Chapter 178

"Your father had many regrets in his life," she began. "There were things he wished he had done differently, things he believed he ought to have handled better. One of those regrets was that he had not done more for Simon and his mother. He carried that regret with him until the day he died."

She drew in a calming breath. "When I see Simon struggling, knowing how things have turned out for him, I cannot simply turn away and pretend that his troubles are none of my concern. I know your father would have wanted me to do something for him if he were still alive. I cannot change what happened in the past, but I can at least try to help him now."

She paused, looking at her son with an earnestness that made it difficult to mistake the sincerity of her appeal.

"I know you and Simon have your disagreements, and I know there are reasons for that. I am not asking you to forget everything that has happened between you or to pretend to suddenly care. I am only asking you to put aside your resentment long enough to consider helping him. He is family, Draven, and he needs us."

There was another reason she had brought Simon back, one she had kept to herself until now. But faced with the full force of Draven’s displeasure, Octavia found herself admitting to it.

"I also hoped that things might improve between you two," Octavia confessed. "You used to get along, years ago. I thought that if you spent enough time together, things might return to how they were before. If only you would give him another chance to—"

"That will never happen, mother." He cut her off before she could finish what would be a statement he had heard multiple times from her already. "Please don’t waste your time."

Draven shook his head. He had heard this argument too many times, dressed in different words but always leading to the same conclusion.

Somehow, the burden of making those chances possible always seemed to fall upon him, the burden of forgiveness was always on him, while Simon was permitted to carry on as he pleased.

"If our positions were reversed, would you be making this same argument to him?" he asked. "If I were the one who had squandered opportunities, brought shame on the family, and made a mess of my life, would you be telling Simon to put aside his grievances and help me? Would you even expect him to consider it?"

Octavia frowned. "That is not a fair comparison."

"Is it not?" Draven turned to face her more fully. "Why am I always the one expected to compromise? Why must I be the one to make allowances for his behaviour and sacrifice my own peace of mind for his sake, when I have every reason to believe he would never do the same for me?"

She didn’t understand, Draven thought. It saddened him deeply because she never will.

"You are so determined to dwell on the worst of Simon that you refuse to acknowledge anything good about him." Octavia’s voice grew firmer, frustrated by his obstinacy. "He has done things for this family that you seem determined to forget. Whatever his faults, he is not entirely without good qualities, and I will not pretend otherwise simply because you have no desire to acknowledge them."

A muscle ticked in Draven’s jaw, but he allowed her to continue.

"Five years ago, when Lucien did what he did to poor Lorelei, it was Simon who confronted him first. Simon was the one who stood up to him, and he nearly killed the man for what he had done to her. You cannot tell me that means nothing."

At the mention of Lorelei, Draven’s nostrils flared. His mother’s words had touched upon something raw and painful, a wound that hadn’t quite healed properly.

He had little patience for arguments about Simon’s virtues, and the brief restraint he had managed to maintain began to slip.

"And what, precisely, am I supposed to do with that information?" He hissed, eyes twin pools of anger. "Should we all applaud him because he had the courage to stand up for Lorelei against one of his ilk? Should I be grateful that, for once, he chose to do the right thing rather than be his usual selfish self."

He had never spoken to his mother so harshly before. It simply wasn’t in his nature. He wanted this argument to end, particularly because he disliked how it was stirring up emotions he had long since buried. But now that those feelings had been brought to light, there was no stopping them from spilling out.

His expression darkened further.

Octavia, however, appeared just as unwilling to back down. Mother and son were locked in a silent battle, neither prepared to concede, and neither willing to let the other have the final word.

"I was the one who killed Lucien, Mother. Just so you forgot. Not Simon. I was the one who dealt with him, and I would have done so regardless of whether Simon had ever raised a hand against him. So do not stand here and use Lorelei’s suffering to convince me that Simon deserves some special consideration. His decision to do one decent thing does not erase everything else he has done to me, nor does it make me responsible for putting his life back in order."

Octavia held his gaze, the disappointment in her expression mingling with the sadness she had been trying to keep at bay.

"Do not dare compare Simon to that horrible man. Simon may not be perfect, but he is nothing like Lucien. Nothing like that monster, not after everything he did to Lorelei." She had hoped he might be willing to hear her out, if only because his father’s wishes still held some sway with him. Instead, she had found herself confronting the same bitterness that had divided the cousins for years.

"Simon will leave tomorrow, Mother. I will not have this discussion again."

Octavia heaved a defeated sigh. She knew her son well enough to recognise when he had reached a decision, and deep down, she knew that pressing him further would accomplish little. Yet the thought of sending Simon away after she had finally managed to persuade him to accept her help weighed heavily on her.

She had made a promise to herself that she would not turn her back on him. She could only hope that, in time, Draven might come to understand why she had made the choice she had.

For now, however, her son had made his position unmistakably clear.

While they argued, neither of them noticed Lorelei standing by the entrance, having overheard their entire conversation.

She watched them for a moment longer, her gaze moving between her brother and mother, before finally looking away.

Sadness threatened to overwhelm her, and she closed her eyes briefly to push away most of the negative emotions before opening them again.

Then, without making a sound, she turned and walked away, leaving the two of them on the terrace, still unaware that she had been there.