Food for the soul (part 1)

She bit her cheek, observing the emotions that swirled across Egon's face.

While it was true that she owed Andreas for saving Egon's life, she also had familial ties with the ancient one. After all, he was the man her sister loved. With Egon as her husband or not, Andreas was like a brother to Adela.

An uninvited image flooded her mind: Andreas with long hair, tangled in the sheets with a sinister woman, seemingly in control but enduring emotional and sexual abuse. How many years of this torment had he endured, all in the name of mixing his blood with the Empress's bloodline and safeguarding Larissa even before they'd met?

Was it his destiny to become nothing more than Larissa's shadow after everything he'd sacrificed to protect her?