They awoke to the door splintering into a billion pieces and sat up, eyes wide and jaws dropped. Commander Illusen strolled in as if he hadn't just blown down the door with his immense auric pressure. His icy gaze fell on them, his eyes narrowing as he took in their position. Fully clothed yes, but in the same bed, between two young men.

"I told you I would not tolerate tardiness," he said, grabbing her arm and practically dragging her out of the bed. "Your tutors are waiting for you."

Zen and Nick tried to stand, Zen yelling curses at the man, but Illusen forced him down without even batting an eyelid. He knew how to use his aura to intimidate and enforce.

"You can't do this to her!" Zen choked out, dropping to his hands and knees.

"Stop it!" Sun tried to shake out of Illusens hold, punching against his arm. "Stop!"

Illusen turned away, tightening his hold on her arm; she was sure it was going to bruise.

"We will return to the estate," he said. They had drawn quite a crowd—the other boys in the dorm—and he did not wish to make more of a scene in front of so many. Rumours would be flying tomorrow no doubt. Perhaps he had been too hasty when he blasted the door off.

Once in the quiet of the carriage, he let her go, indicating for her to sit. He took a seat opposite her and by the door. He wouldn't put it past her to dive out of a moving carriage.

"How could you do that!? You can't treat them that way? What is wrong with you!? They're family!"

He resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. Why could she not just fear him like everyone else? It would make things much easier. He had rarely come across anyone so difficult in all his adult years.

"Those boys are no relation of yours," he said. "You have a reputation to uphold now; sleeping with strange boys in their beds will certainly tarnish it. You're already fighting an uphill battle."

"They're not 'strange boys.' And the rest of the academy thinks we're having sex anyway. So what? We know the truth of it."

The whole academy assumed they had some kind of triadic relationship going, she'd seen some pretty graphic doodles in the girls bathroom, and she'd heard the whispers and the gossip. That kind of bullshittery had died down after a few years of it having been started; people still assumed, but they stopped caring. It was old news.

She wanted to strangle Illusen though. Zen and Nick were her family; blood wasn't the only thing that made one, and fuck him if he thought otherwise. She wished she could work up the courage to actually tell him so. As angry as she was with him, she could tell from his presence he could be a fearsome man, and she did not want to push him too far. She would have to try and get this guardianship dissolved as discreetly as possible as well. If he got wind of it before it happened, who knew what he would do?

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-

Sun was shuffled off to her lessons in a larger room in the house, sparsely decorated, and going by what furniture and decorations it had, she had no idea what function this room served. Unless it really was just dedicated to training Illusen ladies.

There were several women there waiting for her, and once Kalys left her with them, they bustled around her, taking her in, offering unwanted critiques of her posture, her hair, her skin, the disdain on her face...

It was going to be a long fucking night.

During the etiquette lessons she was given a couple of little cake things, but that was nowhere near enough to sate her hunger. She had missed dinner and was too stubborn to admit she was hungry. She didn't want him coming back with an 'I told you dinner was at seven.' But it was fine; she could handle it. Most of her childhood was spent starving. While she hadn't missed it, it definitely wasn't a foreign feeling.

By the time she had been allowed to crawl into bed that night, she had learnt several things.

Flower arrangement was stupid and tedious. Piano was not as easy to learn as she had initially thought—for her instrument, she had chosen piano; she had figured it would be easy to pick up. String instruments looked hard, producing all those notes with only a few strings. With the piano, every key had a set note; all she'd have to do was remember. She had been wrong. She had no idea how music worked at all. Nor did she have much of an ear for it.

They decided to circle back to music and try her at dance instead. And that was something she did well with, at least.

As a noblewoman, she was expected to dress a certain way. For every single lesson, they had her dressed in layers upon layers of dress. She would admit, the final effect was beautiful. But it was hard to move in; she found herself tripping over her skirts and unable to breathe easily in her corset. Who would have thought being a noble would be so torturous?

Then there were her etiquette lessons. She wasn't allowed to swear or even use lesser curses; she was expected to be meek and demure at all times and to address everyone of rank with honorifics. Her laugh was too boisterous, it was unladylike to glare, her smile was too wide, her emotions were too easy to read, she must take smaller bites when she ate, she had no manners, no elbows on the table, and her posture was terrible. Her hands hurt from all the whacks to the back of them every time she did something wrong.

To her credit, apparently she was very graceful in her movements when she wasn't tripping over her skirts.

She had to learn to bow in a way befitting of her new rank. No more bending at the waist until she was practically at a ninety-degree angle. She had to bend slightly at the knees with a polite incline of her head and her hands should be over top of each other in front of her, not at her sides balled into fists. This new bow was to be used even to her superiors at Perdition. She was ranked now, and she must behave befitting of her station at all times, no matter where she was. She had no intention of bowing like a princess to her Perdition instructors; it was just too pompous. And then there were certain people she had to curtsey to. Ridiculous...

She had snorted in amusement when her tutor told her such and had received another whack to the back of her hand with the pointy stick. It is unladylike to snort, and you will show the proper respect to your instructors at all times.

Then there was how she must treat her brother - that still felt strange to think, having a brother.

Sun wasn't sure he would even like her calling him brother. She was just an obligation to him; his sense of pride and honour wouldn't allow him to just get rid of her.

Her stomach growled, and she half expected another slap and an 'it is unladylike to exhibit any kind of bodily function.'

When she was finally allowed to crawl into bed, it came as a massive relief.

Lying there, in the huge bed in the dark, it gave her some time to process everything, which she hadn't had much of a chance to do.

But aside from how unreal it all felt, given how tired she was that was as far as she got before falling asleep.