<h4>Chapter 189: The choice...</h4>


    <strong>Rhett</strong>


    I stood in the ruined foyer, staring at the spot where my father had been standing moments before. His words still echoing in my head.


    <i>Choose. Her or your pack. You can’t have both.</i>


    My hands were shaking. I clenched them into fists, trying to stop the trembling, but it didn’t work. My whole body felt like it wasing apart.


    "Rhett." ter’s voice was gentle. He stepped closer, his hand hovering near my shoulder but not quite touching. "Man, I’m sorry."


    I couldn’t speak. If I opened my mouth, I was afraid of what woulde out.


    "He didn’t mean it," Charis said softly. "He’s angry. People say things they don’t mean when they’re angry."


    Iughed bitterly. "You don’t know my father. He meant every word."


    Kael stood off to the side, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He didn’t say anything. Just watched us with those dark, unreadable eyes.


    "What are you going to do?" ter asked carefully.


    That was the question. What was I going to do?


    I could stay here. ept my father’s ultimatum. Cut off my mother again, just like we’d done twenty years ago. Pretend she didn’t exist. Pretend she hadn’te back—not to give me her heart, but to be my mother again.


    For the first time in my life, I had a chance to know her. To have the mother I’d been deprived of my whole life.


    And my father was taking that away from me. Again.


    "I’m leaving," I said.


    The words came out with a certainty that stunned me, too. As soon as I said them, I felt something settle inside me. A rightness, even though it hurt like hell.


    "Rhett—" ter started.


    "I have to," I interrupted. "She’s my mother. She came back for me. Not to give me her heart—I would never ask her to die for me—but to be in my life. To know me. And I want that too. I want to know her."


    My voice cracked on thest words. "I’ve spent my whole life wondering about her. Wondering what she was like, if she ever thought about me, if she loved me. And now she’s here, and she does love me, and my father is trying to force me to choose between them."


    "So don’t choose," ter said. "Stay here tonight. Sleep on it. Rest your mind. Everything feels more intense right now because emotions are running high. Give it time—"


    "Time?" I cut him off. "How much time, ter? My father just threatened to disown me. ra and my mom just tried to kill each other in our foyer. My mom ran out of here crying. She’s out there somewhere, alone, probably feeling lonely." I shook my head. "I can’t wait. I need to find her. I need to let her know that I choose her."


    ter opened his mouth to argue, but I was already moving toward the stairs.


    "Rhett,e on," ter called after me. "Be reasonable!"


    I ignored him and headed up to my room. I could hear footsteps behind me, all three of them following.


    I went straight to my closet and pulled out a duffel bag. Started throwing clothes into it—shirts, pants, whatever I could grab.


    "Rhett, please," ter tried again. "Just think about this for a second—"


    "I have thought about it," I said, shoving another shirt into the bag. "I’m done standing by while other people make decisions about my life."


    Charis stood in the doorway, watching me with worried eyes. ter paced near my desk, running his hands through his hair in frustration.


    And Kael? Kael just leaned against the wall by my window, arms still crossed, saying nothing.


    His silence was starting to annoy me more than ter’s protests.


    I grabbed more clothes, moving faster now—socks, underwear, a jacket. I didn’t know where I was going exactly—maybe a hotel, I’d find my mom, and we’d figure it out together—but I needed to leave. Now.


    "Rhett." Kael finally called out.


    I stopped and looked at him.


    He pushed off from the wall and walked over to me slowly. "Are you alright?"


    The question caught me off guard. "What?"


    "I asked if you’re alright," Kael repeated. "Because right now, you’re acting like a baby."


    "Excuse me?" Heat flooded my face.


    Kael reached out and snatched the duffel bag right out of my hands. Before I could protest, he turned it upside down and dumped all my clothes onto the floor.


    "What the hell, Kael!"


    "You won’t survive an hour outside this pack," Kael said tly, dropping the empty bag. "Look at you. You don’t even know what to pack. You’re just throwing random clothes in a bag like you’re going on vacation."


    "I know what I’m doing—"


    "Do you?" Kael’s eyes were sharp, cutting. "Do you have money? A ce to stay? A n? Or were you going to wander around Ravenspire hoping to run into your mother magically?"


    I opened my mouth, then closed it. I hadn’t thought that far ahead.


    "This is exactly what I’m talking about," Kael continued, his voice cold. "Spoiled children born into wealth. You’ve never had to struggle for anything. You’ve always had your pack, your father’s money, and servants to clean up after you. And now, the first time things get hard, you think you can just run away and it’ll all work out."


    "That’s not fair," I protested.


    "Isn’t it?" Kael challenged. "Your mother is out there, upset and alone. She needs help. She needs someone to make sure she’s safe and settled somewhere secure. And you think the solution is to grab a bag of random clothes and chase after her? You’ll make things worse."


    The words hit harder because they were true. I hadn’t thought about any of that. I’d just reacted.


    "So what am I supposed to do?" I asked, and I hated how small my voice sounded. "Just stay here and do nothing?"


    "You’re supposed to stay here and let someone who actually knows what they’re doing handle it," Kael said.


    He turned away from me and started walking toward the door.


    "What? Where are you going?" I called after him.


    "I’m going after your mother," Kael said without turning around. "I’m going to make sure she’s alright. Make sure she’s properly settled in a safe ce. Make sure she has what she needs."


    Relief flooded through me, mixed with shame. "Kael—"


    "You’re wee," he said, cutting me off.


    He was almost to the door when he suddenly stopped. For a moment, he just stood there. Then he turned around and walked straight toward Charis.


    "Kael?" Charis said with confusion in her voice


    Kael didn’t answer. He just cupped her face in both hands and kissed her.


    It wasn’t gentle. It was deep, intense, and possessive. Charis made a slight surprised sound, but then she was kissing him back, her handsing up to grip his jacket.


    The kisssted longer than wasfortable for ter and me to watch. We both looked embarrassed as we watched them kiss, like we weren’t all mates. The more I think about how the three of us are connected to Charis, the funnier it looks in my head.


    No matter how much I try not to imagine the three of us at once with Charis, it always seems funny to me.


    Finally, Kael pulled back. Charis’s face was flushed, her lips slightly swollen. She looked dazed.


    Kael shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket, looking more rxed than he had all evening. "I needed that boost," he said.


    Then he turned and walked out of the room without another word.


    We stood in silence for a moment, listening to his footsteps fade down the hallway.


    "Well," ter said finally. "That was... something."


    Charis touched her lips, still looking stunned. "He just... he just..."


    "Kissed you senseless and then left to rescue Rhett’s mom?" ter supplied with a scoff. "The boy still doesn’t know how to share."


    I sank onto my bed, suddenly exhausted. All the anger and adrenaline drained out of me at once, leaving me feeling hollow.


    "He’s right," I said quietly. "I was acting like an idiot."


    "You were acting like someone who just had his whole world turned upside down," Charis corrected, sitting down beside me. "That’s different."


    "I just wanted to help her," I said.


    "And now Kael’s going to tell her that," ter said. "He’ll make sure she knows. He’ll take care of it."


    "Why didn’t he say anything earlier?" I asked. "When I first said I was leaving. He just stood there, watching."


    ter shrugged. "That’s how Kael works. He watches, he assesses, and then he acts when it’ll make the most impact. If he’d tried to talk you out of it downstairs, you wouldn’t have listened. You needed to actually start packing, to realise you had no n, before his words wouldnd. No wonder he’s a good assassin."


    "Don’t say that," Charis turned to re at ter. "Did he tell you he killed anyone?"


    "Not exactly in words, but you don’t need him to tell you that, someone with his fighting skills would not be sent on a peacekeeping mission. He must have killed at one point or another."