, watching in amusement as Fazia hoisted the unconscious Tyara over her shoulder.

"Happens all the time," Fazia answered nonchalantly. "Because some little birds don't know what it means to take it easy," she said pointedly to the girls, who tried to look innocent. "I'll just find somewhere for her to rest and head up. Girls, you're dismissed for the day."

Cassius watched as the girls scattered, giggling. He brushed his hand against a blue flower next to him, remembering when Safania had produced the same kind of blooms after one particularly intimate night they spent together.

He wanted to make those flowers bloom again.

"Your majesty?" Alton asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.

Cassius turned to find a different guard waiting for him. "Your sisters have arrived, your majesty."

Cassius sighed. He knew this was coming, and he hadn't been looking forward to it. "Can you remind the other elemental masters of our meeting?" he asked Alton.

"Of course, your majesty," Alton responded, bowing and leaving.

Cassius took a deep breath and walked outside, where a beautiful, golden carriage was pulling up. The carriage came to a halt, and a guard stepped forward to open the door.

"Announcing the arrival of Prince Navarre and Princess Ilara of Pitka and Princess Theodora of Ekyan."

Theodora emerged first, and seeing Alterius's sister immediately put Cassius on edge. Technically she was his sister as well, but Theodora and Alterius also shared a mother, making them full siblings. And it showed. She had the same cruel, emotionless expression, the same sharp cheekbones. Cassius had to remind himself that she wasn't her brother. In fact, she had hated Alterius probably the most out of all of them.

Theodora's entrance was interrupted somewhat anticlimactically by having to turn around to tug the rest of her dress out of the carriage. The dress was an absurdly elaborate black gown that looked as though it had taken up the entire carriage. Always fond of her accessories, his sister was also wearing a matching black veil over her face and gloves that extended past her elbows. The contrast of the black against her pale skin and white hair was especially stark.

It had been five years since her husband, Prince Titus, had passed, but she was apparently still wearing mourning clothes. Her attire wouldn't have surprised Cassius if she had been passionately devoted to her husband, but their marriage had by all accounts been a loveless one.

"Theodora," Cassius greeted his first sister, kissing her cheek. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"Don't be ridiculous brother. I moved on before his body was even cold."

"Your apparel suggests otherwise," Cassius replied, confused.

"It keeps the men away," Theodora replied simply. "And as long as I was in mourning, father wasn't going to try marrying me off again. Of course, now that he's dead maybe I can add some color back to my wardrobe. I couldn't celebrate my husband's death, but maybe I can celebrate his."