Fight to Die (Harry Styles)

Five

Chapter 5

• Julia •

"I can't believe them!" my brother shouts, pacing in front of me. Ever since I told him of how I'm practically being forced into marrying Felix, he has been going off, cursing the world and everyone in it. Of course, I have tried to convince him that it wasn't our parents fault; he just won't hear any of it.

I'm lucky to have a brother like him, so incredibly loyal and protective. He's not the annoying protective some brothers are, but he's enough. He would be willing to die for me; he has made this clear to me on several occasions in my life. And I would be willing to do the same for him. I love my brother; he is my best friend in the whole wide world and I don't know where I would be without him.

Earlier, when I fist confided in my brother Antonius, I was in tears and he was the one trying to calm me down, but now it is quite the opposite. I need to calm him down.

Standing from the couch, I approach him and grab his shoulders and roughly turn him to face me. His eyes are wide and he is fuming.

"Calm down!" I tell him, still holding onto his shoulders tightly. "It's not that big of a deal; there's nothing we can do about it."

"Not that big of a deal?" he shouts in my face, at which I step back. "Are you kidding me? I would rather you marry a good man who was a slave than this guy. He may be rich and the son of the Emperor, but he is an absolute ass."

"How do you know?"

Antonius scoffs and begins to pace once more, "let's not forget what he said to you at my birthday two years ago."

"Is that all you have on him? Why was he even there, by the way? I've been wondering that for a long time."

My brother doesn't respond immediately; he continues to pace and tries to keep it together.

"Felix was an old friend of mine. We used to be friends...until he insulted you and that was the end of it. I wanted him to apologize, but he refused so that is why I was done with him," my brother says and I instantaneously feel guilt. I am the reason he lost a friend.

"Maybe you could talk to him for me," I suggest, trying to ease the nearly tangible tension in the room.

At this, my brother's head shoots up like he has just heard that a girl likes him, "that's genius! He'll listen to me."

•••

He left two hours ago. Antonius slipped out of the house without anyone's knowledge but my own and now he has been gone for two hours and I'm beginning to become concerned. It only takes ten minutes to reach the palace by horseback from our villa. I remind myself that Antonius could be catching up with an old friend, but based off of his attitude towards this plan, he is only doing it for me and he probably won't need much catching up time.

Maybe Felix isn't home and Antonius decided to wait for him. Or maybe he is just busy and won't have time to see my brother for a few hours. But then again, Felix is not the Emperor..yet. And he probably doesn't have too many responsibilities considering his young age. Felix is nearly twenty five as I remember, meaning that he is almost eight years older than I am. The age difference may sound disgusting, but I can assure you that I have it good compared to several of my friends who face age differences of twenty to thirty years at which point those men could be her father.

I decide to go to the the front of the house because maybe I could see him coming. When I leave the villa, near silently, the humid summer air strikes me. It feels magnificent outside at this time of night. The stars are high and sparkling in the sky like beautiful little lights. The moon lights the sky, extending it's light across the dark expanse above my head. The air is humid, but the light breeze in the wind makes it not seem too warm.