Sila rested his elbow on Rin’s shoulder. “We could take them, depending on how many protective detail the Heir Imperial brought along with her. Father is always too confident to bother with his. I bet he left them at the loading bay. And the prince…” He shrugged when he met Kel’s gaze briefly. “His Retinue are baubles. He wouldn’t have brought them here for this. He didn’t even contact you to give you fair warning.”
Those words must have hit home because Rin lifted his emblem-slate to check.
“Told you,” Sila said when Rin obviously didn’t find any missed messages.
Kelevra had intended to call, but he’d wanted to get here first and ensure nothing happened to his annoying brother. He’d actually meant well…This was why considering other people’s wishes was a waste of effort.
“You’re discussing treason,” Lyra snapped and Sila lifted a single brow.
“We’re discussing freedom, actually, Heir Imperial. If you’d be so kind as to grant it willingly, no harm has to come to anyone. If you insist on standing by our father…Well. We’ll do what we must to get by you,” the Imposter said.
“We’ll leave immediately,” Rin promised her, clearly trying to make her see reason. His tone was slightly warmer than the one he used with Crate, his eyes pleading. “We can be off Vitality in that hour you gave, and we swear not to return.”
“I have enough funding to secure us safe passage,” Sila reassured. “It’ll take me ten minutes at most to collect my belonging from the Vail University campus.”
Rin’s lips pursed, and it was obvious to Kelevra he knew exactly what his brother was referring to and he did not approve, but he wasn’t going to argue with him over that now.
It truly hit him then that these two could read each other better than anyone. That they couldbeeach other. That they’d been doing it for long enough their own father couldn’t tell the difference and was confused seeing them act this way. And they’d done it on Vitality as well?
The Imposter had said as much. They’d been running around the planet, switching identities like clothing…andno onehad taken notice?
They were brilliant.
And terrifying.
Kelevra fucking loved it.
They’d never pulled that stunt on him because his eye would have detected the physical differences neither of them could control, like how Rin’s body heat tended to flare with his concealed emotions, while Sila burned low with little change.
The person he’d been with this entire time had been his flower, without a shadow of a doubt. Whether he’d lied about his identity to the rest of the world or not, he’d never tried to lie to Kel. Sure, that was most likely because he’d known he couldn’t get away with it, but it was still the truth.
“You aren’t going anywhere,” Kelevra found himself saying, anger and animosity swirling through his gut. His hands clenched into fists and he slipped them into his pockets, doing his damnedest not to give in and cross the room, grab his flower by the scruff of the neck, and toss him to the ground. His inner devil was screaming that he fuck him here and now, for all the occupants in the room to see so they would know who belonged to him.
So his flower would remember that fact as well.
“I told you before.” Finally, Rin looked at him, and the matching anger and betrayal in his mismatched eyes momentarily threw Kelevra for a loop, because what the hell did he have to be angry about? “We go everywhere together.”
“If you’d like to try to separate us,” Sila stepped forward, and Rin didn’t so much as attempt to hold him back, “you’re more than welcome to.”
“No blood on the carpet,” Rin said blandly. “We need that deposit.”
“We don’t,” he disagreed. “I’ve got us covered financially. We’re set, brother. We don’t need them. Any of them.”
“If you attack an Heir Imperial,” Rin added, “we’ll never make it off this damn planet.”
“I won’t,” Sila promised. “She’s the only one here who understands. Don’t you?”
Rin clicked his tongue. “Don’t be rude.”
“Apologies. I meant, don’t you, Heir Imperial?”
The fact that his flower was scolding his brother for rudeness even at a time like this was almost enough to have Kelevra laughing. Because it was just so very him. Lyra had been kind to Rin, and therefore he’d return that so long as she didn’t change her tune on him first.
“I don’t know how you managed to remain oblivious their entire lives, General Varun,” Kelevra said, watching the twins closely. “The two of them are so obviously different it seems more ridiculous to not see it.”
“Ah,” Sila smirked. “Have you decided to be interesting after all? At the final hour?”
“This isn’t the final anything,” Kelevra corrected. “You aren’t going anywhere with what’s mine, Imposter.”
