"All the world’s a stage, And all the n and won rely players."
***
I let my knees give out.
The stone courtyard t them with a sharp crack that I didn’t have to pretend hurt. The fall scraped my trousers giving bloody knees. It didn’t matter, the look on Leo’s face was totally worth it.
His speech was stopped before it could even think of starting.
Good. Keep that confusion going, golden boy.
"Cousin, I... I can’t deny what I’ve done."
My voice ca out rough. Higher than I’d ant it to. More pathetic. The terror was real, the absurdity was real, and it all bled into every word without having to try very hard.
Even better. thod acting at its finest.
"I’ve been a disgrace to my family na. To my station. To everything my ancestors built." I let my shoulders shake. Let tears gather in my eyes. Not difficult, considering I was kneeling in the dirt in front of a guy who’d been planning to hospitalize . "I don’t know what’s wrong with . I see a pretty girl and I just... I lose control. Like so kind of animal."
Marcel shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Elena take a half-step back, her upper lip curling like she’d just noticed a bad sll. Even Gareth, the human siege weapon, looked away like he wanted to be literally anywhere else.
Leo stared down at . I watched his righteous fury leak out of him like air from a popped balloon. This wasn’t in the script. Villains weren’t supposed to do this.
"You... admit to it?"
He sounded genuinely lost. It was kind of satisfying, honestly.
"How could I not?" I wrapped my arms around myself, curling into a ball of misery. "You’re right to be disgusted with . Everyone should be. I’m weak. I’m worthless. I’m everything a noble shouldn’t be. I bring sha to the Leone na every ti I draw breath."
Co on. Where’s your heroic speech now? Pretty hard to lecture soone about morality when they’ve already condemned themselves harder than you ever could.
"I keep telling myself I’ll change. That I’ll be better. That tomorrow will be different." I let out a sob that bounced off the courtyard walls. "But then I see soone like Arlle and I just..." I shook my head. "I know I don’t deserve forgiveness. I know I should be punished. But please, cousin. Help be better. Guide . I need soone strong to show the right path because I can’t find it on my own."
The silence stretched. Sowhere in the distance, birds were singing. Soone’s feet shuffled against stone.
Leo looked like soone had handed him instructions in a language he’d never seen before. His friends weren’t doing any better. This wasn’t how the scene was supposed to go. The villain was supposed to snarl. Fight back. Give the hero sothing to punch.
Not collapse into a crying ss on the ground.
"You’re..." Leo started, then stopped. His hand drifted toward his sword hilt. Old habit. Protagonist instinct. Then it dropped away again, the gesture unfinished. "You’re pathetic."
There we go. Let the disgust build. Let it override your hero complex. You can’t righteously beat soone who’s already beaten themselves.
"I know," I whispered. Small voice. Broken voice. "I know I am. I hate myself for it. Every morning I wake up and promise myself I’ll be different. That today I’ll finally be the man my father wanted to be." I swallowed. "But then I just disappoint everyone again. I disappoint myself."
Elena made a noise in the back of her throat. Revulsion. Like she’d stepped in sothing gross. Marcel was actively scowling now, his face twisted up like my display had personally offended him. So unwritten noble code about how you were supposed to handle public confrontations, probably. Even Gareth looked uncomfortable, and that guy probably had the emotional range of a friendly brick.
Leo took a step back. Disgust on his face, sure. But also sothing else. Disappointnt, maybe. Like I’d robbed him of sothing.
You bet I did. I robbed you of your hero mont, golden boy. Sue .
"Stand up."
I stayed where I was. Hunched over on cold stone. Arms wrapped around myself.
"I don’t deserve to stand in your presence, cousin. Not after what I’ve done. Not when you’re everything I should be and I’m..." I gestured vaguely at my own pathetic self. "This."
"Stand. Up." An edge to his voice now. Not quite anger. Close to it. Frustration at having the script torn up in front of him.
I got to my feet slowly. Made sure to wobble. Made sure to sway like standing was almost too much effort. Kept my eyes on the ground, shoulders curled forward, the picture of a man who’d already given up.
Leo looked at for a long ti. It was as if he was trying to solve an equation with the wrong formula.
Then he shook his head. Slowly. Almost sadly.
"You’re not worth the effort."
He turned to walk away. His entourage followed. For one beautiful second, I thought I’d actually pulled it off.
Then Leo paused with his back still to .
Shit, looks like I’m not getting away completely clean.
Of course. Couldn’t let get away completely clean, could you?
He stepped back and shoved which sent my stumbling backwards on my already shaky legs.
I let myself fall. Hit the stone again. This crack was worse than the first one. Fresh pain shot through my hip and elbow. Sothing wet spread under my shirt. More blood, probably.
I stayed down. Committed to the bit.
"Get cleaned up Kaelen and stay away from the servants. If I hear about another incident..."
He didn’t finish. Didn’t need to.
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