The first light of day reveals more than just the dawn. One careless prank can shatter privacy, and suddenly the whole world knows more than they should.

A female voice whispered in my ear. I blinked a few times, only to find sunlight streaming through the window above my bed. It reminded me of Alice pulling another one of her stunts, like the time she left Nibbles on my chest so I could get a good jump right at the moment of opening my eyes. But after looking around my bedroom, there was no Alice to be seen, not even Aeryn, her partner in crime. This wasn’t the first time my younger sister had pulled some ridiculous prank on me. The most humiliating was when she almost gave me a heart attack by jumping in front of me as soon as I stepped out of the shower. Aeryn had been there too. The towel had slipped, and the girlish screams that came out of my mouth were something else. Imagine me covering my private parts with nothing but my bare hands while Aeryn swooped in, scooping Alice up like a sack of potatoes and hauling her out of the room.

Getting up and dusting myself off, memories of the night before began trickling in. In bits and pieces, you know? Like Sheila at the Royal Rose giving me that all-knowing wink because, apparently, we had a date. Then there was the vision of Brutus’ three daughters barging in, and by now, cryptic shades gabbing about some roving fellow or whatnot. And then, oh yes, the small bar in some dark town alley.

A brief pause.

The bar! The old bartender! The drink that had rendered me senseless. Anger welled up in me like water coming to a boil. First, the old man at the Drunken Stag who had floored me with a bottle; now this? An old bartender drugging my drink? No, thank you. Besides, nobody spikes my drink and gets to tell people about it after living.

I bent down and pulled out the sword from under the bed, a present from my father when I had turned twelve. I wondered if it was still sharp. A quick unsheathing revealed the blade’s edge. Yep, it was still as sharp as when I had first gotten it.

With the sword clipped to my belt and everything I needed packed, I glanced at the room a final time, shut the door, and headed downstairs.

On the first floor, Alfred and Matilda stood by the dining table. Matilda, my maid, wiped the tabletop in slow, deliberate circles, while Alfred talked to her in hushed tones. The moment I reached the bottom of the marble stairs, their heads snapped up, eyes wide in surprise. Alfred’s mouth dropped open, and Matilda’s hand flew to her mouth. They stared at me like I’d just risen from the dead.

“M—Master Alex,” Alfred stuttered, making it sound like he had seen a ghost.

“What is it, Alfred?” I took a couple of steps nearer.

“Where did you come from?” he asked, still gaping at me as if I were some kind of apparition.

“Where do you think? My bedroom,” I gave him a look that suggested he had asked the dumbest question on earth.

“At this hour?” his eyebrows shot up so high they nearly disappeared into his hairline.

“Yeah. What’s wrong with that?”

Alfred gestured toward the grandfather clock in one corner of the dining room. It was eight-thirty in the morning. “You never get up this early,” he revealed, looking at me like he was seeing a miracle.

Ah. Mornings and I usually didn’t get along until late noon.

And then he spotted the sword at my side, his eyes narrowing with suspicion. “Master Alex, why do you have your sword?”

“I’m going to beat up an old man with it, Alfred,” I said, as if it were the most ordinary thing to do.

Alfred grew pale, and I thought Matilda’s eyes would pop right out of her head. She looked like she was going to faint.

“Relax, Alfred. It’s not you I’m after.” My words returned some color to their faces. “Now, get me something to eat. I’m starving,” my stomach growling in agreement.

“Right away, Master Alex,” Alfred said, breathing unevenly as he all but bolted for the kitchen, with Matilda at his heels.

Fed, fueled, and full of vengeance by nine. Now it was time to head out and find my target. Of course, the first guy had been quite a challenge from the stories I’d heard, but that old bartender who had knocked me out with his so-called Nectar of the Transcendence? I was looking to return some serious payback, whether it ended in blood, a broken nose, or at the very least, a nasty paper cut.

My hand reached out to grab the doorknob when it flew open on its own. Alistair burst in, his face as red as a tomato. “Alex, you numbskull!” he bellowed. “You didn’t wait for me yesterday!” It took me a moment to remember what he was talking about. “Oh,” I said nonchalantly, shrugging my shoulders, “Grinwald had pulled me off to the training yard for sword practice. You were late.”

“Really?”

“Ask him if you don’t believe me.” I noticed his gaze drift to the sword at my waist.

His expression shifted. Then, in a trembling voice, he asked, “A—Alex, why do you have a sword? You never carry one around before.”

“I’m going to cut someone’s head off with it,” I answered, my tone deadpan.

Alistair’s jaw dropped, and his body froze.

“Relax. It’s not you,” a smirk pulled at one corner of my lips. “Besides, I don’t need a blade to knock you down.” My hand reached out and gave his head a playful noogie, feeling him squirm under my grip. I had grown taller than him over the years, which made it easy to mess with him like this. Giving his head a friendly knuckle was much more satisfying.

“Y—Yeah, that’s good to hear,” he stammered.

“Now move, Alistair, before I change my mind and decide to make you target practice,” I grunted and shoved him to the side.

“A—All right, Alex,” he mumbled while scurrying out of my path.

But just as I was about to step outside, Alistair spoke again.

“Alex, wait!”

I whirled around with narrowed eyes. “What is it now?”

“Aiden asked why you weren’t at the farewell party last night,” his voice small, like he was afraid of how I would react.

Oh, crap! I had completely forgotten about that gathering. And defying my father? Yeah, no, that wasn’t something I wanted to think about. But it would be about three weeks before he returned. Perhaps by then, he would have forgotten.

My anger flared up again. Just you wait, you old bartender. You’re going to regret messing with me.

“I’ll tell him myself when I get back from town,” I snapped, turning on my heel.

“O—Okay, Alex,” Alistair muttered, knowing better than to push me when I was in a mood like this.

Not even the great Tempest Blade himself could stop me today. The last time he denied me something was when I was eight. I’d asked to join the traveling circus that had come to town, and when he had refused, I locked myself in my room for three days. He had the circus perform on the estate to make up for it and calm me down.

“Alex, wait! Aiden wants me to tell you something else,” Alistair called out once more, his voice almost pleading.

“I’ll deal with it later,” I barked over my shoulder and stomped away from him.

The wind whipped through the trees, their leaves rustling as if warning me to reconsider. Now was not the time to be a wuss. Even though I’d never been in a real fight or beaten anyone up before, this was a line I couldn’t uncross. I extended my stride and pushed forward as if I were a soldier marching to war.

“Alex.”

“Darn it! What is it now?” I yelled, convinced Alistair had caught up with me to finish what he needed to say earlier.

Turning on my heels, I found Aiden staring at me with his brows slightly lifted. He was obviously taken aback by my outburst.

Oh, shoot!

“Did Alistair talk to you?” Aiden inquired.

“He did…” My voice trailed off, trying to recall exactly what Alistair had been going on about, but my focus on retribution for the bartender was messing with my head. My silence and the void of expression must have given me away, as Aiden shook his head and spoke.

“Never mind. What time did you come back last night?”

“Ah, the time…” I nodded lightly. Wait a minute! What time did I really come back last night? I searched my brain, trying to piece together the events, but it was all a blur. Alfred didn’t have a clue when I’d returned, so that wasn’t any help. I ended up staring at Aiden blankly. “I’m not sure. I’ll go ask the guards. They will definitely know when I dragged my sorry ass back to the estate.”

Aiden sighed in the way he always did when I went on another one of my drinking outings and was too wasted to remember anything. I took his silence as my cue to leave. “Okay, I’ll see you later, dude.”

“Hold on, Alex.”

I let out a frustrated sigh. Why couldn’t he and Alistair just ask all their questions in one go? “What is it this time?”

“There’s a lunch gathering for the whole family later. This time, I expect you to attend.”

Oh, so that’s probably what Alistair was trying to tell me earlier. “Another gathering?” My brows furrowed. “What’s the occasion now?”

“Duke Lysander Goldenshield’s daughter, Lady Catherine, is coming to visit our estate.”

“You mean that—” I stopped myself just in time. I almost called my brother’s future wife a ‘bitch’. “—that lady of yours?”

“Yes,” Aiden nodded. “Last time she was here, you didn’t even give her a chance at talking to you. This time, I want you to come forward. I think she’s trying to connect with all of us, especially you.”

Why the hell would I want to get close to a woman I know is a ‘bitch’ disguised as a duke’s daughter? Even though she had been extremely polite and friendly the last time she was here, it only took me one look to know that woman could bring any man to his downfall. But hey, if Aiden’s taste in women is a ‘bitch from hell,’ who am I to judge? Love overlooks imperfections, right?

“I’ll see what I can do.” I gave him a few nods and kept my thoughts to myself.

“Thanks, Alex.”

We parted ways, and I resumed my march toward the gate. It seemed today’s forecast was predicting nothing but trouble. I just hoped it wouldn’t get any worse.