The Death of a Bachelor

Chapter Thirty-five

A/N: Slightly longer chapter...

As expected, Kieran’s siblings were more than happy to meet up with Elena. Well, a part from Joshua, who had on his resting impassive face.

The archery shed, despite its name, was still just another tent.

“You two are matching,” Aira told Kieran and Elena, referring to how they  were both wearing maroon.

“And you are,” Lukas cut in, ready to throw a fitting insult, but after giving Aira a once-over, frowned. “What are you wearing?”

Aira looked down at her gold colored dress whose hem was serrated, and the length was just above her knees.

“A dress,” she replied flatly.

Luke narrowed his eyes. “Sure it’s not a tunic with how short it is?”

“Ugh. Not this again,” Aira groaned. “First I had to argue and deal with all four of them about my dress.” She gestured to her brothers. “And now I have to deal with you about the same issue! What’s wrong with you men!”

“Exactly,” Luke said. “You cannot go around showing your knees to every Jefferson, Hortense and Clement at your age. There are a number of sickos out there.”

Aira folded her arms and glared at him. “You of all people understand I know how to defend myself. And they’re just knees, for goodness sake!”

“Lots of sickos with knee fetishes too,” Luke pointed out, returning the glare. “Especially children’s knees.”

Aira huffed, her anger brewing.

“Uh-oh,” Aaron muttered, taking a step back.

“I am not a child. I can wear whatever the heck I want.” Aira seethed. “And I don’t need a fifth brother to argue about this with, either.”

Luke’s eyes widened in disbelief. “B-bruh…” he sputtered. “Brother?” He gestured to himself. “Me?”

“Yes, you, Blondie with the valleys in his cheeks,” Aira clarified, jutting her chin out. “If you are not like one of my brothers, then what are you?”

“What am I?” he responded, flustered.

“Yeah, what are you?” Joshua raised a suspicious eyebrow.

“What are you?” Ray echoed, folding his arms.

“I…I am…” Luke croaked.

“A brother,” Aira finished and flicked his forehead with her fingers. “And by the time my eldest brother has dropped the argument about my dress, you should behave.”

Aaron, Joshua and Ray nodded and hummed in sync. “Mm.”

Kieran’s hand fell on Luke’s shoulder in a brotherly pat, followed by a nod in his direction just as Aira snorted and linked arms with Elena.

Aira was the star of the archery game. Her brothers and future sister-in-law were her personal cheerleaders, hooting every time she destroyed her challengers. She also destroyed her opponent’s arrows by shooting hers right through theirs at the target board, as a bonus.

“An arrow may also be a razor sharp knife, depending on how you use it,” she had told one particular braggart.

The men had departed with their tails in between their legs, with utterances and murmurs about fearing Hammedatha women.

Soon, a soldier came in to
report to The General, and he decided to leave with Ray to handle a security breach, specifically leaving Elena in the care of Joshua.