Page 11 of The Lost Kings

I turned around and watched Kingston who was now eating his apple.

The boys were almost thirteen, and I found new pieces of them that had started changing.

Like the way their jaws looked different, making a ridge along their faces, pulling their smiles wider.

I heard their mom talking about braces and how they’d both be getting them soon.

It made me want to go back in time to when we were younger, when the boys would play pretend with me.

My memories had me asking, “What would you use the window for, King?”

His amber gaze landed on me in a way that made me feel like he wasn’t going to answer. He was starting to do that more. Instead of being all laughter and smiles, like he used to be… he’d suddenly become so serious. Something dark had found a way to crawl into his heart and it seemed to rot there.

“It looks like a good place to…” he hesitated, then with a flutter of hi s lashes, continued, “shove someone…I’d call it the murder window, and no one would ever question me because it would be easy to fall from that big of a gap.”

Our eyes locked in a game of who would break first. This was his new game with me, and I didn’t like it. He wanted to bring clouds over what slices of sunshine I could find. I hated it. So did his brother.

“Someone’s gonna push you out of a window if you don’t stop being so serious. Have you considered maybe going for a walk, seeing if you can find a girl to flirt with?”

My eyes were back on my drawing, ignoring the brothers talk, but when Gio mentioned Kingston finding a girl to flirt with, something strange pricked at my chest. Like a weird awareness that had never been there before, a pain that had always been inside me but chose this moment to alert me of its dreadful existence.

“Dad is coming back soon, asked that we all stay here.” Kingston tossed the core of his apple and then turned to leave.

Gio picked up an extra pencil from my little canvas bag and then started filling in more of my picture while leaving me room to draw on the other half.

“Come on, Pres, finish our farm. What else is on it?”

He always knew how to draw me back, like a light in the storm.

I also loved that he always called it our farm, not mine but ours.

We’d wanted the farm next to the manor to one day belong to all of us, and while I liked to draw it and even pretend I lived on it, deep down, I believed that maybe one day we’d really live there. “Chickens.”

Gio’s laugh was infectious. “I can’t draw chickens to save my life, what else?”

“Marigolds.”

His laugh made me laugh. “Aren’t those just flowers? Why do they have to be specific?”

Kingston suddenly returned, grabbing a glass for water as he watched us .

“Anyone ever tell you that your laugh sounds like a tinkling bell? Like something from a book or some land with fairies?”

Gio and I stared at him from across the kitchen, confused. I moved on, ignoring him.

“Marigolds aren’t like every other flower.”

Gio shook his head but started drawing the shape of a marigold and I smiled, realizing he already knew what they looked like.

I continued to draw with my best friend, feeling sunshine invade my heart like I always did with Gio, but there, lingering around that odd prick of pain in my chest, was worry about the shadows that lingered over his twin.

My eyes lifted again, only to find Kingston’s already on me. He stared long enough that Gio finally kicked me under the table, forcing my attention back on the drawing. When I finally looked up again, Kingston was gone.

Mom and Dad were cuddled up on the couch watching a movie when I tiptoed past the hall.

I knew Uncle Scotty’s routine, and since it was well past ten, he was already in bed, likely reading, but he wouldn’t come back out until five in the morning to prepare us for our trip.

I should have been clear of anyone noticing my departure, but Reaper padded over to me, his steps quiet on the carpet.

His snout was in my face, his tongue lapping at my cheek as he whined, probably to play.

I pet him, while trying to push him away, but he wouldn’t budge.

“Go lay down, Reap,” I whispered.

His tongue came back out in a few swipes over my face.

I was never going to sneak out at this rate. I just wanted the chance to go see the moon over the farmhouse. Tonight, we had what Gio called a Hunter’s Moon, and I knew it just had to be beautiful seeing it from the hayloft over that empty field.

Remembering that I hid treats near the foyer table, I gently slid it open and pulled out a small bag of elk jerky and tossed a piece as far away from the door as possible.

As soon as I found my window, I ran for the door and slipped outside of it.

Cold wood floors ran beneath my feet as I exited the wing of our family home and ventured toward the main artery of the house that connected us all.

While the twins lived on one side of the house, and even my cousin Carter lived in another, we resided along the western half of the estate.

The central area was all thick rugs, polished side tables, standing, bronze lamps, and expensive drinks that I was always told not to touch.

Green vines hung over the glass doors that led to the outside terrace.

While that would lead me directly outside and near the path to the farm, it would also alert my Uncle Scotty that someone had opened one of the doors, and there was probably a camera aimed at the exits, so he’d know it was me.

No, I would have to go through a different exit that didn’t have an alarm rigged to it…at least that was assuming they hadn’t fixed it. My steps were quiet as I walked toward the training gym, a level below us, only to be stopped by a firm hand on my wrist.

“What are you doing?”

I spun around, a breath caught in my chest as I came face-to-face with Kingston. His amber eyes were narrowed, his clothing dark, like mine, and his expression thunderous as if I’d interrupted him.

Pulling at his hold, I whispered, “I want to go see the moon Gio talked about.”

There was never any use lying to the twins; they knew almost everything about me, and typically I would have invited them to come with me, but I knew Gio was already in bed and I was still mad at Kingston for how rude he’d been earlier about my picture.

“Gio is asleep.”

I rolled my eyes, pushing past him, descending down the steps. “I know.”

He quickly followed after me. “How come you didn’t ask me?”

The training doors loomed ahead of me, but I sidestepped them and went down a different hall, so not to enter the actual facility.

“?Mi reina?” Kingston tugged the ends of my hair .

I didn’t like hearing him call me that, not when I was so hurt over how he’d behaved.

“Because you’re rude, and you hurt my feelings,” I snapped.

The singular metal door sat darkened at the end of the hall, no cameras in sight…unless they were on the other side.

“Stop, Scotty hung cameras outside of that door. You have to use the window from the locker room.” He gently tugged my wrist and pulled me off to the side.

I followed him but pulled my wrist free.

“I wasn’t rude. I was myself…since when does that bug you?”

I glared at him. “It’s always bugged me, King. But today it just hurt a little more than usual.”

We slipped through the wood door separating the locker room from the training mats and kept the light off. There were lights outside, illuminating enough of the room for us to see. We walked past the few lockers until we faced a window large enough for us to slip through.

Kingston flipped the lock at the top of the window, and the secondary one at the base, then shoved the pane glass up, creating a crack for us to slip through.

The warm night air rushed in, coasting over our fingers and faces.

I realized too late that I probably smelled like Reaper, which had me swiping at my face.

The last thing I wanted was for Kingston to think I smelled like dog.

“Follow exactly where I walk,” Kingston ordered from over his shoulder.

I mimicked everything he did. Lifting my leg, crawling through the window and then landing on the patch of gravel underneath it. King ducked and remained low as he ran straight forward. I did the same as him, until we hit a tree line, at which point he finally relaxed and stood straight up.

“You sure that worked?” I asked, glancing back over my shoulder.

He kept his focus forward. “I come out here quite a bit. I’ve never gotten caught.”

We walked in silence, the shadows in the trees gathering and making me grateful that I wasn’t alone.

It wasn’t until we broke past the tree line and came to the field between our properties that the large moon overhead lit up the land enough for us to see by.

Gio was right, the moon was magnificent.

“Why do you come out here a lot?”

Kingston glanced over at me but kept walking. “Just to think.”

We crossed the field and slipped through the broken fence, rounding the large barn.

It was in shambles, but the stairs inside were sturdy enough to lead up to the hayloft.

Kingston took them first, and I followed behind him, until we reached the top, and I quickly found the blanket I’d kept laid out for whenever I wanted to come up here.

Dipping down, I sat cross-legged on the dusty blanket while Kingston copied me.

I didn’t want to talk, so I just stared at the full moon, wishing Gio were here with me instead.

Kingston reached for my hand and gently pulled it into his while inching closer to me.

“I’m sorry I hurt your feelings.”

My pride was like a wall of granite, unwilling to crumble even for him, but I relaxed my shoulders and allowed him to trace lines over my skin.

“You can’t make fun of me when I dream, King. You’re one of my best friends, and they don’t laugh at each other’s dreams.”

He let out a sigh before dipping his head. “I have dreams too, you know.”

I glanced over, seeing the way the moon highlighted his profile and his strong jaw and dark brows. Something stirred in my stomach, like a batch of butterflies being released with nowhere to go. My face warmed, and my palms suddenly felt sweaty.

“What’s your dream?”

He faced me, a smile sweeping his features and transforming his face from handsome and broody to so remarkable that my breath hitched.

“I dream of marigolds too…ones that sit on a kitchen table, pl ucked from the garden I grew. Wallpaper that has little prints of Highland cows and a pantry full of organic Cheetos. Sunlight soaking into plants in a home that smells like coconut and oranges.”

Just as fast as he’d faced me, he left me. Releasing my hand, he stood and walked closer to the edge. Meanwhile, I sat there, staring up at him, desperately trying to untangle his words.

Because his dream sounded an awful lot like…it was me.