The Cage (Book 2) ✔️

Unannounced Visit

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Unannounced Visit

I tossed the gun halfway across the room, flung the covers aside and launched myself at him with open arms. Our lips collided and I kissed him with the fervent urgency of a sailor lost at sea having his first sip of cold water. I melted against him, parting my lips, begging him to tongue me.

He was here! It wasn't my imagination. He really was here!

But...

He tasted different, of musk and expensive vodka, and while he was very real and extremely solid, I felt no... sizzle.

"Mmph," I groaned against his mouth and opened my eyes, a mouth that did not reciprocate my enthusiastic kiss.

Wait a minute. Something's different. This doesn't feel right.

Slowly, I pulled away to find a pair of electric blue eyes staring at me.

Blue. Not silver gray.

My heart lurched, my nostrils flared and my eyes narrowed.

A ray of enlightenment pierced my confusion.

Embarrassment doused me, followed by soul-crushing disappointment that left me momentarily speechless and reeling from the impact.

It wasn't Schneider. It was his twin brother, Schneizel.

My arms fell away from him and I stepped away, one step, then two, then three, until I felt the bed hit the back of my knees.

"S-" I swallowed to wet my suddenly dry throat. "Sorry," I mumbled and looked away, down, anywhere but into the unfamiliar eyes set in the familiar face.

Something was squeezing my heart, trying to burst it. Tears clouded my vision. I turned slightly away from him until I'd regained my composure.

Schneizel watched me with sympathetic eyes. "I apologize for the confusion I seem to have caused." Damn, even their voices were eerily similar.

My cheeks flared a bright crimson. A part of me was consumed by the guilt and shame of not recognizing my own boyfriend, but the other part justified my mistake. Anyone in my position would have made the same error -they were carbon copies save for their eyes!- but I still felt terrible about confusing the two. I'd gone for an open-mouthed kiss, too.

It was for the best that Schneider never found out about this... incident.

"I also apologize for my unannounced visit. Since you know my story, you understand why I didn't use the front door."

"But this is your father's house." I said without thinking, and immediately regretted probing the subject; insinuating that a son would hide from his own father.

If Schneizel was anything like his brother, then I had to choose my words carefully.

Luckily, Schneizel didn't seem to mind my inquisitiveness. "There are those who don't believe I'm dead, so I must assume that my father's house is being watched to find proof of that."

I nodded my understanding and left it at that.

"How did you get in here?" I quickly asked in an effort to change the subject.

Schneizel indicated the open window. A night breeze ruffled the curtain.

How hadn't I noticed him slipping into the room through the window while I lay on the bed wide awake? More importantly, we were on the second floor. How the hell did he manage to climb all the way up here?

"Why are you here?"

Schneizel was one man I never thought I'd get the chance to meet, and certainly not like this. Looking at him now, I could confirm that both brothers took after their father. Like his father, Schneizel had a power of presence that filled a room, making it simply impossible to ignore. Which again begged the question of how I'd failed to notice it as I lay on the bed pitying myself and angry at Schneider.

"I thought someone in your position would never come back to the country, given the effort you went to to fake your own death."

Schneizel's eyes narrowed on me and my heart skipped a beat. It belatedly occurred to me that maybe I should have kept knowing that secret to myself.

"My brother told you about me?"

"Yes," I confessed. Schneider told me all about his twin brother, how he'd faked his own death after his daring escape from prison to be with his love, Aiden. It was the most romantic thing I'd ever heard, straight out of a Nora Roberts novel.

"He must truly love you, then."

Perhaps if the words had come from someone else, they wouldn't have packed such a punch, but since they'd come from the legendary Schneizel, former king of the prison, it knocked the breath right out of me.

I knew he cared for me, but I didn't... he didn't...

Upon seeing my reaction, he smiled knowingly, and in his smile I saw Schneider's. It was the kind of smile that could stop traffic.

Smiling a small smile of my own, I said, "I wouldn't know. He hasn't told me."

"Perhaps he hasn't gotten the chance to do so."

The way Schneizel was so sure that there was a confession in my future made butterflies fly rampant in my gut.

"How do you know who I am?"

"He mentioned you in a couple of correspondences."

The fact that the brothers somehow communicated didn't surprise me, but knowing that Schneider told his brother about me filled my chest with a warmth that had the magical effect of summoning tears to my eyes.

Wait for me, Schneider. I'll find you.

I was never as resolved to find Schneider as I was now.

Sniffing back my tears, I repeated my question, now that we'd exchanged formalities."Why are you here?"

"For the same reason you are."

"You... know? About Schneider?"

"Yes."

I searched his eyes for any information. What did he know that we didn't?

As if reading my mind, Schneizel said, "I know what they want from him."

"Well, what's that?" I found myself holding my breath.

"They want information about our brother." 

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Our brother, he said. Hmmm...

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