“She is a guest of the Tomas Family. I owe her because of what had happened in the war. You could say that it is something that I had to do for her.”

“I see. Then, how long will she stay?”

“Until she can settle and become a pilot.”

“Are you doing this to help her?”

“I am.”

She dragged her finger on the surface of her desk. “She is quite a beauty. I’ve heard of news of her status. A deadly woman with a deadly stride. Not only is she a master marksman, she has quite the kill. To have headhunted a battalion worth of soldiers. Have she told you how many she had killed?”

“I have an idea.”

“Then you are keeping a lioness inside your den, brother. I know that you can handle her, but I worry about the times when you are asleep.”

“I’ve already settled that.”

“Oh my, does she plot your end?”

“In a way.”

“Do you want me to?”

“No.”

“Oh my,” her finger stopped moving. She tapped her finger on the surface of the desk, “is it because you think that I cannot handle her?”

“She is still a guest of mine, and she is Lady Bellatrix. I don’t underestimate you capabilities, but she has the instinct, and the aim. She has survived five years in the war, fighting off enemies, and her composure is unmatched when it comes to combat. She had faced ambushes without breaking her face, and I had fought alongside her to understand that she knows how to handle any situation.”

“But she is human,” she moved her finger on the desk, making a circle. “All humans have certain tendencies to be killed so easily.”

“I know. I’ve not met anyone who had dodged a hail of bullets without the use of cover. Nonetheless, she is a guest of the Tomas Family, and is under the protection of the Ancestral House. I won’t tolerate anyone that might harm her while she is in the house.”

She scratched her finger on the desk.

“I was merely asking, my sweetest brother. You must understand that there are talks about the lady in the circles lately. You must not forget how this city is a web of filth and schemes, my brother. There are many rats and birds and as many vultures and leeches as well. There are many who could form a web of lies simply out a single word.”

“And people wonder why I don’t participate in this web of filth. Are you having fun in this filth, Rose?”

“I don’t enjoy killing if that’s what you are asking,” Rose said. “But there are people who angers me. There are those who I tried to reason with, but they do intend to play in this web in hopes that they could climb the highest part of the web. I do not discriminate between parasites and leeches, my brother. I will not discuss philosophical standpoints with you, brother.  And I don’t think that you disagree with my methods. There was a reason that my family and the Tomas were almost bonded by marriage.”

The Tomas respected the strong and the wise. The Tomas family shows respect by evaluating the partner who intends to be bonded to the family. Testing their physical and mental strength in order to create a stronger blood. It was a selective mating that the Strongarm Clans have practiced. Hence only strong men and strong women were allowed in the family. Rose Bradley fit the bill. When Mavin arrived at the Academy, he had met the Patriarch of the Bradley Family, the father of Rose Bradley whose name he doesn’t even want to speak.

There he had met Rose who was prettied up. She walked stiffly and was hiding her bruises. Her speech during those times were refined and flowery and it made him wonder many things about her relationship with her family. Her distaste was clear. She hated Mavin for what he was. Behind that caked up face of her was disdain.

“I remember you hating me.”

She didn’t reply.

When their first meeting was over, when they met in the Academy. She had firmly warned him that she had no interest in him.  That she had no desire to be married to a ‘mountain noble’ who is closer to barbarians more than anyone. It was a rather blatant declaration that Mavin could not care about. He had pursued the ‘boons’ that the city could give him and had focused on strengthening himself for the coming war. Mavin had paid little attention to the Bradley Family until the assassination of the heir. The Falcone family had tried to systematically dismantle each business, associate, and partners of the Bradley Family.

Knowing who she was in the future. Mavin had offered his help to the Bradley Family four times. She had rejected his help four times, and only through constant persuasion that Mavin was able to make her begrudgingly agree to accept his help. During that time, he still commanded the Enforcers of the Tomas Family, and he had used their ‘connection’ as a way to clean the filth of the bosses of the Bradley and Falcone Family. Of course, he knew nothing of the ebony market, and had heavily relied on Old Fred to take care of the cleanup. Mavin had used this ‘problem’ to harden himself. Sooner or later he had to kill someone, and that he needed his boons tested against human opponents. It sickened him. He had killed demifiends in the south of Lazon, but killing his own kind was different.

Mavin had thought to harden himself, but he knew that he couldn’t do that. If he hardened his heart when it comes to killing, his heart would crack. He could only make himself strong enough to endure the act of killing. He didn’t enjoy it. He didn’t relish on it and like Rose had said. He does agree that killing was something that needed to be done to achieve something.

Rose was not by any means foolish. She had made use of Mavin to degrade the Falcone Family, accuse her own family members as the traitors who had done harm to the family, and had them executed alongside the Falcone Family. She had not lifted a finger other than a few times she had almost got herself killed.

“I did,” Rose replied, “but brother had a way of persuasion that made me feel guilty. You didn’t ask for anything. You kept that dull stare of yours on me. Scrutinizing, uninterested, and looking as if I was the most foolish person in the world.”

Mavin knew he was being used. His family was being used to further the ambition of a girl who wanted it all for herself. Even when the minor houses had started coming, they did not match the ferocity of the Lazon Enforcers when it came to battle.  They did not match the wrath of the good men of Lazon who had gone to battle.

“And most of the time you played nice. You agreed to my requests, and at the same time you had made use of my family as well to further the reach of the Tomas Family in this side of the business.”

Mavin reminded everyone of the fear that they had for the Tomas Family. Honestly, he didn’t have to do anything considering the reputation that his predecessors had kept, he was riding on the shoulders of giants, and Mavin didn’t let go of that advantage. When they had started to plot against the Bradley Family despite knowing the family who was watching the backs of the Bradley Family, they had already let themselves known as a group that held no regard for the Tomas Family.

The Falcone dared and thus he had to remind them who they were. Old Fred had done his best to make them fear the name of the Tomas Family.  Even Old Fred is more feared than respected in the ebony market for what they had done eight years ago in the City. It was Mavin’s wish and because of this wish, the ebony market was reminded of the reason why the Tomas and the Strongarm Clans barely participate in the High Society, knowing that if they do participate, they would create another faction in the High Society.

Rose knew that her victory was secured when she had gathered the help of the Tomas Family. But as the Falcone Family was beaten down, she had felt that there was something amiss on how smooth everything was. Though she did gather the help of the Tomas Family, she didn’t have the loyalties of the men that were subdued by the Tomas Family. Every business and rackets that they own were now owned by the Tomas Family. She had been distracted by the sheer pleasure of seeing her plans fulfilled that she had forgotten the business side of things.

The Tomas Family had enacted retribution, but as they did, they had pillaged everything that they had owned.

“I despise you for that, but who knew that you would do that?”

Knowing that she had tried to fool them. She had confronted them. Vented her rage in front of Mavin and Old Fred who held with no emotion in their faces.

“We shall return the titles and businesses that the Bradley Family have. Of course, we are expecting a cut from the portion of the businesses that the Miss shall have. You are young. But you are not ready,” Old Fred reminded. “You shall study under the care of Countess Elma, and shall be taught on how to handle your family.”

“I do not need it!”

“Silence, child,” he recalled Old Fred reprimanding Rose that day, “you are a clever girl who knows how to use the tools at your disposal, but you do not know the scope of your choices. You will learn from the Countess and from her you will have to be better.”

“Is that it? All of this assistance, so I can marry into the Tomas Family?”

“Marry?” Mavin said. “You are free, Rose Bradley. You have made your choice already.”

“I didn’t know what to say that day,” Rose said, recalling that day. “During the years in the Academy, you remained by my side. You had treated me with care and yet I didn’t understand. In the end, I was nothing more than another person that you had deemed to help. Just like Rene, Kristine, and the few that you bothered to help. Countess Elma had tutored me for five years, teaching me what I should know, and how to rule like she does. She was more of a mother to me than the pathetic excuse of a woman that had given birth to me. And yet not once she had shown favoritism or care, nor did she push me into becoming your wife. I then realized that in the first place, it was all a test.”

Mavin didn’t deny it.

“I cherished everything that you have done for me, sweetest brother. Every kindness and help that you had offered is nothing compared to the wealth that I had to pay the Tomas Family. Nonetheless, I worry about Lady Natalya Wilde being in the house.”

“Why? She can take care of herself.”

“I know she can. But I am talking about that tendency of yours, my sweetest brother. Forgive me for saying this, I must tell this truth before anything else. But you have this tendency to barge in people’s lives even though they want nothing from you. You force yourself in, break the walls of their hearts and make them rely on you. In the process you tear their hearts, wounding them, leaving them reliant and wounded to that kindness that you have spoiled them with.  Once you are done with their hearts, you leave without looking back, uncaring to what you have done. You enter the precious parts of their feelings, break them down into many pieces, then proceed not to care about such things after. As if it was nothing more than another ‘thing’ that you crossed on your list.”

She mercilessly said, keeping a smile on her face. Her fingers pressed on the surface of the desk.