For the next few days, Leia didn't see Ronan in the mansion. She had learned that Lucien's orders were supreme—defy him, and the consequences would be severe.
In the house, not many spoke with her. Even if they did, they quickly dodged any questions related to the three alpha brothers.
'Maybe Lucien is watching me,' Leia thought as she stopped in the garden of the estate. She looked up toward the mansion and saw Lucien with his beta, talking on the front balcony.
He looked like a predator surveying his territory.
'What if Lucien has seen through my attempts? Even Kieran hasn't spoken to me since the day he professed how he wanted me to love him. I didn't give him any answer. Then, he left for a business trip. But why does it seem Lucien is the one connected to all of this?'
An idea struck her, and she decided to go forward with it.
A game of seduction. She would play it.
But Lucien wouldn't be her first target. She had tried seducing him once, back when she was naïve enough to think he could be swayed by charm. It hadn't worked. Nothing seemed to touch him—no warmth, no softness, no desire.
That's when she realized: to reach Lucien, she had to go through his brothers. She would make him jealous to the point where he would finally give in.
For a while, she had believed taming Lucien would make everything easier. That if she could win him, the rest would fall into place. But she had been wrong about him.
As she stood in the garden, their eyes met.
Lucien's obsidian gaze locked onto hers from the balcony above. His eyes flickered, and for just a second, they turned crimson red like a warning.
She turned abruptly and headed inside the house.
Stopping a servant in the hallway, she kept her voice light. "Do you know when Kieran is expected back from his business trip?"
"I'm sorry, Miss," the servant said with a quick bow. "I have no idea."
'Of course you don't.'
She sighed.
Kieran. Of all three, he was the most sensible and calm.
She was about to walk away when a voice stopped her.
"Seems like you've grown much more comfortable than before," Lucien said.
She looked up.
He stood at the top of the stairs, hands tucked into his pockets.
"Yes," she rolled her eyes and looked away. She didn't want to talk to him.
"There's a party in the evening. You are coming with me," Lucien informed her. She saw that he was at the bottom of the stairs.
"Is that an order?" she asked.
"Consider whatever you want to," Lucien replied.
She chuckled. "I am not interested in going to any party. Besides, you bought me as a slave, didn't you? I can't stand by my master's side," she retorted.
She turned to leave his sight when he suddenly appeared before her. He cupped her face with one hand and glared into her eyes.
"If you were a slave, you would not have been moving so freely here. You would have warmed my bed a lot of times. It's okay if you don't wish to come. But if I come tonight, be ready to serve me. I don't want any excuses, Leia," Lucien pronounced.
"You think I'll serve you? Never!" she yelled as she pushed him away. "You are the worst among your brothers. Kieran was befriending me, and you sent him away for a business trip. Then, Ronan... I didn't even get to talk to him because you forbade me after that incident. You are controlling me, and I hate this."
Tears rolled down her cheeks. It wasn't an act; the strength she had been holding up so far had crumbled. She quickly wiped her tears and turned around, not wanting him to look at her with that gaze. It made her uncomfortable and vulnerable to him.
Without waiting for his response, she ran upstairs to her room.
~~~
Lucien had noticed Leia had been unusually quiet over the past few days. Ever since Kieran left for his business trip, she had grown even more distant. He tried speaking to her a couple of times, but she brushed him off with polite indifference. And, buried in pack matters, he let it slide.
Maybe he shouldn't have.
"Alpha, why didn't you tell Miss Leia the truth?" Caleb, his beta, asked, breaking the silence.
Lucien turned his head to look at him. "What truth?"
"She's misunderstanding you," Caleb said, having overheard their conversation from earlier.
"I don't care about her misunderstandings," Lucien replied.
It was a white lie.
Because he did care. Her distance gnawed at him more than he wanted to admit. Ever since he refused to eat those damn muffins, she had been avoiding him like the plague. He noticed it too well. Every single time she passed him without a glance, it pricked something he didn't want to name.
"Well… she wasn't exactly wrong," Caleb said after a beat. "You did buy her from an auction house. From her view, that makes her a slave."
"She's not a slave," Lucien said. "She's… not. She's poised, graceful."
Caleb didn't press further. He knew Lucien rarely said such things about anyone.
Trying to steer the conversation elsewhere, Lucien asked, "Did you find out when Ronan will be back? It's been over three days, and I haven't heard a thing."
Caleb exhaled slowly. "No word yet. I tried reaching out to his beta, but the call didn't go through."
Lucien's brows furrowed in concern.
Despite everything that separated them, years of silence, pain, and bitterness, Lucien still worried about his brothers. Especially Ronan. He had endured far too much from a young age.
"Keep trying," Lucien said. "Let me know the moment you hear from him."
He made his way upstairs to talk to Leia.