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What had I done?
“What in dragon’s name are you doing?” A loud voice interrupted my reverie. Carlak? What was my brother doing here? “Well,” he demanded again, stomping into the bathroom and leaning into the shower to turn off the tap with an angry flick of his wrist. “You’ve used a whole kingdom’s worth of water. Were you seriously that dirty from your flight?”
I stared up at my older brother, shocked that he was back home. I’d thought he was away and quite frankly he was the last person I expected to see. Worry and misery coursed through my veins, making it almost impossible to speak.
“Carlak... I...”
He offered me a hand and, when I accepted, hefted me to my feet. “Let’s get you dry, and warm, and into bed. Seriously, Anthony. I leave the castle for a single month and your whole life apparently falls off the edge of the world.”
My brother grumbled away, shaking his head and acting like an old mother hen.
I didn’t stop him. In fact, the fuss was reassuring in a strange way.
Carlak was three years older than me and had always been the classic older brother. The intelligent, overly confident boy who everyone knew would one day be the king of his people. He was the responsible one. Not me.
I’d never had to be, as the perennial prince.
Finally, as he pulled back the covers and pushed me into bed, I found my voice. “How are the twins?” I asked.
“They’re fine. Don’t worry about my family, little brother. Worry about yours.”
“Mine?” I said, confused. “I don’t have a family. Not like that, anyway.”
Not past my parents and brother. My mate would never love me now that she knew what sort of monster I was.
Carlak dragged a chair from a corner of the room and set it beside my bed. There he sat, his brow furrowed and twisted as he stared at me with obvious concern.
“Not yet, you don’t,” he said. “But you have a mate, and if you’re lucky, you’ll have a child soon enough. What are you doing flying around aimlessly, until you’re so exhausted you can barely make it back home?”
I shuffled in bed to hide my discomfort, rearranging the blankets. I hated hearing the disappointment in his voice. “How do you know all that?”
“Mother had another vision,” Carlak said, as though that was a run of the mill type of thing. It was, for our family, but if Charity heard him, what would she think? “She’s worried about you. And she’s even more worried about what’s going to happen between you and Charity.”
I sighed and let my head fall back against my pillow. “Thank you for coming to check on me, brother, but I’m okay. I just... needed to fly today. To get out. Get away.”
Anthony groaned and muttered something incoherent. I lifted my head and met Carlak’s angry gaze.
“What are you running from?” He blasted the question at me, his words now clear as day. “Seriously, Anthony. You’re always hiding and keeping yourself in check. For what? You’re not the crown prince. Of the two of us, you’re the one who’s meant to be the wild one. You’re meant to be having fun. What are you so worried about?”
I couldn’t answer him. I didn’t want to. But my magic had other ideas.
It swelled inside of me, seeking a place amongst my family. Where it had always wanted to be.
“Carlak, I...”
“Whoa. What’s happening with your eyes?” He craned his neck to look closer and I jerked away, staring down at my lap.
Fury rushed through me at my magic’s betrayal. It was meant to disappear. To die a quick death. And yet, it seemed to be growing stronger, more out of control than ever before.
“It’s nothing,” I muttered, not daring to look up.
Carlak grunted. “Your eyes used to do that magic thing when we were kids, you know. Same as Mom’s. I just didn’t say anything.”
My head came up fast. “What do you mean?”
Carlak rolled his eyes. “I’m your brother, Anthony. I shared a room with you. Did you seriously think you could hide your magic powers from me?”
“I don’t have magic!” I exclaimed, even though I knew it was stupid to deny something he was obviously aware of. When it came to my magic, my default setting seemed to be to lie about it.
