Talon walked through the manor's front door. He was leaving behind a trail of mud with his boots, but he was not in the mood to care. The maids would take care of it. He was worn out. Scratch that. He was exhausted. His limbs were screaming out in pain and if he did not stop soon, his body would just shut down.
His mission was a disaster, but nothing he could not handle. A spy had reported to back to High Command about a valuable target and Talon was dispatched to kill the target. The only problem was that the spy had reported the wrong information. Talon had waited there preparing to simply assassinate one man. Instead, he faced a whole entourage plus the one man. And to top it all off, they came almost a week later than the date the spy had reported.
He growled at the butler who had thought it was a good idea to approach him. A brave, but stupid man. A simple scowl from Talon was enough to send the butler running to the kitchen.
Almost there, he thought. When he had first arrived at the Du Couteau mansion, he had marveled at how huge it was. Now he found it a nuisance.
He reached his door and nearly ripped it off the hinges, when he was trying to open it. Then he let out a groan.
Resting on his sweet, comfortable bed were his two sisters.
"Get out." he glowered.
"Thought he would be more excited to see us." Cassiopeia said.
Katarina snorted. "Goes on a mission and suddenly he thinks that he can boss us around. Guess he grew some balls when he was gone."
His hands tightened wanting nothing more than to strangle the two. Then he thought about how much work it would be to raise his arms and squeeze the life out of them. Maybe if I ask nicely they will leave and I can finally sleep, he thought.
"Please. I am sincerely begging you to get the hell out of my room."
Katarina raised an eyebrow at her adopted brother. "Go on your knees and we will think about it."
Talon was about to do just that. Not because of her request, but because he was just that damn tired.
"Don't listen to her. We need to talk to you. Du Couteau sibling talk."
Talon let out another groan. "I don't want to know about your new aquamarine nail polish. Velvet purple is so much better. And if it's about your shampoo, I already told you my opinion before. The loving lilac scent is both refreshing and invigorating. I don't understand why you like the tropical sunshine on-" he stopped talking and blinked incredulously. "What the fuck did I just say?"
The two girls exploded out in laughter, rolling on his bed.
"This is what happens when you two drag me out to a girl's night. How the fuck is General Du Couteau not knitting a tea cup cozy and talking about mascara with the two of you?" Talon asked incredulously. "Whatever. I need my sleep."
"Don't you mean your beauty sleep?" Cass giggled.
"No. I mean yes. Wait, what? I don't need beauty sleep. I just need regular manly Talon sleep." he said, shooing them off his bed. Finally, he could lay down. And if his sisters would just leave him alone...
"We still need to talk."
"If it's not about the colour purple or killing people, then the talk can wait until I wake up."
"When will that be?"
Talon shrugged and answered Katarina, "I don't know. A couple of years. Now go."
"Talon, it's something serious..." Cassiopeia said, her voice sudden solemn.
"What is it?" he inquired, but in truth he just wanted to fall asleep.
"An arranged marriage."
He shot up from his bed, suddenly interested. Talon grew up in the slums and he was too preoccupied trying to survive to think about marriage. Then he had arrived in the Du Couteau house and learned about politics.
It was natural for houses of high nobility, to make arranged marriages with each other. Families would send their daughters into other families and obtain power through this be association. He had always knew Katarina or Cassiopeia would be betrothed, but he never thought it would be so early. They were still only teens.
"Which one of you?" he asked, his voice laced with concern.
The two exchanged looks before Katarina finally answered. "We don't know."
He let out the breath he didn't even know he was holding. "Back up. How do you know there is an arranged marriage?"
"I was in father's office the other day, and we were talking about a new play opening in the amphitheater. Long story short, he was busy with a phone call and I saw a sheet on his desk. It was a marriage contract. There were papers covering it so I don't know anything else about it. I left and then told Katarina about it."
"Hold on. How do you know it even has to do with one of you? Maybe it was his marriage contract to you mother."
Talon rolled to the left of his bed, dodging a dagger aimed for his head.
"Our parents were happily in love mind you. Their marriage wasn't arranged, so who else would it be if not for either Cass or I? You think my father goes around collecting random stranger's marriage contracts?"
He shrugged. "Maybe it's Swain's marriage contract. The point is, how do we know for sure?"
"I saw 'Du Couteau' on it." Cass said. She was much more somber than Talon was used to seeing her.
"Well I'm going to miss you Katarina. I'm sure your husband is a wonderful man. We will send you letters if you want." He dodged another dagger. "What? It's most likely you."
Another Dagger.
"Fine. What do you want me to do?" he finally gave in, not wanting to be pelted by more blades.
"We need you to figure out who it is."
Talon raised an eyebrow. "And how do you suppose I do that? Go sneak around his office? Or brainwash him into telling me?"
Just then a maid came into the room. "Dinner time." The maid said, clearly confused what all three Du Couteau siblings were doing in Talon's room.
When the maid left, Talon turned back to the sisters. "Well?" he asked, still waiting for an answer.
Cassiopeia grinned at him. "It's dinner time. Ask him over dinner."
Dinner had been more than awkward. Talon had refused to outright ask Marcus, since he was still skeptical about the general marrying off one of his daughters. The girls had glared at him while he was enjoying his steak, both waiting for him to ask. They had given him a few kicks underneath the table which would probably result in bruises the next day.
The general had been oblivious to the abuse Talon was going through and had asked about the mission. He had explained it, while dodging the continuous kicks he received.
"I will look into the spy."
The dinner had continued in relative silence until Talon had let out a guttural yelp.
"You alright boy?" Marcus asked.
"Yes." Talon answered with clenched teeth. Something, not a foot, had hit him. "I just bit my tongue is all."
At first he had thought it was a blade in his leg, but Marcus had a rule, no weapons at the dinner table. He looked down and instead saw a fork embedded into his lower calf, the same fork that Katarina had lost a few minutes ago.
From across the table the girls smiled innocently at him, still urging him to ask.
He sighed. "So general... um... is the marriage contract on your desk... active?"
The man in question looked at him amused. "If you were asking if the contract is signed and functional, then no. I haven't signed it yet. I'm still considering the offer."
Talon was done with questioning the general, but Katarina had smiled at him with Cassiopeia's fork in hand this time.
"Is this contract dealing with...a person at this table?" he asked to make sure if it was even about either Katarina or Cassiopeia.
The general raised an eyebrow but answered him. "Yes. Now if you will excuse me, I have some paperwork to finish."
When the general left, Talon exhaled in relief. "Well there you go. There's no denying it."
"Great." Katarina said, giving her sister back the fork. "Talon chickened out."
"I did not chicken out."
"It doesn't matter if he chickened out or not, which he did for the record. We need to stop it."
Cassiopeia had gotten three straws and covered them with a thick cloth. Then she placed them in a way where all the straws were at equal length. "The person who picks the shortest straw has to stop father from signing it." she said before picking out a straw that was clearly the longest. Katarina had picked next and Talon last.
He clutched the shortest straw in his hand as he knocked on Marcus' office door.
"Come in." Talon entered taking a seat in front of the general. "What is the problem?"
Katarina and Cassiopeia had planned out the entire script for him and he simply had to say it.
He took a breath and recited the lines. "I do not believe that arranged marriages should be made in the modern, and sophisticated time period we live in today. Marriage contracts are used by weaklings to enhance their position, whether it be politically, financially or for any other reason. True strength should be proved and honour should be earned, not simply passed over because of a marriage. It is barbaric and I will not stand for it."
Talon exited the office more visibly pale than when he entered.
"So what did he say?" Cassiopeia asked.
"He said that he would not sign the contract." Talon answered, still shell-shocked.
Both sisters sighed in relief.
"Who was the contract for? Who was father going to marry off?"
Talon gulped, squeezing the contract paper in his hand. He managed to utter the words, "It was for me."