268 Old Wounds (17)

Kyro was asleep when pain cut through his dream. He groggily pulled his eyelids apart and saw a fox staring him in the eyes. Iris had her front feet on his chin. Noticing his semi-wakefulness, she screamed at him at the top of her lungs.

Somewhere in his mind, he knew that she probably wanted something from him, but he really didn't want to get up. Was it really the time already?

But as he watched her, the sound from the surrounding world got through the fog in his mind as well. Wasn't that the ringtone of his phone and not the alarm clock? Who could possibly be calling him at such an ungodly hour?

He outstretched his arm and picked the phone from the bedstand table. It took him a couple seconds to make out the caller's id, and then he could only curse him in his mind. Who else could it have been?

"What do you want?" he asked as he closed his eyes again. Iris curled up on his chest to listen in, and he brushed her fur.

"You're actually awake? Nice one Iris! Give her my thanks!" came a cheerful voice from the other end. Gale was way too chipper for the whatever time it was.

As Kyro thought that, he pulled the phone from his ear and checked the clock. Then cursed Gale again. It was freakin' five in the morning.

"Anyway, I did what you wanted. Feel free to pressure Mark about that alliance."

"Wait, you did?" Kyro asked in surprise, his mind clearing up, and he pushed himself up. Iris complained to him in a low whine, then trotted to the side to take up the other pillow. "And you didn't burst into flames? Unbelievable."

He could hear Gale rolling his eyes. "Lo and behold, I actually survived. Thanks for caring for my health."

Kyro chuckled, then grew serious. Getting out of bed, he went to the window and looked at the still dark world outside. "But for real, did everything go well?"

"Could've been worse. I had to slap one idiot and leave the party, but then I took Elise to the gardens. The evening went fine, unless someone is nitpicking."

"You think she will?"

"Nah, I'm more worried about Mark. You think you can get him to join us?"

They talked about it for some ten minutes, sharing ideas about the best way to go about it. There were a couple options, each with their own pros and cons. And a lot of it depended on what Elise would say to her brother.

Once they had nothing more to discuss, Kyro went downstairs to get a quick breakfast and get ready for work. Since he was awake already, he might as well use it to his advantage.

The office building was like a haunted house just after six, with only the token staff around. The guards nodded at him as he passed, and he went to his office.

In a few hours, he called Mark. They didn't talk much, just agreed to meet at ten. Kyro swiftly went through the documents from the day before, then went out. On his way down, he checked online to see how the media was taking Gale's last actions.

As always, he was on the front pages. The photos weren't professionally done, clearly snapped from some hiding place, but it didn't mean they were unclear. A number of them portrayed Gale walking hand-in-hand with Elise through a driveway while a few even had him caught in the house, leaning over to whisper in her ear as she smiled at him.

The media was having a field day with it. They dug out the old rumors, the 'untouchable' title attributed to Elise and speculated what the current happenings meant. Some wondered if it signified that Gale had ran out of new women to date, but that theory was quickly shot down by many angered stars that were still waiting for their fifteen minutes of fame as his one-day paramour.

Shaking his head, Kyro went to the restaurant he'd met Mark at the last time. It was a bit too early to visit such a place, but they only needed a room, and someone on Mark's side owned the place.

When he arrived, the other was already there. He went up and saw Mark sitting at a table with all his attention on a tablet. Frowning, he kept on scrolling through the screen.

"Something interesting?" Kyro asked, coming over. Right away, he saw a photo of Gale with his arm around Elise's waist as he looked somewhere to the right of the camera.

"Your friend went too far. Now she's a laughing stock," Mark grumbled, shutting off the tablet. "That wasn't our deal.

"Wasn't it? How else could it have possibly went?" Kyro shook his head as he sat down opposite. "There's a reason the act of being with him is called fifteen minutes of fame, or more often shame. You got what you bargained for."

Mark was not convinced. As an overprotective brother, he didn't like the idea that he could have had anything to do with his sister being mocked worldwide. He refused to accept it.

"Just forget it. Everyone else will by tomorrow. Elise will become just another woman in the long list of those who had spent an enjoyable evening with him then never met again."

After arguing for a while more, Mark finally accepted the reality. He wasn't happy with it, but Elise had apparently told him that she'd had fun and forbid him from reneging on his offer without a real reason.

That real reason showed up to be something on which real business deals focused. It wasn't common that alliances were made on who went out with who, unless the idea of marriage union was being entertained by the two parties.

"Enough playing around then," Mark said in the end. "You couldn't have hoped that I'd just agree to join you because Gale cleared my sister's name, something he should have done years ago."

Kyro inclined his head, not disagreeing. It was obvious there would be more to it. Mark wouldn't have risen where he was now if he made deals based on emotion alone.

"I have a counter-offer for you, and it has to do with Horten."

"Oh?" Kyro didn't let his interest show. He had an idea where it was going, but he wanted Mark to show more of his cards before saying anything himself.

The other man didn't bother to hide his ambitions. "I want them out of the game. Do you have the capital to be an equal to me in this?"

Having the capital was one thing, but the problem lay in that Dioscuri wasn't in its heyday. The fall had stabilized and they'd soon start rising back up if the deal with the game worked out, but did he really want to pledge himself to another war before he even finished his first one?

It wasn't like he had a bone to pick with Horten Family Group. Oh they had troubled him a lot, but it was business, and he'd have done the same in their position. The rest were just Jane acting out, and she'd gotten her comeuppance.

Then again, if he allied with Mark, Dioscuri's rise to its old heights would be much smoother. On top of that, it would be easier to deal with Horten with assistance than doing it some years later alone. After all, if they butted heads once, there was no doubt it'd happen again.

"You better see if you can match up to me and Gale instead, lone wolf."

Mark sighed, eyeing him thoughtfully. "Not everyone can tame a wild horse. It's your luck to have managed that."

"Tame? No wonder you've got no close friends." Kyro laughed.

If anyone tried to tame Gale, they'd be attempting to bend a shard of glass. They'd just cut themselves before having to leave with nothing to show for it but bloodied fingers.