[Theon's Pov]
"Theon, meet my son Regis and the future emperor, Cassius."
That was the first time I saw them—under the orange-tinged sky of late autumn, framed by the courtyard of the Everhart estate.
I was fifteen.
Just a boy with calloused hands, a stiff uniform too big for me, and a heart still raw from my father's death.
He died in a war… a war that had nothing to do with him but everything to do with honor.
My father had been a knight who gave his life protecting Grand Duke Gregor. And the Grand Duke, in return, took me in—out of gratitude, duty, or perhaps guilt. I never asked. He gave me shelter, food, an education… a new purpose.
I suppose my father's sacrifice wasn't in vain.
Because that was the day I became more than a forgotten orphan.
That was the day I met them.
Prince Regis smiled the moment our eyes met. "You look nervous," he said with a playful grin. "Don't be. Cassius looks like that all the time."
