The Billionaire’s Secret Quartet (Thalassa and Elowen)

"What? Hertha dumped you?" Ethan exclaimed, feeling Alaric's forehead again. "Whoa, you're burning up. That's one nasty fever." Alaric swatted Ethan's hand away with force, visibly annoyed. "I'm lying here dying, and you're still in the mood to make fun of me?" "I'm not making fun of you, man. I'm worried about you," Ethan said, struggling to keep a straight face.

Alaric gave him a sidelong glance. "Since when are you so kind-hearted?"

"You're doing me dirty, man," Ethan protested. Then, leaning closer to Alaric, he whispered, "Bet you never saw this coming. You, the heartbreaker, getting your heart shattered. Well, what goes around comes around, huh?"

Ethan couldn't help but laugh, his chest heaving with each chuckle. Only a true friend could joke about something like this.

"You wouldn't understand love if it hit you in the face," Alaric muttered, turning his head away.

"True, I don't get love. But I do know that if you keep this up, you're gonna end up dead. Not from this fever, but from starvation," Ethan said with a laugh.

"Just leave if you can't help me," Alaric grumbled, pulling the blanket over himself.

"Fine, I'll go talk to Hertha. She lives next door to you, right?" Ethan got up, ready to leave.

gone, replaced by a look of sincere distress. "Don't go to her," he said, his voice tinged with a sadness that wasn't there before. "She

was about to crack another joke but stopped short at the sight of Alaric's genuine

shouldn't go?" Ethan

his head.

last meeting, Hertha's irritated and

had made it clear,

something dirty and unwelcome: Alaric knew that his

deal-breaker for Hertha.net

would only make things

the first time, Alaric

any

the subject.

a sulking child, "I don't wanna. I don't want to get out

day. If we don't get you to a hospital, you're seriously gonna do yourself in," Ethan said,