Page 27 of Is It Wrong to Escape My Fate? (Dealing With Fate #1)
“Do you not get along?” I knew they didn’t spend time together when we were kids, because Amos was busy being trained by their father, while their mother doted on Elias. But this information was from six years ago; a lot of things could have changed.
“It’s not that.” His golden eyes stared at mine. “We’re just very different. When he started attending school, he never went back home. Only sent letters to our parents. We may share our blood and looks, but we’re essentially strangers to one another.”
I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the two of them. To be siblings but not share a bond was tragic. Familial ties were a big deal to me, but I knew not everyone had the same sentiment. Having close family members guaranteed you a not lonely life, theoretically.
Eli stroked my head. “Don’t be sad. We’re okay for the most part. And if you’re friends with him, we can give you different experiences, you know?”
What he said was innocent, but my mind went immediately to the gutter, remembering the experience I had with Amos. That was definitely something different.
He stopped stroking my hair, his nostrils flaring. “That turned you on?”
Oh, god. Of course Elias could tell, too!
I scrubbed my cheeks as if it would get rid of the redness.
“I’ve been having a wild streak lately. Ignore me.
” Quick, think of something else to talk about!
“By the way, about my foggy memories … Mia told me what happened during my debutante ball. From the perspective of onlookers, at least. I couldn’t help but feel something more happened. ”
Eli frowned. “What do you mean?”
“She told me I played with a stove, caught my dress on fire, and jumped into a fountain to extinguish it. But it doesn’t seem like the whole story. Why did I escape my party in the first place? Why was my dress ripped too, aside from burned? Details weren’t clear.”
Now it was Eli’s turn to be embarrassed, his cheeks pinkening. “Right. We should find a quiet spot to talk about it.”
This piqued my curiosity even more. Where could we go where Mia and my bodyguards wouldn’t find me for a few more minutes?
I would never have thought of the armory, but I guessed that made it a good choice.
Elias returned his training sword to one of the weapon racks attached on the walls.
There was a vast assortment of weapons available, even the ones I never thought were feasible to use in actual combat aside from video games.
It made me think since magic could boost someone's combat ability.
If I were going to train a weapon specialty, which one should I choose?
Definitely something weird and unusual, because that would be entertaining.
While badass, a whip was a classic girl weapon, so not that.
Maybe I could train with a gunblade! Or a lightsaber!
“You should start with basic knives first before moving to specialized weapons,” Eli murmured, studying me with a smile. How did he know what I was thinking about? “And before you ask, your face is giving all your thoughts away. I’ve known you for a long time; I can read you like an open book.”
God fucking dammit. I was a walking neon sign that glowed pink so people could read me easily.
“What happened at the party?” I huffed, changing the subject without preamble.
Eli laughed quietly first before turning serious. “You really don’t remember, do you?”
“I know in the deepest recesses of my heart that I did something terrible to you, but I can’t remember. And any other details of that day,” I confessed.
Elias blushed as he gestured to a closed trunk, imploring me to sit.
“I won’t use the word ‘terrible’, but I did feel awful.
I guess anything would be awful to a thirteen-year-old.
Can’t say it’s your fault since I had a hand in it too.
” He waited for me to sit before he continued, crouching down in front of me. “It actually went something like this.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Us sitting down?” It didn’t bring any memories.
“Yes.” He held my hands, looking straight into my eyes. “I asked you to see me behind the kitchens when no one was around. Everybody was busy with the party, and you had completed your mandatory dance. We sat down like this, and I held your hands.” His grip tightened. “Anything?”
I shook my head. “I still don’t remember. Although, I recalled you having long hair when we were kids.”
Eli smiled gently. “Just the long hair?”
“We used to play dress up. That’s it.” Was there anything else?
“I think that’s what shocked you the most,” he mumbled.
“You thought I was a girl our entire childhood, and I never corrected you because I was afraid you’d stop visiting and playing with me.
So, on your debutante ball, I decided to be honest and admit the truth — that I was a boy and I liked you the whole time. ”
Oh, my god. Now I could see how that would be a colossal mess between the two of us.
Eli went on. “It wasn’t surprising you mistook me for a girl.
My mother dressed me up as one from birth until puberty.
When it’s becoming clearer that I wasn’t one, she got tired of me.
By then, my father hated me, and I was estranged from Amos.
But I digress.” He swallowed. “I wanted you to see me as a boy, Ela. But I guess it’s hard when I still had my styled, long hair and a fluffy party dress on.
“I decided the best way to show you was to sit you down and confess, and then after, I would kiss you to show my sincerity.”
I couldn’t help it — I cringed, my body flinching. “That didn’t work out well, did it?”
He chuckled. “It went to fucking hell. After the kiss, you were so mad you started insulting me, angry at me for withholding the truth for years, and at the end, slapped me for the audacity.”
Honestly, I wasn’t surprised I had it in me to do that.
“I got mad too. I had this grand vision of you accepting me immediately and we’d be together forever.” Eli sighed, letting my hands go. “The worst part of the event happened.” He stood up and walked to the other end of the room, composing himself.
It must have been so terrible he had to calm down. I stayed in my seat, patient, as Elias found the gall again to continue his story.
Facing me, his golden eyes shone against the light peeking through the small window of the armory. “My Unique triggered for the first time. And you got caught in the middle of it.”
Trying to recall what his Unique was didn’t help. My brain had very selective memory, it seemed like.
Elias blushed again, though from embarrassment or shame, I couldn’t tell.
“I’m a dragon shifter. Your dress caught in my claws, and I also singed it with my fire breath.
We were both so stunned we didn’t notice the fire worsen.
I splashed the fountain water at you. By then I had to hide in the forest since I couldn’t control the shift, while you ran back inside the manor.
I didn’t know why you left.” He smiled. “Then I found a perfectly fine dress at the edge of the forest. The shift tore my clothes into shreds.”
All this information fried my brain. I needed a second to process it.
Shifters did exist in this realm, and my best friend was one.
A dragon shifter! It wasn’t hard to theorize their lineage probably had dragon shifters too, hence their Drakon family name.
Was Amos a dragon? There would be differences to be considered Unique, right?
But if it was normal for their family to be dragons, why wasn’t this information a big deal?
I would assume dragons were great, powerful entities.
And I didn’t imagine it — Elias did like me that way. Or at least he used to. I had to commend the kid him for having the guts to kiss me, even though it spawned an unpleasant situation.
His explanation of the events made more sense, too. I wasn’t running away from something like Mia described; I was hurrying to get Elias a spare dress.
Eli walked over and crouched again. “I expected rumors to come up that I was a dragon shifter. But it never did. You never told a soul about my Unique. I was able to keep it a secret all these years.”
“You didn’t want anyone to know?”
He shook his head. “Dragons, and dragon shifters, hadn’t existed for hundreds of years.
If anyone found out before, I would probably be under the King’s direct watch.
My father would think I hid it from the family so I could usurp him in the future.
My mother, who already hated me for being male, would hate me even more.
Amos would be proud of me, but his claim to my father’s position would be questioned since I was a more ‘powerful’ choice, proving my father right. ”
God, I hated the fucking nobility and its politics.
“But surely you can’t hide it forever?” I reached out for his hands this time and held them together.
“Right. I’m thinking of revealing it during the mandatory Army conscription. By then, Amos should be appointed as the new Viscount, I’m protected in the Royal Army, and I can use my Unique to help the war effort.”
That was a perfect plan. I wanted to be there to see it. I didn’t like the concept of hiding your true self from everyone, as hypocritical as it sounded with my current situation. Being able to show the world who you truly are would be a monumental accomplishment.
But I couldn’t stay here and wait for his plan, or it would be too late for me.
Instead, I leaned close and kissed him, like the one he deserved all those years ago for being my best friend and for giving me an enjoyable childhood. He immediately responded, tilting his head and nipping my lip, his tongue seeking entrance.
I pulled away before the kiss turned deeper. Set boundaries. “Eli, there’s something you have to know first.”
His cheeks were flushed, and his eyes glistened. Was he crying?