Chapter 374: Running Out of Time
"Liam, you need to do something about Thea." Claudia barges into his room without knocking. She doesn’t really care that her brother is half naked and only has towels wrapped around his waist.
"Jesus, Claude!" Liam almost has a heart attack. "Knock, will you?"
Claudia ignores him completely. "You need to take Thea out, bro."
"Out where?" Liam grabs a t-shirt from his wardrobe.
"Out out! Like date out! Aren’t you supposed to pursue her?" Claudia is getting impatient with her older brother.
"Date out? Pursue her? What are you talking about?" Liam decides to act dumb.
Claudia sighs exasperatedly. "Date out, duh! Don’t you like her? Why aren’t you taking her to dinner, movies, you know? The whole thing and makes her officially your girlfriend!"
Liam wears the rest of his wardrobe in silent.
"Well? Don’t you? Like her?" Claudia presses.
Liam closes his wardrobe. "Claude, listen. I do like her. But, not like that." He adds quickly. "I like her as a team mate, a comrade, a colleague. I respect her too. She’s insanely strong and very knowledgeable. So, yeah, I like her. But not like that."
Claudia plops down on the bed.
"I don’t get it. What’s not to like? She’s gorgeous, smart, funny, kind, strong, are only a few things about her. And mom and dad like her too. And her family. We’re practically one family with them. Where else are you going to find a more perfect wife material?"
Liam grabs a towel and starts to dry his hair.
"Maybe because right now, I’m not looking for a wife?"
"Dude, you need to. At least start to look. You’re a Monfort Heir, Liam, whether you like it or not. And, if our family history teaches us something, it is too have children early in life, so that if later on, something happen to any of them, you won’t be too old to have more children."
Liam looks at his younger sister. "You’re still thinking about Aunt Claudette?" He asks gently and takes a seat beside her on the bed.
"Yeah. I was named after her. Mom said, it was to honor her. Who would’ve thought that she would..." Claudia doesn’t finish her sentence.
They both fall silent, remembering their father’s younger sister.
"What about Uncle Harrold?" Claudia tilts her head.
"What about him?" Liam asks.
"Is he also...?" Claudia does not finish, but gestures vaguely with her hand.
Liam nods, and there is something sad in it. "Yes. Uncle Harrold is in a mental institution as well. He was already there when you were born."
Claudia nods slowly. "I do not understand why so many Monforts end up in mental institutions. It makes me anxious about us." She says it quietly.
"Hey." Liam responds immediately. "That is not always how it goes. I am twenty-four and you are nineteen, and neither of us has shown any symptoms. And it does not happen in every generation."
"Come on, Liam. You just said it yourself, I am nineteen. I am not a child anymore. You cannot distract me that easily." Claudia’s voice stays quiet but her words are deliberate.
"Look at our family. The Monforts are one of the oldest original families in Altheon. There are records of us scattered across centuries of history."
She pauses.
"So why are only the three of us currently active? I am not counting Mom, since she does not carry Monfort blood."
Liam says nothing.
"We have no cousins on Dad’s side. None. What about Dad’s cousins? Do they not have children? Because as far as I can tell, no one is either alive or outside a mental institution."
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"I will be gone three days, Mir." Linus says. He is packing while on a video call with Miranda.
"Maybe less. I do not want to leave the kids alone that long, but you know I have to go." His tone is heavy.
"Be careful. Do not exhaust yourself." Miranda’s hologram says.
Linus stops and smiles at her. "I will." He goes back to packing.
"Linus." Miranda calls.
"Hmm?" He does not look up.
"Is something wrong with Claudette or Harrold?" Her tone is full of concern.
Linus stops again and gives her his full attention.
"Harrold’s doctor called. He does not have much time left." Linus says quietly.
"Oh, I am so sorry, Linus. I wish I could go with you. Wait, I can. I will meet you in Aurenvale. I will —"
"No." He cuts her sharply. Then, softer, "No. There is no need for you to come, Liz. Harrold does not remember anyone except me and his doctor. You being there would only agitate him."
"I am not going to see him, you idiot. It is you I am worried about."
Linus smiles. "No need, Liz. I will be alright."
"Are you going to see Claudette as well?" Miranda shifts the topic.
Linus shakes his head. "Not this time. She is still in complete isolation. No visitors. I will go when she is out."
"Isolation? I thought she was already out."
"They put her back in a few days ago. She had a bad episode. Bad enough that they had to restrain her."
"I am so sorry."
"Hey. I am okay. This is not my first time, remember?" He smiles.
But Miranda can see it. Behind the smile, Linus is hurting. Both of his siblings are in mental institutions. And one of them is running out of time.
"How are things in Arvion?" Linus changes the topic, hoping to redirect his wife.
The next few minutes, right up until the call ends, Miranda fills him in on all the mundane things that has been happening there.
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"So you are telling me Mr. Montrose might know you are not Thea?" Maeve’s eyes go wide.
"Keep your voice down." Theo says.
Maeve covers her mouth immediately and looks around. Then frowns. "There is no one in the guesthouse but us. And the Monforts do not come over without knocking or ringing the bell first."
"I know. But we still keep it down." Theo says. Then nods. "Yes. He hugged me and said thank you. For what? I am supposed to be his daughter. Even if he wanted to express gratitude, it would not come out like that."
They are sitting in Theo’s bedroom in the Monfort guesthouse. It has been one week since Arthur returned to Arvion with Maurice, Leila, and Julian.
For the past week, the remaining members of Rhaenas have done nothing particularly significant. Rest, eat well, exercise, sleep. Theo has asked them to consolidate their magic in the meantime, especially Liam, who has reached the next level.
Today, Alicia has gone to the DEU office to attend Captain Chambers’ inauguration as Chief DEU. The ceremony has been postponed more times than anyone can count, and they have finally decided to just do it. So today is a free day for the rest of Rhaenas.
Maeve and Theo had been on a video call with Julian, and when it ended and they kept talking, Theo dropped it.
Maeve takes a slow breath. "What are you going to do?"
"I need to ask him, Maeve. I need to know." Theo says.
Maeve bites her lower lip. "Theo, would it really be so bad if people knew? I mean..." She does not quite know how to finish that.
Theo blinks and waits.
Maeve sighs. "I mean, do they not deserve to know that their youngest daughter, their little sister, is no longer with us?" She finishes quietly.
Theo looks away.
"They do, Maeve. Of course they do." He says, after a beat.
He turns back to her. "But how do I say it? ’Hello, I need to tell you that your daughter is no longer here. What you see in front of you is just her shell.’ Like that?"
"No, of course not. But... something like it." Maeve looks at him, helpless. Lost.
Theo looks at her. "It would be nothing but a relief to tell everyone, Maeve. Tremendous relief. But is it the right thing to do? When should I do it? How?"
"These questions have been occupying my mind since that hug. And I still have not found the answer."
Silence settles over the bedroom.
Maeve looks like she wants to say something, then closes her mouth and sighs instead. She is at a loss too.
Theo looks at her. Really looks at her.
She is twenty-six. Average height. Average face. Common brunette hair, the kind that does not demand a second glance. Even her skin is the ordinary fair tone typical to this part of Altheon. She is so thoroughly average that her presence barely registers in a room.
But the moment anyone looks into her eyes, they stop.
The shape and color of them are nothing remarkable. What stops people is the way they move. The way they sparkle. The way they look at you as though they can see straight through to whatever you are trying not to show. There is nothing you could successfully hide from Maeve Collins’s eyes.
So much emotion lives in them at any given moment. There is a saying that eyes are the window to the soul. With Maeve, it is simply the truth.
For all that her eyes reveal everything about the people she looks at, they reveal just as much about herself. She has never been able to hide her feelings well. Her eyes always betray her.
And right now, those eyes are looking at Theo, pleading and lost.