𝐒𝐲𝐧 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐌𝐞┃𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐎𝐧𝐞

-Chapter 4-

The dining room remained silent after my son denied the treaty and left. I knew it wasn't fair of us to spring it on him like that, but I was hoping he would care enough to consider it. I guess Lucifer's guidance didn't change him as much as I had hoped it would.

Julius snapped his head at me and pointed his finger in my direction. "That son of yours is out of control."

"Don't speak about him like that. We just brought it up out of nowhere," I grumbled. "He owes nothing to us, and stands to gain nothing from this so--,"

"He must get that from Lucifer," Jonathan scoffed with a small huff of laughter, his wife and daughter giggling along with him.

"Excuse you?" I voiced.

"Gen," Julius warned, his voice drawing out my name as if I was a child he was preparing to scold.

"No, I'd like to hear this." I laughed along with my words to reduce the awkwardness from Julius's glare in front of everyone, and I turned back to the Upperworlders, ready to hear them talk down on my boyfriend. "What did you mean, Jonathan? He must get what from his father?"

"His desire to gain something from every transaction," he quipped. "Those people can't ever do anything simply because it is the right thing to do."

"Those people?"

"Genesis," Julius called again, his voice warning me to stand down.

"I'm not going to say anything." I shrugged towards Julius. I turned back to Jonathan, biting my tongue from spewing all of my vile thoughts, and tapped my fingers against the red tablecloth of the table, creating a rhythm that was clearly heard throughout the silent room. "As a man of the cloth such as yourself, Jonathan...I'm sure you've heard that proverb with the rocks and glass houses?"

"People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones!" Mia interjected.

"That one!" I snapped my fingers, sending a slight nod at Mia who beamed in response. "You live in a glasshouse, your highness. A house that we can clearly see-through, but we will all sit here and act as though we're blind to who you truly are if that will calm the feathers on those bird wings of yours."

I felt Julius's hand grip my thigh from underneath the table at my words and I sucked in a painful breath before picking up the wine glass in front of me. I glanced towards Julius whose face remained neutral as if he didn't have a hold on me, and cleared my throat. "I'd like to propose a toast." I turned to the royal family once again. "A toast to our peace..."

They side-eyed one another before slowly raising their glasses, and a forced grin spread across lips. "...and a toast to you all never bringing up Lucifer or Syn as casual talk again. I happen to be a lot scarier than them given the right motivation." I downed the drink, ignoring the tightening on my thigh. Julius knew better than to hurt me, but sometimes his ego let him forget who I was. A good reminder when the time was appropriate would make him think twice about pulling a stunt like this one again.

Everyone was silent after my small toast, and pride swelled in my chest knowing that I was the reason why everything was so tense.

Queen Zara sat up and clasped her hands onto the table. "How will the treaty continue without Syn?"

"Why does it have to be Syn?" Felix asked her. "I would make a great king."

I sighed at his words. I was sure Felix would make a good king as he said, but the Kingdom needed to be unified by a solid and disciplined ruler. And that was Syn. The people of Jeradua would of course have plenty of qualms about Syn being the King after his childhood, but that was yet another reason he needed to take the throne. They were already aware of what Syn was capable of. He could keep them in order with that fear alone if he chose to.

"You're only a vampire. Syn is every single Underworlder in one man. He is the only one, along with Xyla, who can restore peace among us all," King Jonathan responded in his wife's place, causing her face to momentarily fall. A sour look on her face of having to bow down to a man who didn't see her as an equal appeared on her face...one that I used to know all too well.

"Peace is a state of mind," Felix spoke, using his fingers to articulate his words. "I go to church with our citizens, I have alliances with Angels, and I have the support of Jeradua on my side. Every single step of my life since I was brought into this world has prepared me to be the King I'm certain I can be. The only thing Syn will bring this Kingdom is enemies and destruction-which I don't have to explain to any of you. Look his name up on the internet and see for yourself the amount of--"

"Syn will be King," Julius announced. "If he will not agree to it, then we shall wait for him. This is not up for discussion, it was the only consensus we were able to reach." Felix scowled at his reply and stood up, his chair falling to the floor from the abrupt movement as he exited the room. I understood why he was upset. He was the older one and Julius' "biological son". Under different circumstances, he would've been king, but it wouldn't be in this lifetime.

"What in Heaven's name is that?!" Xyla exclaimed with a gasp as she pointed to the wall. We all turned to the wall across the table to see a dark and bubbling ink-like substance spreading onto the wall like a black hole, seemingly endless and anxiety-inducing. It shaped itself into a tall rectangular shape, and the guards positioned themselves in front of it, holding up their weapons and ready to attack.

We watched Syn step through it with a boy with light brown hair walking in behind him. He was a couple of inches shorter than Syn but still tall considering Syn was well over six feet. The two prominent men stood tall in front of the dark space they had come out of and looked around at the guards. Syn rolled his eyes at them, not being fazed by the guns in his face, and the boy smirked.

"I will marry the girl."