Page 90 of Seared Fates

“Then I’m coming over—”

“Fuck no you ain’t!”

“Why not, Kai?” Teagan’s voice rises. “What’s happening?”

Frantically, I rack my brain for an excuse. But when I come up with nothing, I glance at Vidar, who—master wordsmith that he is—just shrugs.

“Kai!” Teagan calls.

“Okay, calm down, alright?” I reply, exasperated. “How about I come visit you at Uni?”

Teagan pauses. He does this when he wants to change the subject, allowing the silence to awkwardly hang. But I know my brother, and can wait him out.

“I’m not at school right now.” All the volume in his voice is tossed to the wind, and he’s back to his quiet little rasp.

“What? Why? Mate, you worked your ass off to get into art school.”

Another long pause, one where I have to hold onto my patience with the skin of my teeth.

“I dropped out,” he murmurs. Not in a shy way, my little brother hasn’t been shy since he came out of the womb. He sounds upset.

“Why did you drop out?” I ask, worry growing in my chest. “Did something happen?”

“Why are you in a creepy mansion?” he argues back.

“If you aren’t at Uni, where the hell are you?”

Pause.

Pause.

A longer pause where I’m about to snap my phone in two.

“Back home with Mum and Dad,” Teagan finally grumbles.

“But you were so excited for your own place!”

Another long pause. But this isn’t him trying to make things awkward; this silence is filled with words, all too sharp for Teagan to speak and shreds my impatience to pieces.

“Teagan?” I say his name softly. “Listen. I’m sorry I’ve not been around lately, but you know you can talk to me, little bro.”

“Drop it, alright?”

The worry in my chest grows warning spikes. “Alright, I’m coming over, and we’ll chat.”

Vidar takes hold of my chin and forces me to meet his gaze. “Kai, we don’t have time.”

“Who’s that?” Teagan asks, jumping at the chance to change the subject.

Pulling away from Vidar, I say, “Nobody.”

Vidar growls.

I roll my eyes. “Alright, fine, my boyfriend.”

“The dick who hurt you?”

“Vidar and me patched things up, and we’re giving it another go, okay?” I reply, I try to sound calm, even though all I want to do is grab my little brother by the shoulders and shake until he spills all his secrets. It didn’t work when he was ten, and it won’t work now.