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

Brayden didn’t say a word as he led me through the library. He was much faster than me, and if it weren’t for his grip on my arm, I wouldn’t have been able to keep up. His usual warmth had been replaced with tension.

My heart pounded harder with each step.

By the time he’d pushed through the doorway of the faculty exit, I was convinced that he’d been exchanged with a man-bun-wearing, hipster-clothed clone.

We stepped into a short hallway where, finally, we were alone.

“Damnit!” Brayden let go of my arm and dropped my purse before he clenched his fists.

I jumped, my heartbeat echoing in my ears, when he turned and punched the wall. The air was heavy, and my hands were shaking when I touched my fingers to my mouth.

Something was wrong with my brother. And the only people who could defend me had just allowed me to leave with him.

Brayden lashed out again, cracking the brick, then slumped forward and rested his forehead against the broken surface. As he breathed, the heavy air seemed to move inward.

I wanted to run, but I couldn’t move. Dr. Stephens said that fae men weren’t human, but I hadn’t thought about what that meant until now.

Slowly, his shoulders relaxed, and when he straightened, his presence seemed to retreat.

But it still felt like I couldn’t breathe.

“I’m sorry,” he said, voice low.

“Wha-what did I do?” My voice squeaked even though I tried to control it.

Brayden turned and guilt—along with something else I couldn’t recognize—showed in his eyes. “You don’t know?”

Maybe I wouldn’t be scared if I did.

He sighed, clearly able to read the answer on my face, and rubbed his knuckles over his eyes. When he dropped his hands, his gaze had softened, and he was the Brayden I knew again.

“Don’t worry,” he said, voice light. “That wasn’t your fault. It was Damen’s.”

I stepped back when he reached for me.

“Bianca, I’m so sorry,” Brayden said.

“You can punch through brick?” I asked, voice shaking. I didn’t think even Finn could do that—although his style was scary in its own destructive way.

Brayden glanced at the cracked wall and back to me. “Yes,” he said cautiously. “That’s nothing. Still, I never wanted you to see it.”

“What—what did Damen do?”

“You were transferring your energy to him,” Brayden said, finally lowering his hand to his side.

“O-okay?” I managed. I didn’t even know what that meant. “Is… is that bad?”

“Not always,” he said. “But there was how it looked, Bianca.”

“Um…” I curled my fingers against my lips. “H-how does it look?”

He sighed. “Energy transfers are natural between quintets, but you’re meant to be in hiding. Most people don’t know you or why you were giving energy to Damen.”

I blinked. “But… I—I was just trying to help—”

“I know that,” Brayden interrupted gently. “But others might say he was taking it. Especially since he’s Huo.”

My breath caught. “He—he wouldn’t do that—”

“He wouldn’t,” Brayden agreed. “But that won’t stop the rumors. You can’t be seen giving Damen energy.”

“Okay…” I would try to be better.

“On that note, you need to be very careful when you’re in public with Julian,” Brayden continued.

“J-Julian?” I tilted my head. “Why?”

Brayden looked at me, voice serious. “It’s okay for others to give a Xing energy, but taking from one is a serious crime. No one can see you receiving his energy. There’d be an investigation into why you took it.”

I bit my lip.

But I’d often encouraged Finn the same way, and he never said…

“Any breach is considered a Triarch issue and goes to the Council,” Brayden said, pointing his finger in the air. “The punishment depends on what happened and the Councilmembers’ mood that day.”

That… didn’t seem right. Was there no legal standard?

“Oh.” I was still shaking. I didn’t even know what the Triarch was.

A troubled look wavered in Brayden’s eyes before it quickly vanished.

He frowned. “Talk to me.”

I wasn’t sure what to say. I was still trying to calm down. “S-s-sorry.”

Brayden closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. “I’m usually much better at this.”

“W-what?”

“Patience,” Brayden answered, peeking at me. “I’m sorry for scaring you,” he apologized again.

“It’s o-okay.” I pushed my hair behind my ear. “I’ll try not to do it again.”

“Actually,” Brayden began, looking apologetic. “There is one more thing. I’d usually wait until later, but—” He braced himself. “Besides giving each other energy… You and Damen need to stop flirting in public.”

Well, that pulled me back into reality.

“Flirting?” I pressed my hand to my chest. It was not that obvious. “What do you mean?”

“You were very clearly flirting with Damen.” Brayden nodded, and my skin grew hot.

Well, I never!

I’d only slightly flirted in my text—and done a rather sensible, straightforward job of it, thank you very much.

“Bianca, you’re married to Bryce,” he said. “You can’t be seen flirting with anybody else.”

Geez. He made me sound like some kind of Jezebel. “I’ll keep that in mind,” I said dryly.

“Bryce is already facing scrutiny that you’re even here,” Brayden explained. “And that you…” He trailed off, abandoning the rest.

“In any case—” Brayden squared his shoulders. “He’s telling people that you wanted to learn about culture, so he’s supporting your studies. But they still ask.”

“How chivalrous,” I responded.

Brayden shook his head. “You don’t understand. It’s not safe for you in this realm.”

I wrinkled my forehead. “Why?”

“Female fae have unique abilities. There are people who’d do anything to get their hands on one of you,” Brayden explained. “There’s a reason fae men are the way we are.”

He paused, jaw tightening.

“Then you’re Mu…” he said. “That’s dangerous in itself. Mu has always been targeted because of his relationship to Huo. Now, with the prophecy? It’s even worse.”

Ah, yes. I tapped my fingers together and narrowed my eyes. “Is that so…”

The prophecy.

The one that was so disturbing it warranted sending me out into the great unknown. The one where I’d give birth to giant reptiles.

That prophecy.

“What are you plotting?” Brayden asked.

“I haven’t decided yet,” I told him. Had anyone besides Damen checked for accuracy? It seemed… off, and I couldn’t quite put my finger on why.

“I need to look it up,” I muttered, touching my chin. I glanced back at him. “What’s the Triarch?”

Brayden blinked, and I added, “You just mentioned it.”

“Oh.” He seemed taken aback. “It’s what we are.” I looked at him blankly, and he continued, “The Officers, Xing, and the Council. They’re the three governing bodies of our world.”

“Hm,” I responded.

“That’s also why Officers are made up of three generations, and there are three ranking tiers within each generation,” Brayden explained.

Interesting.

“Mu…” He seemed to be picking his words cautiously. “He really liked the number three.”

I pursed my lips. Was that criticism? It seemed perfectly logical to me. Very orderly.

“I’ll give you some books on it,” Brayden said. “I’ve got some stuff on what you asked for, too.”

I blinked at him and lowered my hand. “Already?”

“Well—” He looked at me strangely. “Yeah. Let’s go look at them together, okay?” He held out his hand.

I looked at it for a long second, my heart pounding. I’d dreamed of something like this—this kind of connection between favorite siblings.

I wasn’t going to let fear ruin it.

“O-okay.” My voice was small, and I couldn’t look at his face, but I still placed my hand in his.

Brayden led me to a room in the far corner of the first floor. There was a wall of stained-glass windows and rows of brightly-colored books.

I’d never been here before.

“The most popular hangouts in the library are the psychology and science sections,” he said. “No one comes back here.”

“We have a section for kids?” The low tables were bright red, and the chairs were smaller than elsewhere. “How come no one uses it?”

Brayden shrugged, holding out a red chair for me. “The early childhood education department uses it sometimes.” He pushed my seat. To anyone else, it might have been a tight fit, but I was able to sit semi-comfortably.

“Now—” He sat on the floor and pulled his backpack to his lap“—I stole this from—”

“Wait.” His choice of words had thrown me off, and I held up my hand, interrupting. “You, what?”

Brayden paused, watching me, before he finally opened his mouth, speaking more slowly. “I’ve recently acquired this book, which has everything you’ve requested.” He set a deep brown-colored book on the table and slid it toward me.

With a racing heart, I eyed the book. I did not believe that this book had been ‘recently acquired’ by anything less than illegal means.

But there was something familiar about it.

“What is it?” I heard myself ask.

Brayden didn’t appear to notice. “It’s from your private library,” he said.

I was finally able to tear my eyes from the book.

“Well, one of them.” Brayden was almost bouncing in excitement. He was thrilled to be sharing this with me. “You have a few.”

“And… you stole… from me?” I was offended. What kind of lackluster security measures had I put into place? “How?”

“Never mind that now.” He waved his hand, dismissing my question.

No, I really did mind.

Brayden moved to his knees and opened the book.

“The first couple chapters are about your origins, a breakdown of fae powers, and the basics of how quintets work. We’ve already gone over most of this.

But then it moves on”—He ran his finger down a finger-smudged page—“where there’s a list of prophecies.

Some have already been fulfilled. They’re marked in the book.

I’ve put a sticky in here”—He pointed to the yellow paper—“where you’ll find the whole dragon prophecy. ”

“Is that the rest of the book?” There was still quite a bit of reading after the marker. “Just prophecies?”

“Nah.” Brayden flipped forward a few random pages and moved it more fully in front of me. His curly hair fell over his eyes mischievously. “There’s also a lot about fae customs.”