Page 48 of Visions of You

Keegan tilted his head at him. "Maybe you will. You tend to surprise me."

"I like surprising you." To underline his words, Jaron did go in for another kiss. He kept it short and sweet because he didn't want to be carried away while his brother might need him, but it was worth it for the look on Keegan's face, as if Keegan might have wanted to keep him from leaving after all.

Jaron grinned at him. "See you later."

CHAPTER 11

Jaron came home to find Casca and Malkira in the living room, engrossed in the flickering images on the TV screen. He paused in the doorway, still wondering what his brother was doing here. Malkira's house wasn't a long way from their parents' house, but Casca had never dropped in unannounced before.

"Cas, shouldn't you be at home?" Jaron asked as he sank onto the couch beside his brother. "What's going on?"

Casca huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm never going back there," he declared, his gaze still fixed on the screen.

Jaron raised an eyebrow. "You can't mean that," Jaron said, but even as he spoke the words, he understood where Casca was coming from. As his little brother turned into a teenager, he was developing a mind of his own, and Mom and Dad weren't happy about it.

Casca turned to face Jaron, his expression stormy. "Why not? You left."

Jaron grimaced. "It's different for me," he tried to explain. "I was already an adult when I moved out, and my relationship with Mom and Dad is… complicated."

"How's it complicated?" Casca asked. "Because you can't breathe fire?"

Jaron winced. They didn't usually talk about this.

"You and your brother are each unique," Malkira said, resting a soothing hand on Casca's shoulder. "And you each have your own unique relationship with your parents."

That was a good way to put it. Jaron didn't want to be pressed to explain that their parents wouldn't let Casca out of their grasp as easily as they'd let Jaron go because they still had high hopes for Casca. He was a bright kid and a ridiculously strong firebreather. He was sociable and people liked him.

"Tell me what happened to make you come here today," Jaron prompted.

Casca's jaw tightened, and he glanced away, his fingers drumming a rapid rhythm on his knees. Jaron recognized that look, the bottled-up frustration just beneath the surface.

"I told them that I want to become a doctor and go help people in poorer countries like the Fringes."

Jaron's heart sank as he absorbed Casca's words. Their parents felt like they had a legacy to uphold, and it didn't include their offspring straying from the traditional paths of power and prestige that they so adored. Healers, especially those who worked in the forgotten corners of the world, were a far cry from the image his parents curated.

"They believe dragons don't have any business in healing," Jaron murmured. "They've always said that's a fae's calling."

Casca nodded energetically. "Exactly! But there are dragon doctors!"

Jaron looked into his brother's eyes, seeing the same fiery determination that had pushed him to join the Mortal Rights Task Force—an act of rebellion against their parents' ideology.

He'd hoped it would be a few more years before Casca decided he didn't want to be the golden son.

"Mom and Dad want you to inherit the business," he said carefully.

Casca scrunched up his nose. "But jewelry is boring," he said, even as the several gold bracelets he wore dangled from his wrist.

"Our parents take pride in it."

Casca huffed again. "Fei can have it, then."

"Maybe you two can discuss that when he's a little older," Jaron advised. "For now, you need to keep your head down. Just focus on school and make sure you get good grades so you can be a doctor in the end. Mom and Dad can't stop you when you're old enough."

"I wish I was old enough now." Casca sighed. "I don't want to pretend. I also don't want them to be disappointed in me."

"You're not disappointing anyone by being true to who you are," Jaron reassured him. "You're just disappointing their expectations of who they think you should be."

Jaron watched his Casca wrestle with that concept.