Page 12

Luna

I couldn't believe them: the clomping footsteps, the whispers under their breaths, the constant bickering. Gritting my teeth I glared down my own two feet adored with shoes that cost more than the head on my shoulders. A scrap of clothing I had flung at me the night before, caressed my skin.

"I can't have you going around looking like a rat who'd just crawled her way out of the sewers now can I?"

The boy had tossed the blue glittering gown at me last night all the while glaring like I was some thorn under his paws; slamming the door in my face the moment he finished his ' task '.

He couldn't just leave without insulting me, could he?

Still, he was far more preferable in my opinion to the melodic smiles, and crazed eyes of his other half. That girl, she's never been right in the head. Quite frankly I'm sick of how many secrets she keeps around her. It was too much, even for a fae.

Then yesterday after that annoying first meeting, we all agreed to have a more formal greeting with the king in his study as the “ ambassadors” of Dracool . But if you ask me I couldn't care less. I hated everyone here, but for some odd reason, that boy needed me to attend.

I looked down at the atrocity that was my dress. For one I knew he gave me this on purpose. All that bright blue and sparkles, hasn't he heard of being modest or decent? The V-neck basically reached my waist showing off my cleavage and silk-like maroon skin. At least the dress was long, cutting off near the end of my ankle. As for the jewelry, he didn't offer me any. I would have been happier if he'd given me some jewelry instead of this dress. I even had to find some heels on my own. I could have talked to Flynn and found a more decent dress. But, I didn't want to talk with him yet. Not until I finished what I needed to do.

Speaking of Flynn I wonder if he remembers everything now, but then again was this really the Flynn I know? He seemed different. Same body, and intelligence, but something was off about him. I can't quite pinpoint it, yet the feeling won't go away. His obsession with the girl on the other hand was still the same as always.

Taking a small glimpse from my peripheral vision I spotted the blond-haired beauty. I scowled at her piercing golden eyes as she just stared at me. Creepy as always, even without her memories, she's still as slippery and slimy as a snake. I'll never understand what Flynn sees in this girl. If only he didn't get involved with her then, perhaps things would have turned out differently.

Upon a second glance, I noticed something odd. It was faint but there was a blue layer of magic coating her body. Did she always have that blue hue around her or was this an after-effect of what that boy has been doing to her? Because only an idiot wouldn't know that the boy, despite all his claims of wanting to protect her, was most definitely doing something to the girl.

Is this the after-effects of messing with her mind?

Returning my gaze to the blond ahead of us, or to be more precise at his back, a view more pleasant to look at than his obnoxious face if you ask me. His face was always too arrogant for my liking, too much like my brothers. A brother I had no intention of seeing until the heavily guarded double doors opened, and deep red tourmaline eyes looked straight back at me.

Scowling I wished I hadn't thought of the bastard. Perhaps it was my thoughts that had manifested the man. There he stood in his tailored black suit and red tie. The only untainted thing about that man would have to be his pressed-down white dress shirt.

What is he doing here for gods sake? Was he not supposed to be our enemy? Wait, wasn't he the one in charge of those blasted shadows? Is this some kind of mind game he was playing?

Glaring at his charming and fake smile I knew he knew that I knew he also had all his memories. Of course he would, that was to be expected. I don't know why I hoped he wouldn't after all like me he was a true Phoenix . As such we will always remember our past lives. No matter how many times we reincarnate we will always remember. It was more like a curse than a blessing.

Which was strange, because I have no idea how I first died. In all my other lives, I have always remembered my last breath. Yet, I can't seem to recall the first of my many deaths since. All I remember was a flash of light then nothing, and suddenly I was a baby again. But I know who killed me that deadly light couldn't have come from anyone else but her, the girl, she must have done it. Or perhaps my brother was the one to have killed me in my first life as well. In many of my past reincarnations, before these two bastards found me again, he was the one to kill me time and time again.

Glaring daggers at the man who was once my most trusted ally. My brother and a great brother he was.

I struggled to keep my sneer inside as I averted my gaze from my so-called brother.

He, on the other hand, didn't hesitate to toss me aside like a ragged doll the moment something caught his fancy. I learned that fact in my first life.

In my first reincarnation after my first death, I was killed by him, a man I'd known since my very birth whom I'd sworn my life to protect and guard as he would me, stabbed me in the back. Which only made me feel even more foolish. If he had been so willing to murder our parents for power, why not me?

Even if I did kill our mother as he killed our father, I was at least more merciful and ended her existence quickly. Besides the whole idea was his, so in truth it was he who truly killed both our parents. Not that they didn't deserve it but still my brother could have shown some mercy toward our father. He did not have to drag out his death to such an extent.

But my brother wasn't called the King of Blood for Nothing. He didn't want to end my father's life so mercifully. No, not to the father who'd tormented, beaten, and abused him. Not to the man, who hadn’t even shown the tiniest of kindness to his heir. Who had mercenaries and assassins on his payroll to kill off his own son. No, my brother dragged our father's soul, his body, mind, and heart, if he had one, to the furthest extent that he could. My brother tortured it. Ripped it to shreds before he finally ended it all some seven hundred sun cycles later.

Magic can do wonders, once you know the right spells and ruins.

I remember that one time, he dragged our father's breathing limp body around like a puppet in the Phoenix Court royal arena. At that point, my father's body was so famished and torn it was like paper ribbons drifting in the wind. The crowd had watched as they cheered on my brother's madness. As he revived our father's corpse time and time again with ruins only to tear it all down again over and over, and over. He must have killed and resuscitated our father's flesh more than a hundred times.

I would be lying if I said I never indulged in watching the scene. After all, our father beat me too. Whips, canes, or belts, I remember those days. How I would plead for my father to use his belt instead of his spike-ridden leather whips. Those were the better days when he used the belt and not his discipline tools .

I always wondered how he was planning to sell me off with all those scars on my back, but he always healed me. He made sure I was the perfect doll . My mother, the compliant bitch that she was, always looked the other way. But looking away wasn’t good enough for her. No, my father might have been my brother's tormentor but my mother was mine. In other words, she wasn't any better. I can't remember the times before they became so cruel.

I guess my brother sold me off too. The difference was my brother asked me, and my father didn't. Of course, I did agree at the time, when I still loved him as a brother.

A marionette, I suppose that's all I was to anyone, a pawn people could use then toss away when I wasn’t needed anymore. I wasn't a sister or daughter. I was a doll with strings to pull me right and left.

My brother told me I had to charm my way into a man's pants, a king's heart. And I did, I willingly did so, for what? Power, of course. Was it even a question, in a world of fae and glamour, what else is there to gain?

Aside from my brother I cared for little else, at the time.

He was my best friend.

My brother was all I really had back in the early years of my first life. But then I met him. It was slow at first, but I soon fell in love. His brown hair, his charming smile, his soft gaze. I loved him, and when my brother sought to fulfill his conquest, to have my hands stained with my lover's blood. I refused.

For the first time in my life, I found something I truly loved. That I honestly cared for besides the twisted fates that had been thrown at me, the corrupt manner in which I was raised, the obsessive prowess of my Winter Court friend, and the hatred I felt towards everything else. I finally saw joy. He taught me that power might not be everything in this world.

At first, it was hard to believe but then I slowly understood what he meant.

Love.

That was far greater than any form of hatred, or title, even gold.

Killing my mother was the redemption for the pain and sorrow she caused me. My father was a dictator, not that my brother was any better but at least slavery was well deserved and not whipped into the innocent. At least there was food on tables and not scraps of rat tails on dinner plates. For that, I will commend my brother. For a time that was what made me look up to him in a way. But that small dropping of kindness was just that. A small drop in his massive rain of terror.

My lover showed me something better than royalty, than just ruling a court, because that's what I have been doing, ruling over my citizens. Looking after my friend. All I ever did was for my kingdom, but when I finally wanted something for myself-

I even offered alternatives to his conquest.

He didn't need my lover's life on a silver platter.

He didn't need it.......

Yet, I foolishly thought my brother would care for me.

On the day of our wedding, my lover and I had been idiotic worms ripe for the picking. Our trust was naive. I told my lover that guards weren't necessary despite his insistence. That if my brother did try anything I would protect us. That was such a foolish thing for me to say. For what my brother did, even I had not thought of it.

He told me he would help officiate our mortal wedding, a joining of two souls. This was something the fae with no magic and humans loved to do, and I found it amusing, nice, special. So I wanted to do it with my lover, seeing as he was hesitant about completing our mating bond with magic. Only true soulmates would have been able to form that bond. With how happy we made one another it was no doubt that he was the one for me. So I didn’t need the traditional mating bond ties to confirm our love.

I had embraced my fiance in joy. It was then, in my moment of weakness, my brother struck. Plunging a cursed dagger straight through my lover's heart from behind, severing his soul in two, as we kissed to seal the vows we had made. It was then as my lover fell, as I sobbed, my brother smiled, a white tooth grin stained with blood, the blood of my fallen lover, as red pooled beneath his still form.

"Sister, don't you see. We don't need anyone, we don't need the false kindness of others. Don't you see? I’ve freed you now. My dear sister. Look at me. My dearest little sister, come look into my eyes and see your truth. I am saving you from being tied to this bastard of a king." He’d told me, his crisp silk-like voice, a voice that has fooled many others called to me. And I did so, but what I saw was not by any means kind or caring. It was a gaze I'd seen many times before, but for the first time, I saw the true wrongness in it.

The crazed madness of his terror finally sunk in as I let the scene before me tear me apart. His kind smiles and charming captivating grins, reflect the empty bitter look of what was once reflected in my own eyes. The nonchalant gaze I cast over everything and nothing.

Was I horrified?

No.

Perhaps that was what was wrong with me. That I didn’t know when to back down.

Solidifying my emotions I let the remaining tears fall down my cheeks. Maybe, I could have falsified it all, tried to get my vengeance another way. But he deserved better than my false acts, my lover. I could still feel the rippling pains from that day as my heart was ripped from my rib cage. I stood, tears burning my eyes as I gazed at the King of Shadows, my brother, because I was never going to be his Queen of the Fire, at least I wasn't going to be anymore.

My brother and I weren't going to marry. If we were, I wouldn't have been given a fiancé. Instead, his wife would be nothing more than just that, a political bridge holding two families together. The same would have been said for my own husband. But the power would remain in both me and my brother's hands. We didn't trust anyone else back then. But now I knew better than to ignore the squawkings of a crow. No doubt that power would never have been shared. My brother would have always kept it all to himself.

"Yes, you're right. I don't need the false kindness of anyone, theirs or yours. I told you I loved him, false as it may have been at first, his kindness was true. I still love him, and you didn't trust my judgment on the matter. You ended the life of my only hope in this accursed world, and I will have your life in return." I declared as I walked out composing my emotions behind my walls once more, I masked my pain, my anger, my grief. I wasn't even allowed to attend his funeral as his family had believed I partook in their son's murder.

Since that day my brother and I haven't been the same. Not long after my brother sought out a girl, a blond viper. Her brilliant smile of a thousand secrets.

I smiled because my brother finally seemed to care for someone else.

Someone I could use against him.

Despite my fury, my brother must have had some idiocy inside his brain, for he kept me by his side. But he did take away my crown at some point. It was after that I was little more than a pretty little bird to look at.

One thing I knew for sure no matter what my brother did was that I had to kill her. I had to make him feel that same pain I felt. So I poisoned her, killed her, or so I thought. Little did I know we would get reincarnated, all of us.

I still don't know how I died in my first life. I assume it was my brother in retaliation for his lover's death. Or perhaps the girl because she knew I was the one to poison her? No, that can't be right, for she wouldn't have entrusted me with those- No, she must have killed me because I took them away.

Chuckling bitterly to myself I recalled when I had started to hate the viper decorated in gold. She had everything I'd ever wanted. Yet, why was she sad? How could she possibly be sad? She had a loving family, an adoring partner in crime, and a lover far better than that monster of a brother I am forced to share blood with. A lover of whom she didn't even acknowledge.

Gritting my teeth I avoided my gaze at the red vulture covered in blood.

The Winter King was saying something. Something related to the shadows and chaos. What was new there? But then he said something odd, something shocking. As much as I hated my brother, I also was aware of his power. After all, not anyone could just dethrone my father, coupe or not.

"This here was, and is the Duke of Spring. His kingdom was overrun by shadows. And I have called him here to help me confirm if you truly are ambassadors of Dracool. Seeing as Mr. Lucarious here has seen their badges before."

It was hard not to scoff at that line. I could feel the bubbling laughter just waiting for me to break into hysterics. Did the king seriously think my brother would help him? If anything I had no doubt that was a lie my brother had told.

Who did he lose to? And how? How in the world did he lose to those shadows, if he even did lose to them? The last time I saw him, he was well into an alliance with those shadows. For gods sake, he created them. So how in the world did he lose control of them?

As for how he could spot if the badges were true or not, I have no doubt he has seen one before. Considering how many lives we both lived. I have seen them too. Which is why I know my brother was going to agree that the badges were in fact true. Unless the design has changed since I last spotted it in my fifth life. But the one Eli pulled out was an exact replica or possibly the real deal. Which brings up the question of how he obtained it and if what he stated was truly true. Fae couldn't lie so how in the world was the boy able to spew those words?

But one thing at a time.

In all our lives my brother had never been the hero, the victor. He'd been the murderer, the killer, the assassin. So then what in the world was he doing here, playing the victim nonetheless. For me? No, it was true that in all my lives my brother had tried to capture me, and when he did I had died. I had lived several more lives, before finally meeting those wretched blond beings again. Which means my brother was up to something.

Being dethroned?

As if.

So how did he manage to get into this meeting with us and the Winter King? Just what did he want? Did he want to lead us on with false niceties only to betray us in the end? Is he going to? No, he couldn't, not if it wasn't something to help him achieve his goals.

I don't think outing us as false ambassadors would help him accomplish anything.

I watched the two blondies share a gaze. My brother flitted a fleeting look of admiration, regret, and longing towards the golden-haired girl. But of course, to mask those loving gazes my brother quickly dawned his cocky smirk and lazy drawls. He was in all but name still a Duke. The behaviors of a nobleman of the Spring Court were still ingrained into his bones. The same cool detached look hardened my brother's charming facade.

That and I was pretty sure the other golden-haired being was going to have my brother's head chopped off if he even dared to out us. His slightly glowing blue eyes threatened violence to come as he glared down at my brother.

As if confirming my thoughts my brother spoke, "And from what I can see, they seem to be true to their word," Lucarious gazed down at me. A glint of pity softened his eyes but I must have been imagining it.

For a brief moment, his lips tilted down. Before the cold charismatic smile slipped back on his lips. I was most definitely hallucinating all this. I must be. My brother has never shown any form of mercy.

The great whites of his teeth shone against the lights above us. The rigid back of the golden boy in front of me relaxed as he nodded quietly toward my brother. No doubt coming to the same conclusion I had. He was a ROYAL , after all, an acronym of which I loathe but was part of along with these creatures.

No doubt the boy sensed the overwhelming power that hid beneath the dashing grins that dropped panties across the realm. "I see." The king frowned, his brows furrowed in disappoint- ment at the confirmation.

Well, isn't that intriguing? I always did suspect the King of Winter to be a little odd. Even in the past, he'd left his son for years until finally, he took his son in.

Why all of a sudden? What caused the change of heart? It can't just be that the king came to his senses. More than anything, if what I gathered from those memories of this lifetime was true, it meant the boy was still the Winter King's illegitimate son. Which means, that the king might already know we're not really ambassadors so, why the pretense?

The king never truly loved Flynn, even if he was his legitimate son. So, it can’t be Flynn's words that convinced him to let us stay. But what was the reason?

Before I could dive deeper into the thought the king's words held my ears. "Well, in any case, you are all here now. So you might as well state your reasoning and why the Dragon King sent you lot instead of true Dragons?"

It was clear to him that it was odd having fae of different courts as ambassadors instead of the Dragon King's own people, whom he could trust more. That and the idea that the Dragon King has been neutral this entire time about the whole situation with the new rulers and the change of names to each court. “Why send ambassadors now?” I'm sure that’s what must be going through his head.

So how will the boy answer these questions? Will he have an answer to what we all must be dying to know?

Just why did the Dragons diverge from the Fae Realm and create their own world?

"We aren’t sure why, Your Majesty," Eli replied, causing eyebrows to rise throughout the room. Well, that was unexpected.

Did he just state he had no clue why we were here? I thought he had a plan to sell the idea, even if the king didn't believe us- surely he woul- dn't be so daft as to state nothing.

"Excuse me?" The king blinked, as did we all.

From the corners of my eyes, I could watch the gears physically turning and shifting in the girl's gaze as her confusion and shock turned into understanding. I narrowed my gaze at the marbled frozen tiles below me. So they do have a plan. What was it? Why say those words then?

"We do humbly apologize for our lack of knowledge; however, we were only asked to gather an audience with the rulers of each court. The Dragon King told us to just remain quiet and help the courts prepare for his impending arrival in a few weeks. We do humbly apologize once more for our ignorance however, as you had pointed out we are not of Dragon descent and thus not trusted by the Dragon King. As we know the Dragon King is very wise, of course as are you, your Majesty of a Thousand Wolves. The storm of Snow and Ice. However, he believed, or as we have been told. Since his sudden aid would be questionable, he would talk with the different courts himself. Our orders were only to assure the rulers that his arrival did not mean to spark any wars. As for why he did not send his people, well, as I have just mentioned earlier I only go so far as to assume his intentions, that he does not wish to endanger his dragon civilians and found sending fae of the current courts might be better at soothing any discomforts each ruler may have. In other words, the Dragon King felt that the current monarchies would be more familiar with their own fae race." Eli finally finished as the tick on his forehead thumbed rather loudly in the silence that followed.

I wondered just how he could tell that lie.

From the corner of my eyes, I watched as the girl's cheeks got rather bigger as the seconds passed. A light chuckle now and then passed her lips like a breeze flowing past an open window, barely noticed by anyone not focusing on her.

As I have mentioned time and time again the girl was bizarre.

What was there to laugh about?

The king blinked, puzzled.

Keeping my emotions caged I tried thinking over the conversation. In hindsight it was brilliant. The boy already knows the king doesn't trust us, having my brother confirm our exist- ence meant shit. Not after what the king said next. So in pleading ignorance the boy not only acknowledged that our titles as ambassadors were a farce to hide that we were really just the help but, it also helped make the king believe the possibility. In more blatant terms he also bought us more time. Still, a few weeks wasn't much. What’s more for what? Why a few weeks? Was his plan always just to buy time? And why did my brother confirm our identity if the king was already suspicious, unless-.

It had to be a test by the Winter King, for my brother to have him confirm our identities. In doing so my brother would show where his alliance stood. So then why did my brother not rat us out? Wouldn't he know that by agreeing with us he'd be dooming himself? And why did the king need my brother's allegiance?

Unless. I looked over to the king. His ice-cold blue gaze stared down at his son, speaking words too incoherent for my ears.

My brother seemed to be the only one to realize the small realization I had. A small nod was all I needed. As much as I hated the man, he was my brother and the only man who could read me. Calming my breaths I narrowed my gaze on my brother. He knows something.

Something the boy, girl, and I have no clue of. But what? Would he tell me?

As we left the room and the enormous iced doors slammed shut, I dragged my brother into another room. Ensuring our privacy first I scanned the room with magic. You never know who could be watching and listening even if it was private .

"What in the name of gods’ are you planning?" I started narrowing my gaze on the man in blood.

The King of Blood and Fire, the Murder of Thousands, King of Blood and Shadow, he went by many names, was called many names, and all names he deserved for the masses he had killed. My brother smiled leaning against the ice beam decorated in all shades of sapphires beside him.

"I don't have a clue what you could be claiming." My brother said, smiling like a cat. He was practically preening for attention.

Despite the blood and horror behind his deep red tourmaline eyes most girls still fell for his looks and charm. Call it the bad boy phobia or whatever those humans dubbed my brother’s persona. I always rolled my eyes at how easily those women swooned over his shoulder-length brown hair. It was just hair. Our parents had always called us complete opposites yet both the same.

Our appearance for one was like looking at a sweet blueberry and sour raspberry. Whereas he had brown waves like our fathers, mine was the spitting image of the purple strands like our mothers. My brother inherited everything from looks to personality from our father. Except I supposed his eyes had changed from garnet to tourmaline.

I, on the other hand, took after our mother the most: her nose, her hair, her waves, and her galaxy blue, purple, and black eyes. Most say that's why my father married my mother, for her eyes, her eyes that can see the whole universe and the time that flies.

I think my parents were made for one another. But, not in the sweet charming way most people would fall in love with. They were both corrupted, and insane. It only makes sense their kids grew up just as twisted as they were. Both me and my brother hated them. We hated the looks that reminded us of them, the two who brought us into this messed-up world of bargains and glamour.

"Don't lie." I hissed as I cast a bubble of my magic around me, oozing out like tar. It was so our voices wouldn't be heard. Whenever me and my brother talked it was never quite, to say the least. And I don't intend for this one to be either.

My brother frowned. The curl of his self-assured grin twisted upside down as he sighed. He never liked my choices in life after what he did to me, after what he did to my lover. I'd taken up dark magic, to be more exact I submitted to spells and potions not the natural magic in our bodies but those of the dead. Those of the witches. Perhaps that's why my magic can't fully function. When I used to use normal fae spells and ruins my magic was still plenty enough I could honestly call myself a ROYAL . Not anymore now and I wouldn't change it. No one else knows about this side of me but my brother and Flynn. That's why I couldn't use it with those blond freaks near me.

Flicking his hands my brother's flaming magic coasted across my own. Vanishing both types of magic in the blink of an eye. We never could fight with one another, our magics always canceled each other out. Mother and father believed it was because we were supposed to be one person but somehow split into two. But it's not like we were twins. I was seven sun cycles younger.

"Lies? I have never lied in my life, at least not to you. Besides, fae can't lie." He rolled his eyes as he pushed off the beam. His tailored black suit and elegantly puff tie wrapped around his neck in a gentle caress, as if even the tie had fallen for his charms.

Gritting my teeth I seethed through my flaring nostrils. "Never? Never lied to me you say? You killed my lover after assuring me no harm would come to me!" I felt the cool slimy magic called from the depths of the ground surge into my palms and arms. In a second my limps had turned into thick slimy tentacles as I wrapped them around my brother's ankles. He always was the only one who could get me to lose my control, to drop my emotionless act.

With a sneer on his lip and a roll of his eyes, my magic dissipated into small flecks of ash coating the air around us as if singed by his fires.

"I did not lie. I didn't hurt you , did I?" Lucarious growled as he inched closer to me, reaching a hand to caress my face. And where once I might have found comfort in the action. The warmth of his tanned sienna skin against my own, burned. Reminding me of what I could never have. What he took from me.

"You killed him!" Red blurred my vision as I batted his hands away.

"I did, but I did not harm you, dear sister." He reiterated as he huffed out a breath of warm air as if I was the one who had hurt him so many years ago.

"Just because you didn't lay a hand on me doesn't mean you didn't hurt me, brother." I glared against the narrowing swirl of black I saw reflected back at me from my brother.

"You will heal. To think after all these years you still cling to that man as if he was something worthy of your attention." My brother scoffed playing with his gold garnet cuffs. As if my love was nothing but words on a piece of paper.

" You killed him! I loved him with all my heart! I begged you, and you ended his life right in front of me!" I spat the words still gutting my chest as the memory assaulted me. I tried to flick away the tears to banish them, but one still managed to slip past me.

"I hate you, more than the remnants of our parents," I spat, turning to leave having achieved nothing. But I couldn't take it anymore. I just couldn't not mentally anyway.

Why did I even think I could speak with him? One look at that arrogant asshole and I lose my shit.

"I didn't mean to, well I did, but I never meant to do YOU any harm. I love you, my dear little sister. I would never do anything to hurt YOU if I could help it." He pleaded, gripping onto my arm and pleading with me. His obsidian eyes and my galaxy-infused pupils clashed. I couldn't tell if he meant it or not. It didn't matter the truth of the deal was that he did do it. And he will again.

"But you did. And I will never forgive you for it." I repeated aloud, ripping myself away.

"I did it for us!" His words were like a bullet to the chest coating drowning me in crimson.

"You did it for us? Us ?! That's the biggest load of crap you've ever said in your life. You're a fucking narcissist. You did it for yourself and we both know that!" I tossed back eyes coated in red as I watched the black burning hot in my brother’s irises, swirling around like a small black hole.

" I! Did! It! For! Us! " Lucarious roared as I scoffed.

"Is that what you've been telling yourself? Because in all the years of rebirth, death, and life, I have never once heard you even try to apologize to attempt to even let us have our court together. No, you let me rot in a peasant-filled minefield. I struggled after our first lives, every day, every second of breath that I took filled me with so much regret and anger. Rage at the fact that I was so foolish to believe you. To trust you ! My brother? I might as well give into the shadows." I turned my feet kicked up a storm of their own even if I tried calming down. As I reached the door his flames caught the fringes of my hair causing me to swirl back around.

It truly was no wonder no one thought we were siblings, we couldn't be more different. Except of course in that moment when his eye coated in black just like mine when we both felt the burning desire to turn our enemies into ash.

We were called Phoenix es for a reason. When we got mad our eyes didn't just glow like normal fae, they changed. Our pupils elongated into sharp narrow diamonds as our colors twisted into flames. Or so they're supposed to but since both my brother and I have tainted our blood it turned black instead of the natural flaming red they were supposed to ignite with.

"I was trying to give you a normal life. Isn't that why you're mad at me, is that why YOU left me! YOU chose HIM over ME . Your own fucking brother . After all, we've been through. After the blood that flows through our veins. After the shared pain we both endured through the hands of our own creators! YOU CHOSE HIM OVER ME! " His finger jabbed back and forth between me and him with each pronunciation of his words. His roaring thunder echoed through the room and here it was, the crucks of the matter.

I could scoff at his words. It was always about him, always him this, him that. I'm so sick of it, so sick of the plans and the plot that were all about him ! But what of me ?! What of my feelings, of my wants and desires? I was nothing but a chess piece to him whether it was now or then. Past, present, and future it will always be him first and no one else.

Closing my eyes I sighed. It was a waste talking to him. I was a fool in thinking he would ever tell me anything. What we once had was no more, if we ever really had any sibling bond to begin with.

.