When Cutsuo picked me up, Darien had already left, thankfully. Being the protective big brother I wish I still had, he knew I had been up to something.
I skipped to the car and hopped in. As I tried to close my door, Cutsuo placed his hand in the way.
“Yes?”
He wasn’t smiling. “Don’t you ‘yes?’ me. What are you up to?”
“Nothing. Why do you ask?”
“Because my sweet little, depressed, bitchy witch. Your happy and smiling. I haven’t seen you smile for months.”
He’s got you there.
“So?”
“Sooo, something’s up.”
“And what exactly do you think is up?”
He will find out eventually. He’s good at that sort of thing. Always has been, even when we were kids.
“You knew each other when you were kids?”
I didn’t know I had said it out until Cutsuo cleared his throat.
“Shit.”
You said that out loud didn’t you.
I nodded.
“Ro? What’s going on here?”
“Nothing’s going on.”
Sure, denial. Cuz that always works.
“Tell me.”
Just tell him.
But…
Tell him. We were friends. I’m surprised he doesn’t already know.
“Cutsuo I… I’ve been… me and… Shit.”
Why is this so hard?
Just ask if he remembers the garden.
Will that work?
Oh ya.
“Do you remember the garden?”
He looked confused for about two seconds, then shocked, angry, proud, worried, and then an emotion I’m not sure had a name yet.
Told you he’d get it.
“Darien.”
I nodded.
“I should have known.”
He really should have. Like I said, I’m surprised.
“Will you shut up for a minute?” I mumbled.
“Who..? Did he… Did…”
“Did he?”
“You, him, mind thingy…”
“Not really. Well, kind of…”
“Kind of?”
“Well… did you know that if someone interrupts a mind seeing spell, it splits?”
“Splits?”
“You know. Like a phone. A two way connection.”
“So you and him..?”
I nodded.
“Oh Gods. That’s just great.”
“I don’t think he took it well.”
Actually, this is him taking it well.
“Oh.”
Ya. He was so fun to mess with when we were kids. It was like a game. Tease, Watch, and Boomer.
“Boomer?” Cutsuo looked up.
Ya, like a bomb. That’s why we called him Boomer.
“We?”
Alex, Marious, and I.
“Marious? Alex?”
“Ya,” said Cutsuo, “The four Musketries.”
So he does remember.
“Me and Alex; we were the big brothers.”
“Brothers? So Alex? And…and…”
“Yep.”
Yep.
“Brothers?”
Cutsuo nodded. “Alexander and Darien. The Dark Brothers.”
“But how?”
“Well, the kind of Secrets had an affair with the Shadow princess. Together they had Alex, and three years later, the king’s wife also had a child, Darien. When he wouldn’t leave his wife, still ill from childbirth, the princess went on to raise Alexander on her own. When the queen finely died, the king shut himself away, leaving Darien to raise himself.”
“That’s awful.”
“By happy coincidence, the four of us all became friends. But, when the fight happened, I stayed with Alex. And Marious stayed with me. Leaving Darien alone again.”
YOU ARE READING
Stories of Belle Terre: Engaged
RomanceA woman of the Sidhe (the fey) came in, and said that the girl was chosen to be the bride of the prince of the dim kingdom, but that as it would never do for his wife to grow old and die while he was still in the first ardour of his love, she would...
