Shady

Gods, gods, gods— Maybe he wouldn’t try to hide his anxiety. It wasn’t going to work even if he did. And if he tried then they would think he was ...

Ky blinked at her again. “…things would have been very different.”

If Ash had left him to sweat, it was working. Tadaaki was pacing furiously, chest tight with anxiety. What had he done wrong? Why had-had why had it gone like ...

“It wouldn’t be right to give me your birth right,” Ky argued. “Even if I wanted it. Which I don’t.”

“Thank you.” Aleth nodded to him. Good. That was relatively painless. Hopefully his little idiots didn’t get fucked up by his lies. Aleth had beat into them that they were ...

“He’s very, very quiet, sir,” Aleth said. “Couldn’t get much out of him at all. Talking about literally anything seems to make him anxious.” Hopefully this would be helping his ...

Ky blinked and looked at her with wide eyes, shaking her head. “No. It’d be you.”

“I don’t mind her.” Aleth shrugged. “I just don’t know her well. I’m just giving you what I’ve noticed so far. It’s not a bad thing, I think. It’s just ...

“I think she could,” Ky countered. “She just wouldn’t enjoy it… would it go to you or Peter next, though? Do you know? Gods forbid something happens to him. He’ll ...

“Ky has no personality… or… perhaps she has all of them,” Aleth said. May as well tell him the truth; he’d see it for himself soon enough. “She becomes whoever ...

“They’re both upset at him for this,” she confirmed with a nod. “Sara, too.” And her.

“Like what, sir?”

Ky nodded in agreement, surprised Lyra was criticizing her own father so freely. “It’s frustrating.”

“We talked a little,” Aleth said. “That’s how I know their situation. But we didn’t exactly open up to each other. Just trying to figure out what was what and ...

“That’s what I asked for,” Ky said quietly, burying her hands in her pockets. “I was surprised he’s… doing this. Instead of just granting my wish.”