Just one more story, Cas? Please, please, please!” his sister Elizabeth begged as she tugged on his sleeve. Her voice turned his heart to mush as it always did, but he had already told three stories, and he didn’t have much time remaining. He had to make the journey back to the castle soon. The last train of the day wasn’t far off.

“I—”

“Please, Cas?” Elizabeth begged again, and he knew that no matter what, he would tell one more story. He couldn’t deny her, nor did he want to.

“Fine, just one more. Then I must be on my way.” He looked at his other sister, Emily, who sat by the fire, knitting. She’d been quiet this visit, Cassius noticed, not her usual jubilant self. His stomach twisted uncomfortably. He hated the thought of Emily losing any of her fire, but feared she would all the same.

Em had always been closer to their father than she was anyone else. She’d loved the man and wanted to be just like him. His death, no doubt, hit her the hardest. Outside of their father, she’d always clung to Cassius. They were similar, he and she. His leaving to work at the castle had been hard on her, but she’d been okay because she’d had a father, and now…now she did not.

“What kind of story would you like to hear, Em?” he asked, hoping to coax his curly haired, spitfire of a sister from her shell.

She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. Whatever Elizabeth would like.”

Cas frowned, eyes pinned firmly on his sister, who shared his honey-colored gaze, silently begging her to look at him. When she didn’t, he glanced toward their mother, who sat in her wheelchair by the small kitchen table with the loose leg. He’d meant to fix that last time he’d come home but had forgotten. He insisted they leave the harder chores for him when he was home, such as cutting wood, but sometimes it was impossible, and Emily took over.

His mother gave him a sad smile that told Cas she knew Em was struggling and what that knowledge did to him.

“Are you sure?” he asked Em, but she only shook her head in reply and continued with her scarf. Cas sighed, trying to slip a facade into place so as not to worry Elizabeth. “What would you like to hear a story about, little one?” He tickled her stomach. The sound of her giggles soothed some of the ache in his chest.

“Um…” Elizabeth tapped her temple with a finger, and Cas couldn’t help but laugh at her. Both his sisters were such wild, free spirits. Much more so than Cassius himself had ever been. The closest he came to their lively, fanciful thoughts were his ridiculous dreams of writing and telling stories.

“I would like a story about a prince,” Elizabeth answered. “A kind prince. One who is very handsome, and funny, and doesn’t have a stick in his bum.”

“Elizabeth!” their mother chastised, and Cas noticed Em biting her cheek so she didn’t smile. “Where did you hear such a thing?”

“From Emily,” she replied.

“I didn’t say she had to repeat it!” Emily replied in her own defense, and again, Cas’s stomach tensed uncomfortably.

“Why would you say such a thing? It’s incredibly improper to speak such things about the royal family. Can you imagine if anyone heard? Cassius works for them. It’s because of the king of Evergreen that we have food in our stomachs this very moment!” His mother wrung her hands together, obviously distressed.

“I didn’t say it was about any of the Davendalls. It was a jest, but apparently a bad one. I’m not feeling well. I think I’ll go lie down.” Em pushed to her feet.

Cassius reached for her when she walked past him. “Wait, please. I must leave soon. I’d like to spend as much time with you as possible.”

Emily stopped. Her eyes snagged Cas’s, and he saw the pain there, the ache that matched what was in his heart. Her hand trembled. He thought she would hug him then. That she would sit beside them on the sofa and tease Cas the way she often did, but instead, she jerked her hand away and stomped toward the bedroom she shared with Elizabeth. She slammed the door with such strength that the last family picture they’d taken together shook.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make Emily upset.” Elizabeth snuggled into his side. Cassius leaned down and kissed the top of her head.

“It’s okay, little one. We all get snippy when we’re ill. Em will be better after she rests.” There wasn’t a part of Cassius that believed that. Emily was angry, sad, and most of that anger was directed at him. What he didn’t know was why. Because she felt he had abandoned her, perhaps?

Cas cleared this throat. “What of that story now? You wanted a kind, handsome prince, right? Let me see what I can think of…” Prince Merrick’s face flashed in his mind. The cinnamon color of his hair and the dark coffee of his eyes. The small mole Cassius had noticed by his left eye, and the curve of his infectious smile.

Apparently, his plan to lie with someone else hadn’t helped. He’d made a brief stop at the inn on his way home to ease his desires, and it had been good, but obviously not good enough to keep impure thoughts of the prince at bay.

“Cas?” Elizabeth asked.

“Oh, sorry. I was thinking. You can’t rush a genius storyteller, remember?”

Both Elizabeth and his mother chuckled at his joke before Cassius launched into a story about a prince with an honest smile and gentle nature, and a snowball fight with joyful children, including two young ladies named Elizabeth and Emily.

When he finished, Elizabeth clapped and hugged him before she said, “I loved it, but a prince would never have a snowball fight with me and Em.”

His chest tightened, and his fingers itched. “How do you know?” Ridiculously, he found himself wondering if Prince Merrick would. If he would treat his sisters as well as he had treated the children at the orphanage. They were foolish thoughts that Cassius had no business entertaining, so he shook them from his head.

“Are they nice? The Davendalls? I hope they’re nice to you, sweet brother.” Elizabeth hugged him tighter, and Cas closed his eyes, wishing things were easier.

“They are, little one. If I can’t be here with you, Em, and Mother, it is the next best thing,” he lied, then felt slightly guilty for thinking of it as a lie. Prince Merrick had been nothing but kind to him; the entire family had, but that didn’t mean Cassius didn’t resent them for what they had and his family did not.

“Why don’t you go play while I talk to Mother? You can play in my room if you’d like, so you don’t disturb Em.”

Elizabeth’s eyes went wide. “Thank you, Cas. I love you!” With one more hug, his sister bounded away. Cassius took a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself and bring some clarity to what had just happened.

He stood and a few steps later was at the table. The moment he sat, his mother said, “She’ll be okay. She misses her father and her brother. You know how Emily is—she’s always been made of fire, just like someone else I know.” Her brows rose, and Cas knew she meant him. “She loves deeply, hurts deeply, and angers easily, but she will be okay.”

Cassius understood because he often felt the same. He looked down and noticed a small hole in his mother’s blouse. “I feel as if I’m letting her down. As if I should be here with her…with you.” It wasn’t fair that they had to live on their own, without Cas or his father. Much of the care went to Emily as the eldest after Cas. He felt as if he should be bearing the weight.

“You’re doing no such thing. If it weren’t for you…” She shook her head. “I do not know what we would do if it weren’t for you. You are our sun, our light, like always, and don’t you dare think anything different. You’re doing what you must. I know that, Elizabeth knows it, and Emily knows too. We are so lucky to have you.”

Cassius nodded before he knelt beside his mother and hugged her. “I will make you proud, and I promise I’ll always provide for you, no matter what I have to do.” No matter what he had to lose—his dreams, his happiness. He could not be with a man—at least not openly—while employed by the royal family. Because the rules for royals were much stricter, they were also more careful in who they employed. If a commoner such as him risked being shunned for favoring men, he could only imagine how it would look for the Davendalls.

“Shush, you.” She kissed his head. “No talk like that. We’re all fine, and we’re already proud of you. Valet to Prince Merrick! Imagine that. Your father would be so proud.”

But Cassius didn’t feel proud, not at all.

He and his mother spoke for a few more minutes before he went into Emily’s room. His sister slept curled up on her side, her blanket pulled tight around her and a soft smile on her lips. She looked happy…peaceful. Too peaceful for Cassius to wake her, so he kissed her forehead and laid a letter for her on the table. He always wrote her a letter before he left, even when they were on better terms. He wrote back and forth with his whole family while he was away as well, but the goodbye notes were something special he shared with Emily and Emily alone.

Elizabeth cried when he told her goodbye. He could tell his mother wanted to as well, but she stayed strong for her children.

The train ride back to Pinewood felt longer than it should. There was a chill to the air, so Cassius opened his bag to see what else he’d brought for warmth. There, on top, was a knitted cap he knew had been made by Emily’s hand. He smiled, smelled it, then replaced the older one on his head with this gift from his sister. Still, the ache sat heavy in his chest, almost suffocating him.

When he exited the train, his muscles tightened more from frustration than cold. Soft snowflakes fell around him as he made the trek from the station to the castle.

Cassius was in too sour a mood to see anyone. He was grateful he did not have to attend to the prince until the morning. He took his meal with Valor, who knew when to leave Cas alone and did so. Afterward, he went straight for a bath, then to bed, where he dreamed of snowball fights with his sisters and Prince Merrick, and strangely, the prince had worn the cap knitted by Emily’s hands.