Meredith Whitefyre Pov

‘Than cretin. That cur. That…..that child. Who does he think he is? Just because he did a little thing he-’

“Mother.” I turned to look at Alister, his blonde hair and blue eyes reminding me of someone.

‘Tsk, he really took after that throwaway father of his and passed it off to his children.’ We were now in his study in the estate he built on this land after the whole ordeal with...him. 

“Yes, son?” I looked briefly in his direction before I started pacing. 

‘And what the hell is that stupid emperor thinking, giving a viable and large territory along with a high noble title to a child, and a bastard at that. Does he not value the nobility anymore? I’ll have to inform brother of the disrespect I-’

“You cannot antagonize him, mother.” I snapped my head in his direction. 

“What do you mean by that?” I was angry, incensed really. 

“You cannot create problems for-”

“Have you become a coward!? Bending so easily at the first sight of aggression!? Just because he has a little power you would disregard your mother for that cretin of a-”

“He is my son!” I was startled. 

“He is my son, and you are my mother. We will not have a war in this family.” He turned to look outside the window. 

“One of my children has succeeded in becoming self-sufficient while building a legacy. I will not allow his own family to be his downfall.” My eyes narrowed further as he continued to speak. 

‘Foolish boy, the day you had children with a second woman was the day you initiated the war yourself. I should know, I had to kill some of my half siblings. Well, a softer touch then.’ I sighed lightly.

“Maybe I’ve been a touch rough. We never did try to build a relationship with the boy so his aggressive stance is understandable.” I walked over to my son and lightly stroked his back. 

“You did well in raising your children, why else would they all be so accomplished in their own ways? We can just take it slow. Have some of your more idle children come and start a business here to enlarge the family wealth. The Rockwell family will of course pitch in to grow the wealth in this new territory. I’m sure Solis will help when he can, wont he?” I looked at him with a soft smile as he smiled back at me. 

“Yes mother.”

‘You silly oaf. Just do as mummy says.’ 

Alister Whitefyre Pov.

‘Mother, still trying to control the finances of the whitefyre family even from the outside looking in. If I’m not careful, we will be gobbled up by the Rockwells.’ I thought as I smiled down at my mother. 

“So, who will be taking over as the branch family head here, and what business will they start with?” She asked me in a singsong voice. 

‘Let’s start with some crumbs and go from there.’

“We acquired some land in the beginning phases and are already building up stores to be rented. I’ll select someone among the children at a later date.” I said conversationally.

“Oh? Should we get some of our contacts to handle the management? It's going to be a lot of work to handle all of that property and there are a lot of people I can get in contact with.” She asked lightly, as if she wasn’t just going in for the kill.

‘I might as well.’

“That would be very helpful, thank you mother.” She waved her hand at me.

“Think nothing of it dear, of course we will split the profit 50-50 between the Whitefyre and the Rockwell. I’ll contact my brother right now to get things going.” She turned and left. As soon as she exited the room, the smile on my face dropped. 

‘After all these years, she still lusts for the Whitefyre fortune. And would you look at that, she conveniently forgot the cost of the land we bought. Well, this would be a good test for whoever I put in charge of this.’ I closed my eyes.

‘And Solis…’ I looked out the window.

‘I knew that look in his eyes. I, myself, had that same look when I emotionally checked out of the relationship between myself and my mother. Now it's just a veneer, a facsimile of what our relationship once was. And that is the direction the relationship between me and Solis was going.’ I chuckled to myself.

 “If we even had one to begin with.” I murmured to myself. 

I knew that I only started to pay attention when he did something outstanding. He had to shine far and above the rest for me to look his way and I never knew why that was. 

‘No, I know why.’ 

He reminds me of his mother. She was one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen and the only woman I could claim that I might have loved, and he took her from me. He took the love of my life and-

‘Heheheh, it wasn’t love, it was lust.’ I told myself the harsh truth. 

I just lusted after her intensely at first sight and that made me do something uncharacteristic, buy a slave. We had some fun times, and I did enjoy her company, but that was all. It never progressed to the stage of love and if I’m being honest, I started to tire of her. It all felt too one note, our relationship that is, and the adulation from her for removing her from slavery and giving her a life she could only dream of got old very fast. So when the news broke that the result from our union resulted in her death, I felt….nothing. No, I felt a little relieved. 

‘I just wanted to use love as an excuse to hate the boy, then maybe I would be justified in ignoring him but no, I’m just my father’s son. I paid attention when he became useful.’ I laughed to myself at the irony. 

‘I use my children’s battle for the headship as entertainment, I starve them of affection and give them little dots of my approval here and there to make my praise seem so important. I really am a selfish piece of shit.’ I kept laughing to myself. 

‘I really am my father’s son.’