Chapter Sixteen
Alexandr Miroslav
The days came fast after the Founder’s Society meeting, but I remembered it was a Friday and I’d spent my week avoiding Wolf as best I can after the entire ordeal.
It wasn’t fear, exactly, but rather a small experiment I thought best to try out. Watching, observing, studying Wolf from afar was proving to be most beneficial when he wasn’t so up close and blurry.
Perhaps it was the weekend finally creeping up on me that made me feel much more… open-minded. For two days, I wouldn’t have to think about French, or Thomas Hobbes, or being given a stack of business contracts to read through and find loopholes or room for negotiation in my benefit.
I tried not to let the second-hand embarrassment get to me when I watched my peers get into their personas, arguing as if the million-dollar deal was right there in front of them.
Perhaps, now that I was finally getting the hang of it, I feel it much easier to speak about.
We often hide the parts we’re vulnerable about, after all.
The grounds had transformed into a vivid dream of Halloween when the trees turned a pale yellow, then orange, and finally, red.
It brought a colourful liveliness to Castle Hill I didn’t think was possible.
What with its never-ending perfectly mowed lawn and well-manicured walkways.
Had the seasons not changed before my eyes, I’d have mistaken the property for an inert ghost. Haunting the Scottish countryside one cobblestone at a time.
In contrast, the grass was turning yellow, a pale and ugly shade.
I didn’t know if they celebrated the pagan holiday in Castle Hill. I was sure it was popular throughout Scotland, though.
It was actually quite interesting, this time of year.
I once read in a book that the Celts believed the veil between the living and the dead was thinnest this time of year.
I didn’t believe in such things, but if I did, I would run as fast as I could away from this ‘veil’ they told tales of. There were too many dead looking to pull me across to their side.
“Evander Kinglsey hasn’t reached out to Wolf in years. Perhaps… Barthalow’s death has changed that. But I can’t be sure.”
Rain watched me from across the chess board sitting between us, not that either of us was using it.
After a moment, she sighed and turned to look out the window at the sprawling field of freshly-cut grass and well-lined trees.
Her sigh reminded me of an old school teacher I’d had, with white hair and smile lines, and heavy-weighing bags under her eyes, exhaustion in her bones.
For a short beat, I didn’t envy Rain as I once felt I did. I wasn’t wary or cautious. I just… pitied her. “Who’s… Barthalow?”
She rolled her eyes. “You need to study up on family names. It’s important.”
I sent her a tight-lipped smile. “Just answer the question–”
“I’m serious, Alexandr.” Her tone suggested it and something made me pause.
I watched the furrow in her brow deepen as she spoke, “This isn’t child’s play anymore.
We’re learning to punch above our weight class, and you need to prioritize the Society.
You heard Thaddeus. Education is secondary. The Society comes first.”
The heaviness, the importance of her words set inside me like a stone pressed against my lungs, making it hard to breathe.
I knew she was right and I also knew she wasn’t saying this because she cared. Rain prioritized the Society, and she wouldn’t let anyone take that away from her. Not her mother and certainly not me.
She was trying to prove a point, that she wouldn’t fail because of me.
I respected it and I nodded in truth. “Alright.”
She leaned back. “Now, if you must know. Barthalow is Wolf’s father.
He passed away this summer, and Evander was named his successor.
Except, Evander is practically estranged.
Left the Kingsley Manor years ago and didn’t show his face anywhere in upper society.
Or so I’ve heard. No one knows what will happen to the fortune, but if Evander steps up to claim it, no one can refute him. ”
I shook my head. “He’s sitting on the board, Rain. Of course he claimed it.”
“We don’t know that. These matters do not happen so quickly. It had to be Barthalow who appointed Wolf. For all we know, the Kingsley seat… could very well be vacant.”
Her pause made us both sure she was uncertain herself. The board, with all its collateral held in the trust that all members do their part, wouldn’t allocate time for a family to sort their will affairs.
I leaned forward, the information too intriguing. “Why did he leave?”
Rain opened her mouth to speak but another voice filled the empty student lounge, “Hey… Sasha. Jett.”
Wolf stood at the door, his eyes bouncing between the both of us warily as his jaw seemed to lock. For a moment, it looked as though his eyes narrowed, but I might’ve imagined it. “Kingsley.”
I nodded to him, but he didn’t return the gesture, my way of greeting not lost on him.
Despite Rain’s words, I felt distrustful on principle, or maybe habit, however something was for certain: Wolf Kingsley was hiding something.
His dorm was locked like the vault of a high-security bank, he always slid into empty classrooms when he thought no one was looking and worked on things that would send him straight to jail based on suspicion alone if he’d done it at any public school.
But of course, Castle Hill treasures the creative and innovative minds of soon-to-be warlords and scandal-ridden company owners.
Rain met my eyes for a single moment before she stood, brushing off non-existent lint from her skirt and walking past me, stepping out of the room with a barely-there brush past Wolf. “Excuse me.”
Her steps faded up the stairs towards her office, and then there was only me and Wolf left in the empty room. “Are you done?”
I blinked. “Done what?”
“Done with whatever mood you seem to be in?” Wolf deadpanned.
I almost stood up and punched him across the face.
Almost. Except, that wouldn’t help us reach any sort of agreement, and if Rain couldn’t finish her words, Wolf would for her.
Because unless Wolf is hiding a dorm full of posters of naked women on his walls, he has a board with my name on it and everything there is to know about me.
How coincidental that it’s right across from him. I wonder if that was all planned as well. “You got really quiet when your brother was mentioned.”
Wolf tensed and his eyes narrowed further. I gestured to the seat Rain had just occupied and he took it quickly, as if eager to get this over with. “Why do you care?”
I watched him, trying to pull metaphorical frames together to form a clear image. “You’re my friend… aren’t you?”
He balked, as if he couldn’t believe the words out of my mouth. Slowly, after opening and closing his mouth a number of times, he parted his lips again. “I… I am your friend, Sasha. Why would you think otherwise?”
I shrugged, the sudden tension stifling, or perhaps it was the effect of the silence. “Sometimes, I wonder if you miss your brother or hate him.”
Wolf’s jaw clenched and he stood with a start. “Don’t! You don’t know anything. So do not go there.”
“Don’t I?”
“No, you don’t. Because you never loved anyone or anything enough for it to hurt when they left.”
I tilted my head, not the least bit hurt by his words. Because Wolf didn’t truly know me, I realized. He couldn’t. His brother’s disappearance, if it ever was one, seemed to still sting. And yet I couldn’t find myself feeling any sort of sympathy.
“Listen Wolf, I’m going to be blunt because I came upon a piece of information that leads me to believe something I’d rather not believe.”
I was willing to be understanding, because for all his secrecy, it would only inconvenience me to make an enemy of Wolf. I liked him enough, at least. He was kind to others, something that seemed to come as easily as breathing for him. A deep contrast to myself that I didn’t mind envying.
“But I only want one answer to one question. Have you ever been in contact with your brother since he left?”
Wolf recoiled at my words. “Wha–what? Sasha… What are you talking about?”
I shook my head. “I just want an answer.”
“No! No. No, and why would you even ask me that? Why do you care?” He began to seethe.
I watched him closely, from how tightly rung his muscles became to the mix of anguish and anger danced like twin flames in his eyes. His brows furrowed and his lips curled with a sense of pain akin to one I had only felt once in my lifetime.
I hadn’t realized how much I hoped I was wrong until the weight of distress on my shoulders gave way for featherlight relief.
Slight guilt filled me at what I’d forced to resurface in the boy, but also because Wolf wasn’t as conniving as I’d painted him out to be, or tried at least. “Alright,” I placated. “Alright, that’s all I wanted to know.”
“Why?” He asked curtly, no longer in a kind mood.
I shrugged. “Just…” For a moment, I contemplated lying, but even I wasn’t so heartless. I let out a conflicted sigh. “Just sit down first.”
I felt Wolf, of all people, would be the person I’d divulge this information to. Not only was he Evan’s brother, but he…
Oh god, I couldn’t even get the words out.
He is my friend.
I gestured to the seat in front of me with an outstretched arm, and Wolf seemed to hesitate before taking it again. He eyed me suspiciously, but when he sat down, I said, “Listen… Don’t breathe a word of this to anyone else, okay?”
Wolf tilted his head away, a furrow growing between his brows. “Sasha, you’re starting to freak me out.”
I waved his worries away with a dismissive shake of my head. “Just promise.”
He seemed to think about it for a moment, regarding me with an analytical eye before nodding. “Alright, fine. I won’t, I promise.”