Kingdom of isolation - you can't hide

Thirty - Dual POVs

Aurora

Nikolas grabs my wrist and starts dragging me along with him. I turn to look back and see if Aunt Bella is following us, but she's not even looking at me. In fact, she seems to be deep in thought, brows furrowed and lips pursed. I turn my head around just as Nikolas starts speeding up. Turning over his shoulder, he says to me, "I have to say, it's really refreshing having someone like you here."

"Being a captive of your brother is refreshing to you, is it?" I can't help but bite back. He snickers, tugging me along with him. Despite not knowing what kind of person Nikolas is, I still find him to be far more gentle and easygoing than his savage brother. Even as he's dragging me somewhere, his hold on my wrist is benign.

"That's not what I meant, but you could say that. As long as it annoys him, I'm game. I like you, munchkin. Always did."

My brows scrunch in confusion as I stare at the back of his head. I don't remember Nikolas from any of my memories and I wish I did. His insane brother, I remember enough to know he's the devil incarnate. But Nikolas, I'm getting nothing and it sucks because he seems like someone I would have gotten along with. But then again, there's not a whole lot I remember to begin with. Maybe we've interacted before and my brain refuses to tell me. I don't know. What I do know is that Nikolas is a giant with legs as long as me, and I'm being dragged along the floor with my sock clad feet. I'm a human duster at this point.

"Where are you taking me, not my captor?" I can't help the amusement lacing every word. We come to a screeching halt and I barely avoid smacking my face against his chest when he turns to face me, scrunching his nose. I take a moment to look at him again, because, why not? At first glance, he does look like Alexander, but there's some distinctive features between the two. You just have to look for them, as I'm doing right now. He has the same sharp features but they appear softer at times, especially when he smiles, paired with messy hair like he truly doesn't care for styling it and a faded scar underneath his right eye that blends into his tan complexion. I want to ask him if he's ever considered modelling because he'd be really good at it. His blue eyes are like a warm day at the beach. The way he speaks in his deep voice is weirdly comforting whilst being boyish. I can already tell that he's popular among the masses, probably has a fan club or two. But what truly sets them apart is their mannerism, their contrasting demeanours. One actively wants to hurt me while the other appears as if he probably couldn't even hurt a fly without feeling guilty about it—or talking it to death.

"I have a name, you know. It's Nikolas—or Niko, if you like me enough. And, what the fuck? He hasn't told you about me? That fucker's been hiding stuff from me! I always knew he was but didn't wanna say it to his face because that dude is scary when he gets mad. Like, really mad. To be fair, though, Kill deserved that beating."

"Who are you talking about?" I say, breathless on his behalf. He glances at me, offended that I interrupted him, and rolls his eyes.

"Caspian, duh. Were you not listening to me? He's here with—"

"Ian's here?" I gasp, tugging my hand out of his grasp.

"Uh, yeah. He is. But it's gonna be a little hard to explain what's going on. I mean, one minute you're dead and then you're not—"

"Wait, wait, go back. What do you mean by that?"

"You..you were dead, weren't you?"

"I mean, I guess so?" I shrug.

"Yeah, so that right there, is hard to explain given the.." he trails off, rotating his hand as if waiting for me to finish for him. I blink. His mouth hangs open and I realise that Nikolas is quite dramatic along with being extremely talkative. My social battery would drain so fast with him.