“You did a good job on your interview.”
Naomi Vasquez appeared before Anthony as a tiny holographic figure.
He was sitting inside of his hotel room. Trinity and Secilia were sitting next to him, while Marianne was cleaning the room. He’d heard a rumor that the people who were responsible for cleaning were dismayed because Marianne was doing their work for them.
“Well… thanks, I guess,” Anthony said.
“Your ratings are through the roof, you know? You should be happy.”
Anthony was getting a lot of attention both internationally and on Academy Island. Not only had he protected the peace conference, but he helped prevent Custodes Daemonium from gathering more power to themselves, and now he had helped defend the peoples of Britannia from hostile terrorist organizations, which was what Lucius Alfoy and his cohorts were now being called.
“I mean… you know I don’t really care about any of that,” Anthony said.
The title of President had been thrust on Anthony because of the fuckup of the Academy Island Board of Directors. He neither wanted nor needed the title himself.
Naomi sighed but didn’t press. “What’s next on your agenda? Are you coming back home?”
Anthony shook his head. “No. There are still too many issues abroad that I need to take care of.”
Trinity, sitting so close she was practically glued to him, nodded. “Lucius Alfoy escaped. Britannia intelligence managed to track his escape shuttle via satellite and determined that he was heading for Japan.”
“So you are going to Japan?” asked Naomi with a frown.
Anthony shook his head again. “Not yet. Our first destination is going to be Russia.”
Naomi looked confused. “Why Russia…?”
“Because Sasha is there, and I’ve realized now that i need more help.”
Anthony had decided to ask Sasha to be his fifth bondmate. He had already discussed this with his current bondmates, and they all agreed that he needed to lock in and focus on gaining more individual power. There were a lot of problems he could have solved if he’d just been more powerful. A lot of people could have been saved if he’d had more power.
In truth, Anthony wanted to acquire bondmates naturally, but sometimes want and need clashed. He needed more power, and the best way for an incubus to gain that was to have create more bonds.
Also, he wouldn’t lie and say he wasn’t interested in Sasha. He didn’t know much about her, but what he did know had sparked his curiosity. She was also hot and had a sexy Russian accent.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” asked Naomi. “I don’t mean to sound rude or throw shade on Alexandra Sil’yazhelyy, but she’s not exactly known for being, uh, receptive toward advances from the opposite sex.”
Alexandra Sil’yazhelyy was Sasha’s real name, and she was infamous for crushing the balls of several would be suitors. Anthony did not mean that in a figurative sense either. Each incident had been posted all over social media when they happened.
He shrugged. “Sasha respects strength, and she’s interested in me thanks to my connections with Mary. I don’t think she’d say no. Even if she does, at least I can say I tried.”
“Well… I suppose all I can do is wish you luck,” NAomi said with a sigh. Then she paused. “By the way, where is Brianna?”
***
Brianna sat nervously in a posh chair inside of an equally posh room. Sitting across from her were three people. Caelius Bridgerton, Samantha Bridgerton, and Tinia Bridgerton.
Caelius had reached out to her a few days after the dust settled with the riots, asking if she would be willing to meet with him and his family… and she had decided to meet with them.
Brianna had never known her family; she had assumed they had abandoned her. She was picked up off the street at a young age by Custodes Daemonium, but the organization had never felt like family to her. She was trained for combat and dealing with magical catastrophes. Instructor Noelle was the closest thing she had to a parental figure, yet even if she didn’t know how a parent was supposed to act with their child, she understood that the good instructor could never be called a good parent.
There was a part of her, small and hopeful, that this meeting would invoke some feeling of belonging within her.
Anthony wasn’t with her. He had been going to go, but she had asked him not to. She wanted to meet with these people on her own.
When they had first entered the room after she was shown in, Caelius’ wife had gasped and started tearing up. She had walked over and tried to hug Brianna. However, Brianna had moved away, which seemed to upset and hurt the woman. She felt bad, but as hopeful as she had been, this woman still felt like a stranger to her. She didn’t want a stranger hugging her.
Now they were sitting in awkward silence.
Brianna didn’t know what to say, and neither, it seemed, did the Bridgerton family.
“So… you are a part of that organization… erm…”
Samantha Bridgerton began. Her tone of voice wasn’t unpleasant, but she did have that arrogant tone that most aristocrats possessed. The way she said “that organization” like she was looking down on it also told Brianna a lot.
She was Caelius Bridgerton’s wife. She had long red hair and blue eyes. It was very clear to see the resemblance between her and Brianna. Her face, at least, looked like what Brianna’s would appear like in a couple of years… if she wore heavy amounts of makeup.
“Yes. I am a part of Custodes Daemonium,” Brianna said.
“I heard you fight all kinds of powerful monsters. Is that true?” asked Tinia.
She was their daughter, and she bore a striking resemblance to both Samantha and Brianna. Aside from her eye color, she looked exactly like Brianna had at that age. Their appearance more than anything made it clear she was related to them.
“Yes, that is part of my job,” Brianna confirmed.
“That’s sick. So cool,” Tinia said in awe.
Brianna smiled a little, but Samantha scolded her daughter. “It is not cool! That kind of job is exceedingly dangerous! My little Allison should never have to do something like that!”
Brianna’s smile became fixed. “So… why did you invite me over….?”
“Well… we were hoping to reconnect with you, and to convince you to stay with us,” Caelius Bridgerton said.
“To stay with you…” Brianna frowned. “I am sorry, but that’s impossible.”
Her words caused Samantha to bristle. “Why is that? We are your family. You should stay with us. Not only are we related by blood, but we can provide you with everything you need. You’ll never have need of anything else ever again.”
“Because… I already have a family,” Brianna said.
“You mean that incubus?” The way Samantha said “incubus” like it was poison caused Brianna to bristle.
Caelius Bridgerton must have noticed this because he tried to quell the woman. “Samantha, dear, I believe you might want to stop.”
But Samantha would not be cowed. “That… that thing cannot be your family! He’s not related to you! And all he wants you for is sex!”
That did it.
Brianna wasn’t sure if she could call herself patient, but she didn’t have a short fuse. However, there was what she’d call her bottom line, and insulting Anthony was that line.
“You don’t know a single thing about Anthony,” Brianna snapped, and her face must have been horrifying because Samantha reeled, her own face pale. “The number of times he has saved me are incalculable, but more than that, he’s given me something neither you nor anyone else ever has.”
“What could he possibly have given you that I cannot,” Samantha said.
“Love, happiness, a sense of security,” Brianna stated bluntly. “When I am with him, I don’t have to try and pretend I am something I’m not. Meanwhile, you clearly want me to be an obedient daughter even though we just met.”
“I gave birth to you!” Samantha shouted.
“And what have you done besides that?” Brianna countered.
This back and forth was starting to get tiresome. She had come here with some kind of vague hope that meeting her family would make her feel something, but all she felt was tired.
She stood up.
“Where are you going?” asked Samantha.
“Home,” Brianna said.
“You are home!”
“No, this is not home, and now I understand that it will never be home. Please excuse me.”
Brianna left the shouting woman behind, hearing her even after she started walking down one of several long hallways. She strode past surprised maids and butlers. She soon reached the entrance. As she was getting the butlers to open the door, shouting reached her.
“W-wait! Wait!”
It was Caelius Bridgerton. Brianna briefly considered just leaving as though she hadn’t heard him, but she wasn’t that rude, so she waited until he reached her.
“I… I am sorry for the things my wife said. She was… very out of line…” the man huffed several times as he tried to catch his breath. “C-can I not… convince you to give us a second chance. I wasn’t there for you when you were a child, but I’d really like to be there for you now.”
Brianna smiled sadly. This man was kind in his own way. He was making the attempt to reconnect with her. She could appreciate that. However…
“I am sorry, but I’ve learned something after meeting you and the other Bridgertons,” Brianna said. “Family has nothing to do with the thickness of your blood, but the bonds you’ve forged with them over the course of your life. Unfortunately, I have no bonds with you and the others. Anthony is my family. Him and his other bondmates have given me a wealth of experiences, and the bonds we have forged are more solid than tungsten.”
“I see…” Caelius Bridgerton paused, then sighed. “I suppose… that is it then. I’m sorry we couldn’t reconnect.”
Brianna raised an eyebrow. “You’re not going to try harder to keep me here?”
He frowned. “I’d like to, but I understand better. I know that’s not going to make you love us. It’s not going to make us a family again.”
Brianna hesitated for a moment, then tapped on her IDband a few times and held it out to him.
“This is my personal communication number. You can call me if you ever want to talk.”
She had decided to extend this man an olive branch. She didn’t think she would ever be able to call him or his wife and daughter family, but he had proven with those words that he at least understood and respected her decision. She’d give him this much and see what came of it.
“Th-thank you!” the man said, and the smile that lit his face as he added her contact information to his own terminal made her think she had made the right choice.