“Everyone who isn’t me is a stranger to him,” the replica corrected. “Everyone who isn’t him is a stranger to me.”
“Oh?” Bay quirked a brow. “Is the Imperial Prince aware of this detail?”
His eyes narrowed. “You’ve heard the rumors.”
“Everyone’s heard the rumors.”
“Figured you’d be above all that garbage, seeing as how you’re a professor and all.”
“Is teaching here the only thing you know about me?” Bay gave in and forced himself to ask. “He hasn’t told you anything else?”
“Like what?” He shook his head. “I already said he hasn’t filled me in about anything. I’m in the dark here.”
“You’re taking a risk by exposing yourself to me right now, aren’t you?” It was a rhetorical question; it was obvious by the way the replica’s gaze hardened in suspicion he’d caught on. “Why is that? Are you worried about your brother? I understand things started off…poorly, but I assure you I didn’t mean either of you any harm.”
“You were just infatuated,” he said. “Yeah, I figured that out already. Let’s get one thing straight here. It isn’t him I’m worried about. It’s you.”
Bay pulled back slightly. “Me?”
“Cut the act. He’s obviously already shown you who he really is, at least to some extent, otherwise you wouldn’t have been able to differentiate between the two of us so easily. You’re a criminal psych professor, you better than anyone should know the type of person you’re getting involved with.”
“We’re…” Bay wasn’t really sure how to put whatever they were into words. “He’s helping me with something and I’m spending time with him in the process.”
“Spending time with him?” He set his hands on his hips in clear exasperation. “He’s toying with you, and you’re letting him. It’s a dangerous game, Bay Delmar.”
“I’m okay with losing.” If it was to Sila? Yeah, maybe it made him pathetic, but Bay was fine with that. As long as Sila kept his promise and Bay learned what exactly transpired between his grandmother and the Shepards, then it didn’t matter what happened to him at the end of all of this.
“Something important you should know about my brother,” he said, hesitant, almost as though he felt like he was about to betray Sila by speaking, but his conscience—which he clearly had even if his twin didn’t—wouldn’t allow him to remain quiet. “It’s not about winning for him. He’s fine with losing so long as he’s entertained in the process. It might seem black and white to you, but it isn’t. Nothing with him ever is.”
“I’m not sure I’m following,” Bay admitted.
“I’m saying,” he hissed, “he might let you win. He might let you lose. You won’t have a choice in the matter either way. And by the end? You may even come to realize you’ve lost when you hoped to win, or won when you’d hoped to lose.”
If he wasn’t already used to Sila talking to him in weird tongue twisters, this conversation might be more off-putting. Bay was struggling to follow still, but at least he could keep his composure throughout.
“We have an agreement.” And for some strange reason, he trusted that Sila would keep his end of it.
“Did you set rules?” the replica, the one who usually went by Rin, asked.
Bay frowned.
“Don’t tell me the two of you shook hands and that was that?”
He thought of it more like they’d sealed the deal with a kiss, but he so wasn’t about to tell Sila’s brother that.
“Just because he’s a college student and five years younger than you,” the replica’s tone eased then, dropping low in warning, “don’t underestimate him. The only reason he hasn’t ended up in one of your case files is because he’s smart and in control. The second he slips up…”
“Are you saying your brother is a murderer?” That seemed extreme, and also not something his twin should be sharing, especially not with a figure of authority like his teacher. Even if the guy clearly didn’t consider Bay as much of an authority figure. Bay was the one checking the doorway this time to be sure they were alone. “You shouldn’t say things like that.”
“Guess he hasn’t mentioned he’s killed in the past.”
Bay blinked at him. “What are you trying to do here, Rin?”
The replica huffed. “Don’t call me that. And I’m not trying to do anything. I just can’t be bothered to clean up my brother’s mess if he makes one.”
“He isn’t going to kill me.” Bay wasn’t actually convinced that was true, but he’d say it now to put an end to this conversation anyway.
It was obvious from the look Sila’s brother sent him, he wasn’t falling for his poorly veiled act.
