There was a pause and then, “…What’s wrong?”
His brother, ever the perceptive asshole. Like his fucking Imperial Prince. Geniuses the both of them. It’d be a miracle if the entire planet didn’t go up in flames with an Imperial family like the Diars in charge. And now his brother was tied to that.
And Sila had encouraged it.
Fuck.
“Brother?” there was a note of actual concern in his voice. “Where are you? I’m coming.”
“Don’t,” he clipped, closing his eyes in yet another attempt to focus the rage causing a tempest to rise and swirl within himself. He felt like his skin was on fire and his head was about to split open and spill out all over the polished floorboards.
He scowled at his injured hand, reminded of the mess he was already making. A trail of blood from the chair to the two feet he’d moved painted the ground in red, visible even in the low lighting of the room.
He’d left the hallway light on, but otherwise hadn’t bothered operating any of the light orbs he had strewn about the ceiling. This place wasn’t one he frequented too often, especially since he’d only just purchased it a week ago, so it was also pretty barren. There was a bed, a large four poster king sized monstrosity, but he’d ignored that when he’d entered, dragging Bay’s body behind him.
He could have easily carried him, but his anger had gotten the best of him and he’d opted to pull him through the house by the ankle instead. If Bay woke with a couple of lumps on his head from where he’d whacked against the flooring? Served him right.
“Something happened,” his brother said, waiting a moment for a reply that wasn’t going to come before adding, “This is the part where you reassure me you have everything under control.”
But he didn’t. He didn’t have it under control. Not any of it.
“Where are you?” his brother repeated, and he could hear him moving around on the other end of the line, no doubt preparing to come find him.
“Stay away,” Sila warned, and his voice actually shook slightly. He tightened his injured fist, digging his nails into the fresh wound. “If anyone comes near him right now, even you, I don’t know what will happen.”
Bay could wake at any moment and if there was someone else here he could call to for help…Sila would kill them. He’d do it without thinking, without stopping to see who the other person was first. If his brother walked through the front door right now, not even he would be safe from Sila’s chaos and that—
“Stay away,” he said a second time, almost pleadingly now. He’d never begged for anything a day in his life, but begging for his brother’s safety was the same as begging for his own.
Wasn’t it?
Was it still?
“We’re the same,” he mumbled, and though it was meant for himself his brother heard.
“We are,” his brother agreed.
No, that wasn’t right either.
“We aren’t.” Sila shook his head. “You have the Imperial now.”
“Is that what this is about?”
Was it?
“That doesn’t change anything for us,” his brother insisted. “You and I are still the same. We’ll always be the same.”
Sila was not the same. Not the same him.
“I’m not myself.” He snorted. “What does that even mean? Who even am I?”
There was another long stretch of silence and then, “Okay, I’m going to be honest, brother, I’m worried now. Like, full-fledged freaked the fuck out. What’s going on?”
What was going on? He wished someone would tell him because then whatever it was could stop. This wasn’t his usual state of being. Sila always understood exactly what he was feeling and why. It helped that he didn’t have that many emotions on his personal checklist to go through.
To be fair to himself, he didn’tnotunderstand this time. It was just, he didn’t know where it was all coming from. The professor had kept him so distracted, Sila hadn’t really stopped to consider the things going on with his brother or how it would affect them as a whole. It was true he’d been supportive, if not even a little pushy, but it was also true that the two of them were unhealthily attached to one another.
Codependent, in some sense of the word.
