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“Our family?” Etrix scoffs, rolling his eyes. “The moment that we realised you were the heir, my spare status was cut off. He only tolerated me just on the tiny off chance I wouldn’t be his successor.”
“That’s not—”
“He hates me,” Etrix says. “He hates that my mum got pregnant. That she’s not a disgusting piece of shit who abuses me the way he does.”
“At least yours is still alive,” Eirik says, and my face drops. We’re all sitting here, witness to this horrible nasty fight between brothers—a fight that we probably shouldn’t be witness to—and it’s gotten cold.
“At least?” Etrix says before laughing a deep laugh. “Eirik, my mother is the best woman I know. I’m not sad that she’s alive, I’m fucking ecstatic.” He stands from the sofa, and steps to meet his brother’s eyes, not cowering away from him like I would.
“I’m not going to apologise that I was born, that my mum got pregnant, that yours couldn’t handle that,” Etrix says. His calm tone angers Eirik even further. “I’m not going to apologise for being born a bastard, and this reaction right here is the reason I cut you out of my life.”
“What?”
“You’re weak, Eirik. You’d rather keep the peace, stay silent, and hope you can undo all the shit he’s done whilst King,” Etrix says. “But you can’t. You’ve got the chance to make the changes now. You can help our people now. But, instead, you’re too fucking weak.”
“Weak,” Eirik repeats, stepping back.
“You’re a coward, brother,” Etrix says, his voice low and strained as he chokes out his words. “And you’d rather cling to your prestige, the ascension you one day hope to have, and keep the peace than do what needs to be done.”
I turn into Zohar’s shoulder, hiding my tears. This moment is horrible. Etrix is calm, but his pain is shown so badly in his soul.
And Eirik, well his aura is a mess. He’s raging with lots of different emotions, so unable to settle on one thing. He’s broken, struggling, lost.
“So, I’m not sure if now is the time, but I did want to invite you all to a meet and greet sort of thing,” Vitalis says, and I half-moan half-cry into Zohar’s chest. His aquatic scent washes over me as I inhale deeply, and he traps me in his muscular arms. “You know, if you do decide to join us.”
“And if we don’t?” Ciar asks.
“I’ll have to take the memories away. We can’t have Zoe endangered, no matter what.” That draws some murmurs of agreement from the others.
“Give them time to think this over,” Necos murmurs, and Vitalis nods. “48 hours to come to terms with everything, and then we’ll make a decision.”
“48 hours,” Eirik repeats. And with that, he turns on his heel, and disappears from the room.
That couldn’t have gone worse if we tried.
26
CIAR
“We need to talk,” I say, grabbing Etrix’s arm when he tries to follow Eirik out of the room.
“But—”
“Rik will be fine for a while without you,” I say, glaring at him with all the hatred I can muster. It pisses me off that it’s not more.
Especially since I’m sure he can see the hurt in my expression.
Dickhead.
How dare he stand here, caring more about the brother he betrayed than me.
Okay, fine, when I say it out loud, obviously I sound selfish. But we have our own bond—or we’re meant to. One he’s fucked up, and one I won’t allow him to keep tarnishing.
“Where are you two going?” Zoe asks, sounding tearful. I walk over and crouch in front of her, after kicking Ryes out of the way.
“We need a little chat,” I say, and she nods slowly. “We’ll be back soon,mo sholas.”
“Be good,” she murmurs, and the red blotchiness on her cheeks from the crying makes me even more mad at Etrix.
