Page 23 of Whispers of Wisteria (The Garden of Eternal Flowers #5)

“Secondly, you need to get used to doing things together. He’s your Er Bashou, which means he’s supposed to support you—and not only as a brother. If you exclude him, it will damage your relationship.”

I growled under my breath, and Titus’s eyebrows rose almost comically.

“He forced me to go to the hospital!” My chest was tight with betrayal. “He promised!”

Titus took a long breath and looked out the window behind his desk. “Do you want me to kill him?”

“What?” I took a step back as horror washed over me. Why would he think I’d go to such extremes? “No!”

“Are you angry at him?”

“Ye…” I opened my mouth to answer, but my reply trailed off. I clenched my fist and stared at the beige floor. “No.”

Now that I thought about it, I wasn’t angry, although I couldn’t explain why. I had every right to feel that way.

But my stomach hurt, and my chest felt tight. Tears began to prickle behind my eyelids.

I wasn’t angry. I’d been betrayed.

“He was wrong.” How could I ever trust him again?

“Not in that situation. I was angry at first too, until I heard the details. You’d fainted on multiple occasions. He did what he thought was best,” Titus argued. “And remember that he’s still learning, just like you are. Try to look at it from his perspective.”

“That’s not fair!” The words exploded from me in a rush. Why should I have to be the bigger person? “He should pay!”

“Pay, how?” Titus looked back at me, and my protests died on my tongue at the look on his face.

His features were taut and tight, and something unsettling moved in his eyes.

“If you’re not going to kill him, then you need to either learn to work with him or strip him from his position.

Because you can’t have an Er Bashou you refuse to collaborate with. ”

“But—” My voice broke, but he didn’t let me finish.

“Damen is furious with Finn for keeping you away, but as you can see, he’s still around,” Titus continued. “Miles and Julian are dealing with their Officers too. But do you want to know why none of them has been replaced? Because, in the end, they trust in the bigger picture.”

My hand was still raised in protest, but now I couldn’t think of anything.

Then he said the words that stabbed a dagger through my heart: “If you want to prove that you’re ready for this, you can start by acting like a leader.”

“But…”

“Bryce did what he thought was best, even though it might not have been the wisest approach.” Titus waved his hand in the air.

“No one is arguing that. But you still need to make a decision: will you work through this with him, or let him go? Because it’s your responsibility to solve conflicts, not let them fester. ”

I glared at the floor as my eyes flooded with tears.

Darn it.

“What do you want to do?” Titus asked. “If you want to project your anger onto him instead of dealing with it, fine. I’ll grab him right now and do whatever you want. We could find a replacement for him in a heartbeat.”

“No.” Bryce, after all, was growing on me.

“Then what do you want?”

“I’ll talk to him,” I grumbled. I did understand he was trying to help, but we were going to have a serious discussion about boundaries.

Titus placed his hand over my head, and his voice was warm as he spoke. “Good.” He paused, then said, “I have something for you.”

“What?” I blinked at my feet. Was this going to be a recurring thing? I’d already lost the first gift he’d given me.

Though it didn’t feel wrong to accept stuff from him for some reason. Sometimes. But only when the moment struck.

He grabbed my right hand, holding my wrist lightly as he reached into his pocket. My breath caught as he pulled out a ring. I’d seen this pattern once before: twisted leaves and inlaid diamonds. He’d managed to save his mother’s hairpin.

“How?”

His brows furrowed, and he seemed confused by my question. “I grabbed it,” he said, sliding it onto my pointer finger.

I sniffled, not bothering to respond. Obviously, he’d grabbed it, but when? Everything from that time when the Cole family had kidnapped me was hazy and confusing. I didn’t remember him even going near the hearth.

But…

“Why are you giving this to me now?” I asked. We’d been back for weeks, and there wasn’t anything significant about today.

He let go of my hand, moving to my face instead, and brushed his thumb across my cheek. “Because,” he said, “you’ve just leveled up. Just like in that game you play when you’re feeling violent.”

I wrinkled my forehead. “I’m not violent.”

Titus ignored me. “And it’s something to remind you.”

“Remind me of what?”

Instead of replying, he walked around his desk, picked up his jacket and my purse, and grabbed my hand once more before leading me from the room.

Bryce was in his bedroom when I got home. I wasn’t sure which was more offensive: the fact that he was hiding—since he obviously had only just been hanging out in the living room with Finn—or that it was Finn who had to point me in the right direction.

Finn shrugged as he said, “Yeah, I don’t know.” He lounged on the couch in his easy, cross-legged position and gestured towards a face-down book and a half-empty mug. “Bryce ran away the second he heard you coming.”

I groaned. This was further proof that Titus was right.

I spun around and almost ran into Titus’s chest.

“Sorry,” I apologized, ducking under his arm. “I need to take care of something.”

It was impossible to miss Finn’s odd look or Titus’s solemn nod, but neither was significant. Instead, I crossed my arms, protecting myself from Damen’s drafty hallway, and went to Bryce’s room.

I barged in without knocking on the door.

“Bianca!” He was in the process of taking off his shirt and jumped, spinning to face the door, as he pulled down the olive fabric over his washboard abs. “What are you doing? You can’t just barge into a man’s room.”

But he wasn’t a man; he was my brother.

“We need to talk.” I pointed to the bed. “Sit.”

His bottom lip jutted out in a pout, but he obeyed, throwing himself into a defeated heap at the bottom of the bed. “What?” he asked, his tone petulant.

“I’m still very mad at you.”

Bryce’s forehead wrinkled as his scowl deepened. “I know. I’ll still help you where I can. Don’t worry. Brayden will be a good Er Bashou. He’s not as solid a fighter, but—”

“You’re not getting away that easily.” I stomped across the room and poked my finger into his chest. With him sitting, our faces were almost even. “You’re my Er Bashou, and we’re going to get along.”

He seemed shocked. “We don’t usually get along?” he asked. “I thought we were rather amicable—other than the incident at the hospital.”

I wanted to pull my hair out.

“No, we don’t!” I stomped my foot. “We’re rivals! You’re my arch-nemesis.”

“Really?” His scowl had faded—now he only seemed confused. “Your ‘arch-nemesis’? What makes you think that?”

“You’ve stared me down in class!” Had he forgotten? Because I hadn’t—it’d been so embarrassing. “You’re always trying to challenge my authority.”

“No…” Bryce tilted his head. His hair was in complete disarray after being caught in his shirt, and, for once, he seemed almost normal. “I’m helping you.”

Helping? “You’ve been challenging me!”

To his credit, he didn’t deny it. Instead, he leaned back. “At first, sure. I didn’t know who you were. I couldn’t have someone usurping my position.”

“Then?” I prodded.

“I’m trying to help you,” he reiterated. “A lot of people will try to throw you off, especially in the courts. I’m trying to get you ready.”

“By annoying me?”

Bryce shrugged. “If that’s what it takes. We fae are very competitive.”

I wanted to scream. I totally should have said something sooner. We could have been so much more productive than this.

We could have worked on skills instead of all these stupid power struggles.

“And not only that…” Bryce’s expression shifted, and he looked away. “You’re my sister. In the place of our father—as you’re not talking to him—and as the oldest male in your immediate family—”

“You better not finish that sentence,” I warned him.

He did it anyway. “It’s my responsibility to look after you and ensure you’re taken care of.” Then he paused, raising his eyebrow and shooting me a strange look. “And what’s wrong with what I said?”

Could he be that dense? “You’re not my boss.”

“Get used to it,” he said with a roll of his shoulders. “That’s just the way it is. It’s only because you’re used to life here that I haven’t taken you home.”

Was that so? My eyebrow twitched. “You have no right to take me anywhere.”

“It’s safer there.” He gave me a serious stare, making the hair on my neck rise.

“You know I’ve been considering it, especially lately.

We could go back to Whisperwind. I’m getting a lot of pressure from every direction to bring you back, and sometimes it almost feels like it’s the right thing to do. ”

That made absolutely no sense.

I didn’t know much about society types, but “If the fae are so traditional, why are we living in our mother’s home?”

Bryce blinked, and his mouth opened into an ‘O’, yet he remained soundless.

“What about the Dubois family residence?” I pressed.

Bryce crossed his arms sullenly. “I don’t live with them.”

I wanted to bang my head against the wall in frustration. “Why not?”

“Well…” He glowered at the wall. “It’s a long story, but I don’t associate with our grandfather.” He crossed his arms, and his features and body language closed off.

I waited for him to continue, but his mouth remained stubbornly shut.

“What happened…?”

“I’m sure you’ll meet him one day,” was Bryce’s short reply, not answering my question. “He might try to kill you.”

Right. It was no surprise that my paternal grandfather might try to kill me if he’d had the choice. I’d expect nothing less.

“It’ll be chaos when they learn about you,” Bryce said through clenched teeth. His fists were tight over his tense legs, and he sat stiff as a board. It seemed he was three seconds from running out of the room. “I hope he dies first.”

Okay…