He leans in, and we're so close that I can see the gold flecks in his dark eyes. I cock my head to the side as they shift and swirl before like nothing I’ve ever seen before.
“Your eyes are beautiful,” I blurt out before I can stop myself. Oh my god, I have no self-control, apparently.
I let my eyes fall closed as I take a moment to bask in my mortification before I open them again and find him still right there, his smile back and wider than before. My apology dies on my tongue as his eyes flick down to my lips, his tongue running the length of his lower lip.
He takes a deep breath as if smelling the air, or maybe simply attempting to center himself, before he huffs and sits back.
“I’m sorry about your brother, Eternity, but I know you had nothing to do with it. You couldn’t hurt a fly.” His smile turns into a smirk that makes me narrow my eyes.
Is he insulting me or…
“How would you know?”
“Because he’s well aware of what people who hurt people look like, aren’t you, Felix?”
I whip around so fast I hear my neck crack, but that’s the least of my concerns as I turn to find Titus standing not far behind us near one of the bookshelves, his arms folded over his chest and a scowl on his face.
I guess at least he’s speaking English this time.
“What are you doing?” Titus hisses, stalking toward the table as if he has any right to demand things of me.
“None of your business,” I snap, pushing to stand, but I don’t get far before I’m being pulled back down.
“He’s talking to me, Eternity, not you,” Felix tells me softly, and I turn to him even more confused.
“What?”
He looks down at me, pulling his gaze from Titus, who stands at my other side, huffing and puffing as if finding us here is somehow a terrible thing.
There’s a sadness in his eyes that wasn’t there a moment ago, and it takes everything in me not to reach for him. The urge to erase that sadness is so strong it’s as if it has a mind of its own.
Before I can, he turns his gaze back to Titus. His eyes flash with anger, making me turn my attention back to him as well, only to find him glaring at me.
Well, that’s more what I expected.
“You shouldn’t be here with him.” He tells me before he turns his attention back to Felix, his scowl deeper than I’ve ever seen it before. “You shouldn’t be here with her. Stay away from her!” he says to Felix, reaching for me as if he intends to move me away from Felix.
I pull back, moving closer to Felix and watching as Titus’s eyes go wide, shifting between Felix and me as if unsure what to do.
I’m more surprised that he’s shocked, though. What did he think was going to happen? That he was going to come in here making demands and I was just going to listen to him.
Not.
“Not every sibling relationship is as warm and loving as yours was, Eternity.”
I see the obvious confusion written on Titus’s face at Felix’s words, but he doesn’t say anything, instead keeping his mouth closed in favor of glaring at me.
I take a second to look between them and realize they have nearly the same eyes. No wonder Felix’s eyes always seemed familiar to me; I’d seen them so often with Titus, always glaring at me.
“You’re brothers?” I ask because while I hear what he’s saying and I see the similarities, it just doesn’t seem possible.
“Half-brothers,” Titus spits as if I’d just insulted him, but Felix doesn’t correct him, so I assume he’s telling the truth.
“You’d do well to stay away from him if you value your life, Wren. He knows you couldn’t hurt a fly because he’s a murderer.”
My eyes go wide, and I turn to Felix, waiting for him to deny Titus’s claim, but he doesn’t, and I sit torn.
I don’t really know Felix, but I know Titus about as well as I need to, and given the choice…
