Ms. Nine Tailed Fox

Chapter 20

A knock stirred the silent night. The lad hollowed out the tankard in his hand in a breath and put it down on the desk with a thud, but the book in his other hand still remained upright in a steady grasp, illuminated under the flickering candlelight.

"Come in," said the heir, wondering if he should deworm these younger brothers of his just in a case.

"Do you know what time it's now?" His hoarse, not so pleasant to the ears voice asked reprimandingly as the doors opened a gap with a mute creak.

A silence answered, and the teenager raised his head in a jolt.

"Am I unwelcome?" A milky quiver left Seraphina's lips, and the words jabbed the young man's heart.

"Why... why are you here?" Asked Ihan, and the book was placed down.

The child stood at the door, hair sticking out like stubborn weeds, delicate brows scrunched up distastefully, golden eyes reflecting the warm glimmer of the almost dying candle, and tiny hands clutched together, fingers entangled.

"Eldest brother, do I cause you discomfort?" She was brutally honest in her interrogation.

The heir left her question cold in the night, stood from behind his magnificent desk, and strode toward the child. He reached the door in a few long and impatient strides, his head lowered, eyes staring at the child straining her neck to match his gaze, and his palm rested for a brief moment on the ajar door before decisively pushing it shut.

Seraphina's eyes enlarged unblinking and later twinkled.

"Why are you going around barefoot?" Ihan's voice was gentle as he knelt on one knee in front of the little girl.

"Why are you drinking alone on such a fine night?" She asked back, her eyes bending in crescents.

"Does it smell bad?" the lad chuckled.

"Well, definitely less elegant than wine, but livelier," sniffed and decreed the child.

"It's ale, Julia's masterpiece."

"Still, do drink less, eldest brother. You are, after all, a child," Seraphina's words carried an equal tease and concern.

"I will listen," the teenager breathed out as the dread of being feared or, even worse, detested by the child was dispelled by the other's intrepid spirit and blunt tongue.

However, a sudden and uninvited grunt erupted his lips, startling the little girl and shattering the harmony.

"What is it?" She questioned, her brows furrowing.

The heir took deep breaths, veins throbbing glaringly, and his hands clenched, bones ashen, in an effort to fight the beast inside him. Unfortunately, this fight was not faring well for him. The young man sprung to his feet, his intention of fleeing evident in his eyes, and he bypassed his little sister heartlessly.

The moment the breeze birthed by his momentum grazed past the child's smooth cheek, his hand was held by a tinier and warmer one, freezing him immobile in tension, but he never looked back.

"Don't go. And don't try to suppress him, either. Ysir will not hurt me," her tone was unwavering as her grip.

"He bit you," Ihan's voice was husk, growly, and restrained.

"Eldest brother, release him," she pleaded.

"Ysir could kill you!" His shout was much like a snarl of a beast.

Instantaneously, the hand clutching his loosened and disappeared. A lost feeling of given up on numbed his tightening chest, and his palm landed on the door handle.