Chapter Thirty
Alexandr Miroslav
Wolf Kingsley anticipated that someone was going to make an attempt on his life over the holidays. However, he hadn’t anticipated how they would go about it, leading him to engage in mithridatism for extra precautions.
Paranoia.
What Wolf hadn’t anticipated was arriving at the Kingsley Manor, situated near the shores of Rhode Island, to find his older brother sitting in the dining room with a newspaper open in one hand, a cup of steaming tea in the other.
Embarrassingly so, how it had happened that we arrived at this situation was the clutching of my stomach and the repeated phrase of “I’m hungry” on the way over from the airport.
I’d only repeated it once before the driver looked back at me from the rearview mirror with a pursed lip. That must have been what egged me on to repeat it several more times.
We’d barely made it through the door before Wolf pulled on my sleeve, postponing the tour of the property and leading us both into the dining room.
Wolf drew to a stop at the figure seated quite comfortably at the head of the table. Upon our arrival, Evander Barathalow Kingsley folded over his newspaper and met Wolf’s gaze with his warm blue eyes. “Lu, welcome back home.”
The last time I’d properly seen Evander Barthalow Kingsley was three months and so ago. He still had that too-clean, short, boxed beard that seemed to make him look ready to rob. Unfortunately, he also still had the body of a killer.
Now, as opposed to the first time we’d spoken, I was loaded with a cache of information that didn’t make me feel as though I were constantly at a loss.
I saw him in that photo, young and wild.
When I tuned back into the present, Wolf was still standing next to me in a frozen state. He dropped my arm with shaking hands and watched his brother through wide eyes and parted lips.
Standing so close to him, I could hear his whispered, “Evan…”
A quiet beat passed, once, twice, until his breathing picked up, practically exhaling fumes through his nose as he began to almost vibrate in place.
Evander must have had another idea of how this would play out, because his serene expression faltered. Before he could open his mouth with another string of words that might only make things worse, Wolf spoke in a low tone, “This is no longer your home. I want you out.”
It was the most threatening I’d ever heard Wolf sound, the deadliest.
Even I believed he’d kill Evander in his sleep if he so much as stayed the night.
With those last words, Wolf tersely turned around and marched in the other direction.
I watched as he moved up the stairs and down a hall before the slam of a door sounded throughout the house.
It was a large house, a castle. And so, one could imagine how hard you’d have to push a door for it to sound in such a space.
I turned to Evan, pressing my lips together in the awkward air we were left to settle in. I had just witnessed something an outsider should not have, and I also drugged and robbed him in September.
We were already off to a great start.
When the man who deeply resembled the one who greeted us at the door entered from a side door, I jumped at the intrusion but was grateful for the crack in the atmosphere he’d unknowingly caused.
I was also still hungry. “Excuse me, sir, I was wondering if you could prepare a plate of food and send it up to Wolf’s room? ”
The old man paused and looked from me to Evander. To my offense, Evander gave a subtle nod, as though my eyes weren’t in full operation, before the older man became more agreeable. He turned back to me and smiled politely. “Certainly, sir. I’ll have it brought up when it’s ready.”
I smiled gratefully, sucking in so the rumble of my stomach wouldn’t sound. “Thank you.”
Only when he departed through the doors he came from did I move a step closer to Evander. The well-dressed man, I’ll give him that, looked distressed. And who was I to deny him the reminder that it could always get worse?
“So… Were you parked up against the window before rushing to pose upon our arrival?”
Evander closed his eyes and pressed his thumb and pointer finger against the bridge of his nose. “Alexandr, I swear on all that is good and holy, the first and final chance I’ve given you was when you drugged me. You are only still in one piece because Thaddeus–”
I snapped my fingers in reminder. “Oh! About that, you’ll be playing mediator between Cassius and Thaddeus for a while. Just a heads up.”
I didn’t let him continue and turned just as Wolf had, walking away without a second glance. I ignored the way Evander called after me to explain myself.
I would rather spend the next half-hour searching for which of the hundreds of rooms in this manor belonged to Wolf.
I was glad of the way I’d parted with Cassius.
The only thing I had come to the realization of on the plane over was the conversation I’d eavesdropped on between Cassius, Thaddeus, and Evan.
Thaddeus hadn’t told Cassius of my identity and how he’d come to sponsor me.
Even I wasn’t privy to the knowledge of how he’d found me.
The only thing I was sure of was that Thaddeus would be suffering at least one hell of a right hook The only thing I wasn’t looking forward to was the conversation I’d be forced to have with Cass once I returned.
It wasn’t as hard to find Wolf’s room among the rows of doors. The signs on the wall were a dead giveaway. The biggest sign was yellow with the words ‘caution: enter at your own risk’ across it.
Poetic.
The most fitting, however, was the doorknob, shaped in the form of the head of a wolf.
I didn’t bother knocking, turning the knob to find it unlocked.
Wolf’s room at home was larger than the apartment I’d grown up in. Which wasn't a shock considering how small the apartment I’d grown up in was. But you get the picture.
The bed he was a lump under the blanket of was large. Big enough for at least five people to sleep on, with enough room to shift comfortably.
There were two windows against the far wall, shining sunlight in, and high curtains held at each side of both. A sofa faced the bed, and a large carpet was situated underneath both.
Lined on his dresser were plants of all kinds. Long, short, sharp, soft. Some with big leaves the size of my open palm, others with small petals often described in romantic poetry.
He had books in stacked piles on the floor, but aside from that, it was clean and in pristine shape.
“Wolf?” I called and walked closer to the bed. “You alive under there?”
The boy in question didn’t give me the silent treatment, as I’d expected.
Instead, he pulled the blanket off his head with a quick swish and turned to face me.
His eyes were red, but his cheeks were clear of any tears.
He looked devastating. “Why does he think he can suddenly come back and act as if nothing happened?”
I listened to his clogged voice and toed my shoes off, going to lie down with a groan.
Once I was settled, stretching out and ignoring the echoing cracks of my weary bones, I faced the ceiling and let my eyes close.
“I don’t think that’s what you should be dwelling on.
The more important question is how you feel about it.
Are you willing to let him ‘suddenly come back’, as you put it? ”
Wolf sniffled and shook his head. “This is so stupid. I’m not willing. I don’t care about him. I don’t care what he does. I just hope he takes my words seriously and leaves.”
I shrugged, feigning nonchalance. “Well… if you don’t care, you wouldn’t be crying. You wouldn’t be so upset.”
“It’s a response from shock,” Wolf lied.
I wasn’t in any way defending Evander. In fact, I hoped he would leave and never come back just for making his brother so angry.
I’d come to know Wolf, and he wasn’t exactly a vindictive or evil person. He was far too honourable and kind. Sure, I sometimes found it bothersome, but Evander didn’t deserve to be related to someone like him.
And yet, Wolf had clearly been longing for his brother, even when we were at Castle Hill. That must have been why he’d first stayed behind with Thaddeus.
He knew they were old friends.
How ironic that their names belong to them. They should have been reversed based on meaning alone. “I’m not calling you a liar or anything.” Wolf let out a choked laugh. “You’re clearly upset, but I think a secret part of you wants to see your brother again. Wants to reconcile with him.”
Wolf turned and groaned into his pillow before saying, “Why do you have to be so… you?”
I chuckled. “Can’t be anyone else. Or… I could, but you wouldn’t like him.”
I let the words slip out before I could catch them, but Wolf, thankfully, didn’t seem to understand or ponder. “I think I’d find you as a friend even if you took on a hundred different bodies. Kind of like those ‘find you in every universe’ novels.”
I turned my head and opened my eyes to meet Wolf’s gaze, raising a brow. “Let’s save the sweet talk for Rain.”
Wolf’s features flattened in a deadpan look before he turned on his back and closed his eyes as I had done moments ago. “I’m going to sleep before dinner. I’ll show you around afterwards.”
I got up and pulled the duvet back from my side before slipping under. “I’m still hungry. Some host you are.”
Wolf huffed and moved his arm to shove me before letting his breath even out.
I’d forgotten about the request I made, and just as sleep won the war I tried waging, I heard a sharp knock before someone entered, placing a tray of food on the nightstand next to me before slipping back out.
“Sasha…” a singsong tone echoed through the walls of my dorm. Or… it looked like my dorm, but something was different, wrong.
Something must have shifted, time must have passed, because in the next moment, I found myself shoved against the wall, King Kensington holding my shirt in his fists. “You killed me! I’ll make you pay, Alexei! You’ll pay!”