I swallowed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Everyone heard it, but no one dared to comment. Roman might be the only one in the family who could meet Hades\u2018 eyes. They were blood brothers, same father, same mother.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His gaze landed on me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For a second, I thought he was going to glance away like he always did, like I was no more than a flicker of something unimportant, but he smirked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOh. If it isn\u2019t my son,\u201d he said, voice low, amused. \u201cYou\u2019ve grown.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I blinked, surprised. My throat felt dry. I sat a little straighter. \u201cYes, sir. It\u2019s good to see you after so many years.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hades leaned back in his chair. \u201cYears? I don\u2019t think it\u2019s been that long since we last met.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I paused.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Was he joking?\u00a0<\/p>\n
The last time I saw him was when I was twenty. I remember it clearly because it was the first and only time we met. But the way he said it now made my stomach turn.\u00a0<\/p>\n
No way.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Could Father have been at the masquerade party?\u00a0<\/p>\n
My thoughts were spinning when Grandfather\u2019s wife suddenly said. \u201cHello, I\u2019m Sofia.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I turned to look at her. She was beautiful and elegant. Any other time I\u2019d have noticed the way she smiled, like someone used to charming powerful men. But Father didn\u2019t even look at her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He nodded once, and turned to Grandfather. \u201cNow that I\u2019ve made my appearance,\u201d he said, voice clipped with boredom, \u201clet\u2019s get to the point. I came to sign the contract. Let\u2019s get it over with.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Grandfather kept chewing, taking his time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen are you getting married?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
My entire body tensed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
2\/4\u00a0<\/p>\n
get you a stepenother soon son\u00a0<\/p>\n
Here it goes again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That damn conversation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
+25 Bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
Everyone knew that whenever Grandfather and father were in the same room, the discussion would circle back to one thing: marriage. Specifically, Hades\u2018 refusal to settle down and produce an heir.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPiper and Robert are married with kids. But you and Roman are the oldest, and neither of you can find a wife and settle down. I can understand Roman, at least he doesn\u2019t sleep around. But you\u2019re reckless, and irresponsible. You jump from one woman to the next with zero accountability. You can\u2019t even give me a wife, let alone a grandchild.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
My father leaned back in his chair, fingers steepling beneath his chin.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My uncle, ever the snake, said, \u201cFather, you shouldn\u2019t rush Hades like that. There might be a reason he doesn\u2019t want to settle down. And besides\u2026\u201d He turned slightly, his gaze grazing over me like I was nothing more than a convenient pawn. \u201cHe adopted Matthew already. That makes him your grandchild, doesn\u2019t it?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I felt the burn of my grandfather\u2019s eyes lock on me. He tolerated me, yes. But it was because I was useful. Because I worked hard. Because I delivered results. But he never accepted me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was just the adopted grandson, after all.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I clenched my jaw, trying to hold back my anger.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou want me to get a wife?\u201d Father said. \u201cFine. I\u2019ll get a wife.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The room was shocked. Even Alec, who usually didn\u2019t flinch at anything, blinked like someone had hit him between the eyes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Grandfather straightened in his chair. \u201cWhat?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Father rose to his feet. \u201cI said, I\u2019ll get a wife, and a grandchild. Soon.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
What the hell?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Piper leaned forward. \u201cWho is she, brother?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alec muttered, barely audible. \u201cDon\u2019t tell me\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I glanced sideways at him, frowning. Why did he sound worried? Before I could ask, Hades raised a hand. Alec, like clockwork, placed a document in it. My devil of a father strode over to the other end of the table, eyes on my grandfather, and dropped the file in front of him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSign it,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ll get it back later.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He turned to me, and smirked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll get you a stepmother soon, son,\u201d Hades said, turning away as Alec trailed behind him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My blood ran cold.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Why did something that should sound normal feel so terrifying?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nights Burn With Regret \u2014 by Nathan Perez 27 I swallowed.\u00a0 Everyone heard it, but no one dared to comment. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-craving-the-guardian-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27943\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}