Chapter Six:
Esme's POV
Meeting new people wasn't always easy for me. I wasn't necessarily scared but I wondered what opinions they'd have of me. Their first impressions mattered a lot.
Having no wolf to detect, I couldn't show off a rank or use mind-link like most girls to share gossip. I just walked with my oddly enthralling eye bags and dangerously optimistic strong arms to any occasion. Uncle said those were passed down to me by my female ancestors.
However for these brothers— stronger entities who were more amazing than I could be— I didn't know how to act even if I was their Mistress. Fate was a jester.
The boy looked back at me when nothing happened. "Don't be worried. They're currently not in the right mind so only their totems would greet you to complete the ritual."
"What does that mean?"
"Hmm… the curse?"
My eyes widened. Hadn't that part been a side-plot Uncle made up when I pestered him to change something about the story?
When the Princes would go berserk after living one century without their Mistress to balance their Sins with their 'Willful Grace'. An equivalent for the Humanity humans possessed, and the Bond with all under the moon the werewolves had.
I was to be the one to start that balance. Somehow. I scratched my head. Perhaps it was time to ask the important questions. Like how my ancestor attained a contract with ancient immortals and what retirement would look like?
"I would bleed on the totems and call their current given names, then shall be bound by blood and name, by will and duty… or whatever Uncle had said back then."
The boy chuckled, but nodded. It seemed my uncle had experienced it when my parents consolidated the ritual. The story he told felt grounded now as I walked to seven pillars coming to view.
"What exactly would I be doing for them?"
"Stabilization."
"How exactly?"
"You'd see after the ritual. They'd come to you after, or else, they are a little 'proud' to come to you when you know their weakness and they're still unstable."
They had a weakness? The excitement for this whole thing rose again.
"Do I have to do this, though?" a question that had been at the back of my head.
So far, there hasn't been anything I get to lose other than freedom for the responsibility, but it came with perks. If I didn't want to do any of it, would I be chastised?
"You do."
I replayed those words in my head to sense any hostility or anger, but it was rather resigned. This child wasn't giving me anything. He was obviously far older than his years. I nodded, grabbing the small dagger I was with. "Bleed on the totems…"
I walked to one of them that had a small gold clock. "His name is… Ninth Knight of the Gold Coral, Son of Janimion, the eighth, Phae—" I slapped my mouth closed.
What just happened? I wanted to ask what his name was but started quoting a noble's lineage?
The young boy looked shocked, streaks of red on his cheeks. He stepped back. "I'm sorry. I don't associate myself with the oldest. Say the names he charmed on the totem. My youngest uncles didn't charm them so I could quote their current names to you." He looked wary of this brother.
I released my mouth and rattled on about a half a minute, before dropping my blood on the totem. My eyes widened when it soaked in like paper, and cracked.
I felt bad. That clock looked expensive. The ground shook and the pillar descended to the floor. That was done, I guess. Quite uneventful. I breathed in and matched to the second. A red ruby laid on it.
"Would I do all these without having any one of them here? This is boring me."
"I could call their knights but just like me, they're merely incarnates of the Sins. The Sins are currently not their best."
The more he spoke of their instability, the more I felt guilty that I was the cure for it. Three months ago, my biggest regret was not punching that noble who called my Uncle a dismissed castrated eunuch who lived in a village without a wife. Now, I realized that these Seven Brothers whose fate was bound to my will had been suffering for long.
"Don't be confused, my lady."
I turned to the boy. " About what?"
"You feel guilty now because of the ritual you completed with the first. You have no responsibility to them. You're of high birth after all."
I looked at the pillar that had now integrated with the ground. So that's why I felt guilty? I was beginning to understand their pain. I huffed. "That made sense. After all, I didn't necessarily ask for this." I dropped blood on the ruby and waited for names to get into my lips. Nothing.
"My second uncle is quite polite. He doesn't mind being called anything. His ruby would react to it as long as you stand before it."
"Oh. I call it Ruby then?" The blood soaked in. I didn't even complete the chant. Was this politeness or desperation? I cleared my throat as it started its descent. A broken piece of the ruby fell and I wondered if I was allowed to take some. That would earn me a lot.
I went to the third and it felt familiar.
"That brother goes by 'The Third, Grandus Gone Great'." The boy sighed, rubbing his head. "I hurt to tell you, but he's also the one who shamed himself before you."
I smiled, feeling oddly glad to meet him. I could tell already, as his totem was a piece of silver necklace. He loved his jewelry, and liked them being silver.
"Grandus Gone Great. Braggart." I dropped my blood on it and my face straightened when the necklace broke and its colors faded. I stepped to the next.
"This is depressing."
"Should I stand by your side?"
How would that make it less depressing? "What is your name, or can I call you anything I wish?"
"Sora. I was named by my father."
He never hesitated to remind me that he wasn't one of the brothers. That amused me. "Come here, Sora."
He hurried, being more excited than I expected. "This brother is Gillian. Or no, I believe he changed his name for this occasion." He looked up, thinking. "The Fourth, Glendis Grows Great. It's as silly as his twin brother, the Third."
Grandus had a twin brother? I held his molded coral cup in both hands and when it broke, it wasn't a mess, just in clean two.
"Hm, thoughtful." I replaced it when the pillar descended and then I noticed the third pillar also descended with it. I glanced at Dora for an explanation and he chuckled.
"They are twins bound at birth. Do not think much of it."
Is that so? "Then three more—"
I paused. The fifth pillar had nothing on it. Sora stared at it in surprise then annoyance. He dropped his hands that had been hugging his tiger teddy. "I'd inform my father of this insolence. Should I heal your hand while you wait?"
So this was on purpose? The fifth brother didn't want to be stable? "Um… it's alright." It would be grossly uneventful if all brothers were compliant anyway.
Sora stepped into the darkness beyond the pillars and disappeared. I still heard the jingle of his butterfly pins moving as he did. Should I just skip this one? The next one had a… hilariously large feather. Perhaps, Sora's father.
I chuckled, finding everything funny. "This was like presenting your best work to your instructor and getting marks, but then one doesn't bring anything." I remembered how that one had been Levine. He had cried his eyes out till his grandmother brought it along. He loyally confessed his undying love to her that day.
I heard another jingling of bangles and metallic ornaments. Those movements had a sway. I tilted my head. That's not Sora. The steps were heavier as well.
An item floated from the darkness to the fifth pillar but slipped and spilled on me. I gasped, staring at the black liquid that just soiled my toes and sandals.
"Oh my, my hands slipped." It was a female voice with a husky undertone.
"Uncle!" It was Sora.
Uncle? The voice I heard wasn't very 'uncle'. The person returned to the darkness, leaving the rather chipped ceramic cup on the ground. "Apologies, Mistress." the voice said again, huskier than before.
He left after such a half-hearted apology? My fists clenched. He's being insolent and whether or not he felt he should respect me, I didn't deserve to be insulted. Sora ran to pick it up and carefully dropped it on the pillar. "So provoking. Don't mind—"
I slapped the cup to the ground, but it didn't break. "You, Fifth bone-head! Come and pick it up. Bring a rag to clean my feet as well, or else, I'd move from you and go to the Sixth. And I'd never finish it."
Sora held my arm. "No, please—"
"Now!" I glared at the darkness.
Who did he think he was? Perhaps insanely gorgeous, taller, and stronger than me, BUT THAT'S IT!