Blood Ties

Chapter 3

Here he was again. 

He wasn't nearly as scared as he was last time but meeting the emperor is still nerve-racking.

He walked through the halls of the palace with a nonchalant stride. He was quite nervous though. He didn't know why the emperor wanted him to come back but he knew it couldn't be good. 

'I don't wanna be here...' he thought

But he wanted to see Athy again. She felt like a little sister of sorts. She was nice, fun, and she liked sweets as much, if not more than him. It's only ever been him, his mom, and the memory of his hated father so having someone who was his family and so close in age was a relief to his tainted reality. 

She was someone he could bond with and be friends with. 

If that was going to happen he would have to meet with Claude in order to meet her. He remembered something his mom said. 'Life is full of sacrifice and prices to pay'

He supposed his price to see Athy was Claude.

He was brought to a large room with two couches and a little table in between. Claude looked at him with a calculating stare. He stared back with a straight face. 

Let the staring contest begin. 

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Athy ran through the emerald palace halls looking for something to do. 

Ever since her and Titan met the security around the emerald palace and surrounding areas had  been raised. She guessed Lily told Claude about her going missing for several hours. 

Claude had been acting strange since she almost died the month prior. He had been more attentive and when she would ramble on about absolutely nothing he would actually listen. 

She vaguely wondered if he would treat Jennette the same way when she entered the picture. She found herself asking herself these kinds of questions lately. Probably because of Claude giving her the emerald palace. 

She was running down the halls when she suddenly had an idea. She would visit Claude. 

She went looking around for Felix since her father said she couldn't go see him without some sort of escort. But she knew the way pretty well by now so she could go by herself.

Lily locked up all the sweets since she found that all the sweets had 'mysteriously' disappeared. She was craving anyway so visiting her papa would ensure some sort of sweet substance. 

She made up her mind. 

She ran down the halls that led to the outdoors.

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He was glad it was over. 

Talking about his father to the person who killed him was uncomfortable to say the least. He didn't realize how much him and Claude were alike until today. They had similar mannerisms despite Titans poor upbringing.

Once again Claude told him they would see each other in the future, he had no idea why. As far as he knew Claude was quite disinterested in him. He then heard heavy panting from a nearby bush and quirked a brow. 

He walked over to the bush.

" young sir?" asked felix

He looked behind the bush and found a small blonde headed girl with jewel eyes. She looked up at him. 

"Titan? "

"Athy? "

"you two know each other? "