Fox Life

The statement was like a punch to Iris. She froze, then lowered her head to avoid her aunt's eyes. "I am," she agreed in a whisper.     

"And he's?" Aunt Maddie asked, pointing her cup at Kyro who sat silent by Iris.     

"A-a friend, we—"     

"One who left his empire just to come here with you? Very convincing." Aunt Maddie shook her head, giving Iris a deadpan look. "Do you take me for a fool, kid? Or think I'm too senile to recognize you in all those photos? Everyone around here knows that you ran away to have an affair with a handsome billionaire."     

If there was a way to just drop into underground and never come out, Iris would have taken it, right that instant. Never in her wildest dreams had she considered that her neighbors and classmates might find out that she was abroad. She probably should have, what with it being the digital age, but… she hadn't.     

And now she didn't know how to react. Her aunt seemed calm outwardly, but her words were more than a little blaming. And probably for a good reason…     

"That's not what happened…" she murmured, trying to rearrange her thoughts into something that at least could resemble order. "We met by accident…"     

Aunt Maddie took another sip of her tea, then shrugged. "Doesn't matter. You'll be judged either way. A number of people are quite jealous, you know." She gave Kyro a cold stare. "I can see why it might have tempted you, but you won't have peace here anymore."     

"Unnecessary." Kyro spoke up for the first time upon entering. "I'll be taking her back in a week."     

"Will you?" Aunt Maddie asked in a tired voice, her earlier forcefulness gone. Her eyes lowered, staring into the cup in her hands. "I fear it won't be that easy."     

Anxiousness wormed its way into Iris' heart. She had never heard her aunt sounding so defeated. It was like she had already given up on anything good happening ever again.     

Kyro didn't rise up to the challenge, but didn't avoid it either. "You think I won't follow through with my words and leave her behind? If that was my plan, then why would have I come in the first place? I'm going to stay by your niece's side no matter what."     

"I see." Aunt Maddie pushed the cups on the table to them. "Take it." She then turned to Iris. "So why are you here?"     

For a fraction of a second, Iris closed her eyelids with forcefulness, holding back her emotions. Couldn't she have come just because she missed her aunt, someone who was like a mother to her?     

But no, it was just a one-sided relationship. Her aunt didn't care one whit if she was okay. All that mattered to her was to make sure that her sister's daughter was alive, and that's it.     

"I wanted to know if my parents were… normal," Iris said in the end, putting on a placid mask. It should have been impossible to see through, but she felt Kyro take her hand on the couch. She turned to him, but he wasn't looking at her, as if nothing had happened.     

A warmth spread through Iris, and she returned her gaze to her aunt, feeling a little better. Even if she didn't have a home here, she still had Kyro, Lucy, and the new life she had started creating for herself around them.     

Their interaction hadn't escaped Aunt Maddie's hawk-like eyes, but once again she didn't comment. Instead, she pulled her lip up in a sneer at Iris. "So you're cursed, just like him."     

"Him?" Iris asked as her heart skipped a beat. "Who do you mean?"     

"Daemon Warren, who else? When Anise met him, I told him he was bad news, but who would believe me? I was just a stuck up who was jealous of her sister's boyfriend." Aunt Maddie snorted, crossing her hands over her chest. "And then she returned to me wailing, speaking of how her lover was a monster. I told her to forget him, but who would listen? They soon made up and even married. Those fools. And you know what happened next? Both of them died, and I was straddled with their child."     

Iris listened with bated breath, never having heard that version of the story before. As far as she knew, her parents had met in college, fallen in love, and married without any trouble. It was only an accident that had stolen them from her.     

As she tried to take it all in, like that her father was actually just like her, able to shift into an animal, Kyro caught on the most crucial part of the story. "You mean they didn't die of natural means?" His hand tensed around Iris' at that question, almost to the point of hurting.     

"Who knows?" Aunt Maddie finished her tea and stood up. From there, she looked at them sitting on the couch and holding hands, and her expression grew weary. "I'm not one of your rich folk, so how should I know? It was obvious that my sister will be put in danger by living with a prized prey like that guy, and then not a few years later, I was standing in her funeral, holding her precious daughter by her small, toddler hand.     

"Their deaths might have been staged or real, but what does it matter now? The police didn't do a serious investigation no matter how much I pleaded, saying that it would be just a waste of time when it was such an obvious car crash. It was sad that they got in the way of the drunk driver who couldn't control his car and rammed into their side, but that was life and I was told to accept it. And so I have."