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Et’enne grabs a chair, flips it around, and straddles it, resting his arms on the back.
His dark eyes soften when he looks at me, and he offers me his hand, his palm facing up. I place mine on top of it, and he brings my hand to his mouth and kisses it. We hold hands for a while before he releases mine.
“How are you, Fleur?” he asks.
There he is. Not the Summer king, but my eldest brother, the male who has looked after me all my life. Hearing about his involvement in hiding my siren side hurt me. Now I see it’s hurt him too. My brother rarely displays emotions or affection for fear of people taking advantage of him. It’s so good to see him as someone other than a king again.
We all used to have breakfast together, spend time together with family when we first got up. I miss that, and I think he does too. Hence, he wants to repair our relationship. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have come to this tower at this time. Et’enne doesn’t socialize this way. He doesn’t come to us. We go to him.
“I can see that you’re thinking, and I can’t read a word of it. It’s humbling. Can I taste some of the teas?”
I offer him several different sorts, then mention the one that will get us through the winter season. He takes that one even though he prefers the black tea that El’jah is drinking.
“June says your night was eventful,” he mentions, as if a fate telling him of my night is like talking about the weather.
Although June doesn’t restrict Et’enne’s access to her mind, her magic in itself might provide some boundaries, I have no idea how much she told him.
“I saw Mother,” I say.
Et’enne puts down his cup.
“Annnnd, the fun just ended,” El’jah says.
“Go on, Fleur.”
“She snatched me into a portal and tried using me to summon my vampire.”
“Yourvampire,” Et’enne says, and I’m surprised he’s not asking about our mother. He’s been obsessing over finding her. She slips by him every time he gets near her.
“How is she?” El’jah asks. “Not that we care.”
“We don’t,” Et’enne confirms.
We do. We care a lot. It’s just that my brothers won’t admit it. She’s our mother and, for the longest time, the one person who held our court together, the one who preserved Et’enne’s throne. “She didn’t look well. I think the vampires fed on her and received her magic. They needed powerful food to face Nottuza.”
“We’re not food,” Et’enne says.
“I didn’t mind being his.” Food or otherwise.
Et’enne drinks the entire cup of tea, then passes me the empty cup. “More.” I go to pour, but El’jah stops me.
“Sister, our brother here is trying to deal with you having a boyfriend. Tea won’t do.” He walks to the bar in the corner to fetch a dark caramel-colored liquid. It looks like the bourbon the hordes have been selling all over the region.
When he uncorks it at the table, the strong smell of cheap liquor makes us all rear away from it. Nevertheless, El’jah pours my brother a glass, then two more and holds up his.
“A toast,” he says. “To us, the three idiots who still want their mommy back, even though she’s a royal bitch.”
Et’enne joins the toast with his glass. “To us and all the bullshit she’s yet to put us through.”
I join in and they stare at me expectantly. “Solseneme!”
We click our glasses and invert the contents down our throats.
I gag and, feel it coming back up along with the entire contents of my belly. I rush toward my room and barely make it before throwing up into an empty water canister the staff left from the baths. I’m heaving my brains out when I hear my brothers laughing their asses off.
I wipe my mouth and wash it out with mint-infused water, then sit back down at the table. “I have no idea what happened.”
They laugh.
