“Who’s to say,” Sila couldn’t help but taunt, schooling his features the second his brother started to turn so the expression was gone before he could get caught. “I was minding my business, I swear.”
“Really?” Rin lifted a brow. “Is that why I showed up to find you about to—”
“I kept my manners.” In the distance, he saw Bay was still watching and internally bristled. For a second, he’d forgotten all about the professor and his intentions with this little scene. While he wanted to stir things up for Bay, involving him with an Imperial Prince wasn’t on the to-do list.
That wasn’t even what bothered him the most though. For some reason he wasn’t too fond of the idea of Bay looking at both he and his brother together.
Would the professor compare them? Try to search for tells that didn’t exist?
Well, obviously there were some since Kelevra-Fucking-Observant-Diar had caught on, but still. Up until now, no one had ever been able to tell them apart. Getting his hopes up that Bay somehow could would not only be a waste of energy, it’d be pathetic on top of it.
The two of them had continued talking during his distraction, but Sila caught onto the end of an innuendo spoken by Kelevra. Maybe if he pushed his brother past his breaking point, they’d leave and he could get back to work.
The Imperial Prince had suggested he and Rin had shared a lot.
Sila leaned forward. “Do body fluids count now?”
“No,” his brother stated, leaving little room for argument.
When it came to sexual relations, the two of them were complete opposites. He’d never admit it to anyone else, but his brother got off on the idea of losing control in the bedroom, which was something that made Sila’s skin crawl just thinking about.
To his brother, control was a necessary part of their existence.
To Sila, itwastheir existence. Without control, life would be tedious and dull—more so than it already was. There were very few things that kept his interest, no spark that urged him to get out of bed in the morning. There was only the notion that he was better than everyone else and the way he secretly messed with them to prove it.
Sometimes, when the boredom struck particularly hard, he did wish there was an opponent out there capable of keeping his interest in the long term, but experience had mostly dashed that hope. When it came to selecting prey, the requirements were minimal. Anyone he could momentarily fixate on would do. Choosing a competitor was different, more complex. They’d need to be someone who could challenge him, for one. Someone with above average intelligence. Someone observant.
Someone depraved enough not to fear the shadows Sila lived in.
Most importantly, it had to be someone who could give him a run for his money. Considering he was perfect and that was rare?
He wasn’t holding his breath, although…the Devils of Vitality could provide some entertainment and may meet his conditions. Too bad his brother was so against Sila testing them out.
Baikal Void joined their little ragtag gang then and Sila kept his expression blank, even though on the inside he felt his irritation yawn dangerously.
Though he’d been eager for an opportunity to try his hand against them, he wasn’t in the mood to play with the Devils of Vitality at the moment.
Sila understood better than most that just because Bay secretly spied on him, it didn’t mean he was the most important thing in the guy’s orbit. That was why he’d needed to delve deeper into Bay’s life, pick it apart to find a better angle he could use if the professor’s physical attraction to him wasn’t enough to have him lapping from the palm of his hand.
Baikal and Kelevra exchanged mild pleasantries, but Sila didn’t bother paying attention until his brother raised his voice. Whatever they’d been saying, it’d bothered him.
The last thing they needed was for Rin to openly pick a fight with the Devils.
“I’m here,” Sila placed a comforting hand on his brother’s shoulder and leaned in to whisper low enough their company wouldn’t be able to catch the words. “But you and I in the same place is drawing notice.”
The two of them shared an apartment in the city close to campus, though it was technically under Sila Varun’s name, since Rin had a dorm at the Academy like most other cadets. Though they didn’t hide the fact they were identical twins from anyone, they also tried their best not to hang out together on Vail or Academy grounds. It was much easier to establish their own personalities and lives that way, easier for others to see them as separate beings as well.
Their survival depended on that.
Although, since his brother had attracted the Imperial Prince, things might be changing for them soon. One of the rules was they avoided the Devils, which was why Sila had been forced to keep his distance despite the fact they’d make such fun playmates. Since his brother was the one who broke the rule…They should use this to their advantage.
“Does sex on this planet constitute as a claim?” he asked. It was obvious Kelevra thought so, since he’d come all the way here to hunt Rin down. Subtly reminding his brother of the now broken rule was a good way to push him in the right direction—aka, leaving and taking the Devils with him so Sila could get back to plotting.
“No, it does not.” His brother glared at him in warning, knowing exactly what he was up to.
The problem with having lived in each other’s skin for so long was there was no way to pull a fast one on the other.
Suddenly, Kelevra’s hand was on Rin’s arm, and without thinking Sila reacted to the threat, grabbing onto him in turn. Allowing them to figure their shit out and air their dirty laundry was one thing, but if the Imperial Prince posed any true threat to them, Sila wouldn’t stand still.
