Page 125
“Sorry to startle you.”
Man, he looked so tired, so disheveled. He was no longer dressed in his thrall outfit, wearing the same jeans as me, but with a white jumper.
“Are you okay?” I asked nervously.
He shook his head as he stood. “I’m… I’m…” He closed his eyes. “I’m struggling and I’m sorry. You’re the last person I should be telling this to.”
Call it some sort of sibling bond rearing its head, but sympathy came thick and fast, along with the need to comfort him.
My brother…
Ugh. No. Being blood didn’t mean a wiping of the slate. At the same time, I didn’t want to flip him the bird and walk away.
I stuffed my hands in my pockets, compromising on standing there to listen. “You can talk to me.”
He opened his eyes, wiping at the escaping tears. “Why?”
“Because you can. I know we’re not on the best of terms, but we’re not enemies either.”
He nodded, wrapping his arms around himself. Rain began to tap on the window behind him, the night sky darkening with a veil of black clouds.
“We were enemies once,” he said. “I hated you for drawing his eyes.” He sniffled. “I’m so in love with him.”
No huge revelation there. “Okay.”
“But not like you are. Nowhere near it. Otherwise, I’d be the one walking out of that room. I would have been the one with the crystal dagger.”
Echoes of the vitriolic lust to kill him made me quiver. “Trust me, you wouldn’t have wanted to suffer that mess.”
“He is worth it.” He flinched, looking disgusted with himself for saying it. “Sorry. I’ll go.”
“No. Don’t go. I’m sorry for your loss, for coming into your life and ruining it.”
“Thank you. And I’m sorry for being so jealous.”
“Love makes us do crazy shit.”
“Like Marie.” His eyes closed again. “I loved her so much. Once. She was my world. The first day I saw her, I knew I’d spend the rest of my life with her. Silly, really.”
“Why?”
“Because how can anyone make such a sweeping decision about their future?” His eyes fluttered open, narrowing slightly. “I think it’s arrogant.”
Erm, okay. I kept my mouth shut, a couple of clapbacks bubbling behind my closed lips.
“Silvanus stole my heart from her,” he added. “And then I broke hers.”
“To the point of cursing me,” I responded. “Us.”
He cleared his throat, his complexion a little on the peaky side. “I never meant to hurt her, but that’s what I mean when I think it’s arrogant to say you’ve found the love of your life. There’s no such thing. There’s always the possibility of someone else.”
He was starting to bug me. “It’s that unfair?”
“How so?”
“It’s your experience, not everyone else’s.”
My brother took a moment to answer. “Let’s not discuss this now.”
