Chapter 47 - 45

Aurelia didn’t want the porridge anymore. At first, she had planned to eat it regardless. After all, she would be wasting food if she didn’t, and she already felt bad enough about everything happening around her without adding wasted food to the list. But no matter how much she tried, the spoon simply wouldn’t enter her mouth. Even the smell that had seemed comforting earlier was beginning to make her stomach turn again.

She looked up from the bowl and glanced between Nicolas and Darius, who were sitting on opposite sides of Darius’ study table, both staring at the letter in front of them as if contemplating its contents rather than just opening it.

"Oh my God! Just open the damn thing," Clover said sharply, getting up from her seat beside Aurelia. "Heavens! I should have gone with Diane instead of watching you two."

Aurelia snickered as she watched Clover walk towards the window, clearly done with both of them. She placed the bowl down on the table beside where she had been sitting and rubbed her palms against her coat before looking back at the two men.

"Well, when do you two plan to open this?" she asked, getting to her feet. "What is the Hallowed Moon Pack, anyways?"

Darius sighed, finally lifting his eyes from the letter. "It’s my birth pack," he said as he looked around his desk for something, his brows drawing together when he couldn’t seem to find whatever he was searching for.

"Birth pack?" Aurelia’s brows knitted together. "Why aren’t you there then? Were you banished or something?"

"No. We left," Nicolas answered.

Aurelia looked at Clover, and the two exchanged a look.

There was something about the way Nicolas had said it that made Aurelia feel like there was more to the story than that. Darius had gone back to searching through the things on his desk, but his expression had changed. The casual annoyance from earlier was gone, replaced with something almost sad.

She glanced at the unopened letter again. "So your entire family is there?"

Darius stopped searching for a moment and looked at her. "My family?"

"Well, your birth pack," Aurelia said, gesturing towards the letter. "I’m assuming you didn’t just grow up there alone."

Nicolas leaned back slightly in his chair, his eyes moving between them. "He didn’t."

Darius shot him a look.

"What?" Nicolas asked, looking completely unbothered. "She asked."

Aurelia folded her arms. "Apparently I have to interrogate Nicolas to get any information from you."

Darius gave a quiet sigh and finally found what he had been looking for beneath one of the files. "My family isn’t the reason I left"

Nicolas gave him a look, "Yes they are."

Aurelia’s expression softened slightly. "They are?"

Darius didn’t answer immediately. He picked up the letter and turned it over between his fingers, studying the seal on the back without opening it.

"We’ll talk about it."

Aurelia raised a brow. "So we’re never going to talk about this?"

"I knew you’d understand."

She stared at him for a moment before shaking her head. "You’re impossible."

"And yet I am the father of your child."

Aurelia rolled her eyes, resisting the urge to whack that little smugness out if him.

Clover turned away from the window. "Okay enough flirting you two."

"We aren’t flirting," Aurelia and Darius said at almost the same time.

Nicolas snorted. "Look they’re in sync"

Darius looked down at the letter again, his thumb brushing over the sealed edge. Whatever was inside had clearly unsettled him more than he wanted to show, and Aurelia noticed it.

"Just open it," she said more quietly.

Darius glanced at her.

For a few seconds, neither of them moved.

Darius sighed, grabbing the paper knife and carefully tearing open the seal. The sound of the paper breaking through the wax seemed strangely loud in the quiet study, and everyone watched as he pulled out the letter and unfolded it.

The next few seconds were tense.

Then Darius’s eyes moved over the first few lines, and the tension in his face suddenly eased.

"Oh, it’s from Lia," he said with a small laugh.

Nicolas immediately rose from his chair and leaned over the desk to see the letter. "Your sister sent you a letter?"

"Sister?" Aurelia and Clover asked at the same time, both staring at him with slightly widened eyes.

Darius looked up, clearly confused by their reaction. "Yes. My twin sister."

"You have a twin sister?!" Aurelia blurted out.

He nodded as if he hadn’t dropped a random family member on him and continued reading. Aurelia remained where she stood, one hand resting over her belly as she watched him. Darius had a twin sister? Somehow, after everything she thought she knew about him, there was still so much she didn’t.

"Oh, she’s having a baby and wants me to be there..." Darius said softly, the small smile returning to his face.

Nicolas suddenly snatched the letter from his hand. "Dahlia is having a baby?" he asked, his eyes moving quickly over the words as he read.

Aurelia’s attention went back to Darius. He was smiling, but there was something sad about it now. His eyes had lowered, and his shoulders had become tense beneath his shirt. He looked happy about the news, but at the same time, it was almost as if the letter had placed something heavy on him.

Aurelia frowned and walked towards him, leaning against the edge of the table. "What’s wrong?"

Darius looked up at her and dragged a hand over his face before letting out a quiet groan. "It’s been so long since I saw my sister."

"Mm... twelve years," Nicolas said from the other side of the desk, still reading the letter while Clover leaned closer to read it with him.

Aurelia looked between them. "And...?"

Darius was quiet for a moment.

"I can’t go back."

Aurelia’s brows pulled together. "Why? You said you weren’t banished."

Darius nodded slowly, his eyes falling back to the letter in Nicolas’s hands. "I wasn’t... well, not officially." His voice had changed, losing the amusement it had carried moments earlier. "But my father didn’t want me."

The words settled heavily in the room, and Aurelia’s expression softened as she watched him.

Aurelia stayed quiet for a moment. She knew what he meant, how he felt, after all, her own mother had once threatened to scorch her with a fireball. She glanced over at Nicolas, who was now done reading the letter and had set it back on the desk.

"What is she like?" Aurelia asked.

"Stubborn," Darius said with a laugh.

"Annoying," Nicolas continued, and Aurelia looked at him. "Darius spoiled her so much."

"Well, I had to," Darius said, his smile fading slightly as he looked down "It was just us in that house."

"And you left her?"

That made him pause. Darius dragged a hand through his hair, looking frustrated and tired all at once. "I did." The guilt in his voice was impossible to miss.

Aurelia shifted herself into the space between his desk and him, forcing him to look up at her. For a moment, she simply studied his face before speaking.

"She wrote you a letter saying she wanted you there. Think of all the things you’ve missed. Do you really want to miss this?"

Darius lowered his head, his fingers tightening slightly around the letter. "No..."

Aurelia reached up and gently lifted his face with both hands, her palms resting against his cheeks. "Then don’t."

His eyes met hers again.

"I don’t want to miss this," Darius admitted quietly.

For a moment, they simply looked at each other. The noise of Nicolas shifting through the papers and Clover asking him to stop faded into background as Darius held her gaze.

Then his expression changed slightly.

"And what happens here?"

Aurelia blinked. "Here?"

"The pack. The farms. Everything that’s happening." His gaze dropped briefly to her stomach before returning to her face. "I can’t exactly leave here while half the pack is still rebuilding."

Aurelia gave him a small smile. "You have people for that." She turned her head towards Nicolas. "Nico can do it."

"What?" Nicolas immediately looked up.

Aurelia ignored him.

Darius gave a quiet laugh, but he didn’t argue. Instead, he took Aurelia’s bandaged hands from his face and held them gently between his palms. He lowered his head and pressed a soft kiss against her fingertips before looking back up at her.

"Come with me."

Aurelia smiled, the answer coming easily this time. "Of course."

Darius’s expression softened, like he hadn’t been completely sure she would say yes until that moment. His fingers tightened gently around hers, careful of the bandages covering her palms.

"Good," he murmured, a small smile returning to his face. "Then we’ll leave as soon as you’re ready."

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