Catrina, his sister.

The door opened, and his older sister Catrina stepped through. She was a sight to behold. She stood only a hairs breadth shorter than her little brother. Long, straight hair of the same colour as her brother, pale green eyes and an upturned nose—her cutest feature. He knew from their times at the lake that below her blue gown she was just as lovely, her shapely legs trained from horse-riding and swimming, the cute bottom that crowned them, her taut belly and perky breasts.

Alan knew it was wrong to look at his sister in such a way, but any man would be moved by such sensual beauty. Besides, she was the only other girl his age in his life, he had no real choice. He was the son of a foreign fugitive, hardly marriage material for any noble girl and meeting them in the first place was nigh impossible, they would not visit the villa and he couldn’t leave.

Of course, there could be serving girls, but for one reason or another all the staff in the villa was male. Sometimes he cursed his preferences in sexual partners—if he was bi- or homosexual things would have been easy.

It did not help matters that Catrina loved teasing him about the times she had fun with the “help”—maybe because she knew there were no other girls around. But it was all very affectionate, and the moments spent with his sister were some of the bright spots in his life.

‘G’ Morning, Catrina. You look very lively on such a gloomy day. Got lucky yesterday?’ he said with a wide grin.

‘Wouldn’t you like to know, little brother. All I can say is that you should get to know Michael a bit better, it’s well worth the effort,’ she winked at him.

‘Would you stop trying to get me to bed other men!’ Alan rebutted with a scrunched face, ‘It’s gross.’

‘If you ever want to lose that virginity of yours, you should widen your horizons. Or do you plan on ravishing your dear sister? That’s wrong, you know,’ she said with mock indignation, revelling in the reaction she was getting from her brother.

‘What?! No, no! I would never think of doing something like that!’ he cried, panic in his voice.

‘O, really? You were checking me out when I walked in, Al~. Don’t even try to deny it,’ she nearly sang while pointing an accusatory finger at Alan.

‘I-I. Alright, I admit I might have done that. B-But that doesn’t mean anything, Cat. You know you’re stunning, even I can see that. I-It doesn’t mean I want to do you—do anything with you—O, Gods, what am I saying!?’ he turned to the balcony again, embarrassed at his clumsy defence.

Like a panther on the prowl his sister came up behind him, hugged him tightly and whispered in his ear.
‘Please don’t be upset. I’m only teasing you—as ever—and you’re far too easy, little brother,’ she said with a musical giggle, ‘I know you would never do anything that I didn’t want you to do—but you really ought to sneak out to the town and find a nice girl to show you the ropes someday, Al. You're missing out.’

He sighed, tension leaving his body in his sister’s embrace.
‘If it was so easy don’t you think I would have done so by now? These guards aren’t amateurs, sometimes I think some of them might be magical creatures in disguise,’ he bemoaned.

‘Hmm, I haven’t come across one of those yet. Want me to check really thoroughly?’ she started her teasing again.

He turned in her arms and was now facing his sister eye-to-eye.
‘No, you should be careful who you have—ahm—relations with, Cat. We don’t know these people and if one is a magical creature I’d not want you to find out first-hand!’ he said trying to be as assertive as he could muster.

She gently touched his cheek.
‘Relax, Alan. I was joking. I am being careful. I’ve found my playmates among the staff and they are decent blokes, I promise. And you won’t have to worry about being an uncle anytime soon either, ok?’ she said holding his gaze to make sure he knew she was being truthful.

Alan let out a deep breath and nodded to his big sister.

She moved towards him and rubbed her cute nose to his, as they liked to do.
‘Gods, Al, you’re so adorable when you’re upset,’ she started teasing once more.

Alan rolled his eyes at his sister—clearly, she was in a quite a playful mood that morning.
‘Very funny, Sis. Did you come here just to make my cheeks stay flushed for the rest of the day or did you want something?’

‘Can’t a girl spend some time with her dearest brother?’ she said feigning innocence, ‘anyhow, there was one thing: Father told me to fetch you, he’s waiting for you in his study—something about grand plans.’

His eyes went wide with shock.
‘And you’re telling me just now?! He’ll have me scrubbing the yard and sweeping the halls for being late!’ he cried while removing himself from her hug and making for the door.

‘Sorry, I got distracted~,’ she said, stepping aside.
‘Don’t I get some thanks for fetching you?’

He let out a groan and quickly turned towards his sister giving her a peck on the cheek. She didn’t look as happy about getting her way as he might have imagined. Did she expect something else?

‘Thanks, Cat. I better hurry,’ is all he said before storming out of the chamber.

Catrina remained standing while absentmindedly playing with a strand of her hair, looking at the open door. She sighed.
‘Maybe someday I’ll have the courage to tell you, Al,’ she said quietly.