Chapter 18 The Fragile Boy
The room was too quiet for someone so young. It didn’t feel like a patient’s room. The walls were too carefully designed, the furniture too refined, the space too large for a single bed placed near the window. Everything about it whispered comfort, wealth, control.
And yet, the boy lying there looked out of place.
Jesse Avery Miles lay on his side, one arm tucked beneath his head, his gaze fixed on the stretch of sky framed by the wide glass window. The evening light painted faint gold along the edge of his face, catching the sharpness of his cheekbones, the pale tone of skin that hadn’t seen much sun.
There was a softness to him that illness hadn’t managed to erase, but it had taken something. Like his time, his youth.
The quiet hum of medical equipment filled the gaps between breaths that came just slightly slower than they should have. He didn’t turn when the door opened. He had heard it, but he didn’t react, as if whoever entered wasn’t important enough to pull his attention away from the sky.
Liam paused at the threshold. For a moment, he simply observed. This was the boy Skylar had been so desperate to protect. The thought settled uneasily as he stepped inside, he closed the door softly behind him but still didn’t make the boy shifted.
“You always stare at the sky like that?” Liam asked, his voice even, carrying none of the weight it usually held in the halls outside.
Jesse blinked once, as if the question took a second to reach him. Then he turned his head slightly. His eyes moved over Liam, taking him in without urgency.
“Depends,” Jesse replied, his voice quieter than expected but steady. “Are you here to tell me something bad?”
“No. I'm not your doctor.”
Jesse studied him for a second longer. Then, as if satisfied enough, he looked back at the sky. Liam walked further into the room, his steps unhurried. He stopped near the foot of the bed, his gaze shifting briefly to the monitors, then back to the boy.
“You don’t ask who I am?” he said.
Jesse shrugged slightly, the movement small. “If it matters, you’ll tell me.”
Liam almost smiled. “I’m someone your sister made a deal with,” he said instead.
“A deal?” he repeated. That was enough to earn a reaction. Jesse turned his head again, this time more fully, his brows drawing together just a little.
Liam met his gaze. “Yeah, she works for me, in the palace.”
Jesse was quiet for a moment. Then he exhaled softly, something between understanding and disbelief slipping into his expression.
“She made a deal with you to pay for my treatments? That sounds like her,” he said. “She always does things like that.”
“What kind of things?”
Jesse’s lips curved faintly, though the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Things she thinks are necessary,” he said. “Even if they’re not fair.
The words settled between them. Liam didn’t respond immediately. instead, he moved to the chair beside the bed and sat down, his posture composed but less rigid than usual.
And you?” he asked. “Do you think they’re necessary?”
Jesse looked back at the sky. “I think she worries too much,” he said. A faint breeze pressed against the window, barely noticeable. “She doesn’t have to do everything alone,” he added quietly.
“You don’t sound surprised.”
“She’s been doing it since forever,” he said. “It’s kind of her thing.”
There was no bitterness in his tone, ust acceptance. Liam leaned back slightly in the chair, his fingers resting loosely against the armrest.
“She talks about you a lot like her life depens on your breathes,” he said.
Jesse shifted slightly against the pillow, his gaze drifting from the window back to Liam. “Did she mess something up?” he asked suddenly. Liam’s eyes narrowed just slightly.
“What makes you think that?”
Jesse shrugged again.
“You look like someone who got into trouble,” he said. “Not the kind that happens to you. The kind someone else causes.”
The observation landed too close. Liam didn’t answer right away. Jesse watched him for a second longer, then tilted his head just slightly.
“…Did my sister hit you and run?”
The question came out so plainly that it almost broke the stillness of the room. Liam stared at him. Then, despite himself, a faint breath escaped him—not quite a laugh, but close enough to shift the tension.
“No,” he said. It wasn’t the truth, but it wasn’t entirely a lie either. Jesse seemed to accept it.
“Okay,” he said simply. He turned his gaze back to the sky, as if that settled the matter. Liam remained where he was, the silence returning, softer this time.
“You don’t ask where she is?” he said after a moment. Jesse’s fingers moved slightly against the blanket.
“I figured she’s working,” he said, “Or getting herself into something complicated.”
Liam’s jaw tightened almost imperceptibly.
“She’ll come back,” Jesse added, as if stating something obvious. Liam didn’t respond, but something in his chest shifted. After a while, he stood.
“I’ll make sure you’re taken care of,” he said. Jesse didn’t look at him this time.
“Thanks,” but he murmured, and sounded sincere.
Liam moved through it without stopping, his expression returning to its usual stillness, the brief softness from the room behind him already buried beneath control.
His steps carried him deeper into the palace, toward his office, the familiar structure of the halls grounding him again, until a voice stopped him.
It came from one of the adjoining corridors, partially concealed, her tone low but unmistakable. Liam stilled. He hadn’t intended to listen. But the next words held him in place.
“…How could you lose her?”
"..."
“…I gave you clear damn instructions. What do you mean she ran—?”
The shift in Benetta’s voice was subtle, but it was there.
“…She ran out of that place and jumped into the open river!?"
Liam didn’t move, because for the first time in two days He had something real, and it changed everything.