Tale 1: War of the Protector

Chapter 31

I was seated in Rex’s living room, of his own personal suite. He’d wanted to talk to me after the meeting. I changed into comfortable clothes and met up with him in his suite.

“Hungry?” he asked, heading for where I supposed the kitchen was.

I followed him into a small kitchenette. It contrasted awkwardly with the rest of the penthouse. It didn’t look expensive at all. There were simple wooden countertops. The stove wasn’t some high-tech electric one like the one downstairs, but propane.

I sat on one simple wooden bar stool of three, and watched as Rex pulled food from the fridge and stuck it in the microwave. “Why do you keep asking me if I’m hungry?”

“You haven’t eaten any real food in three days. And babe, you’re the one complaining that you’re skinny.”

My ears probably turned red.

The microwave beeped and Rex pulled out a carton of leftover Chinese food. He stuck a pair of chopsticks in it and passed it to me. I wasn’t going to refuse it after the point he had made.

“I hope you don’t mind,” he said. “Well, I know you won’t mind, but I’m just saying I hope you don’t mind that I eat everything mixed together.”

I smiled just a little, peering down at my kung pao chicken mixed with fried rice and soy sauce. “Just like Cody,” I said.

“Except Cody can’t use chopsticks.”

My smile grew and I nodded. “Yeah. I remember from one of our encounters with takeout.”

Rex grinned and leaned his elbows on the counter. “Speaking of Cody… You know… well, we all know that my brother is probably going to try to kill me when he sees me.”

I sat quietly, eating my food.

“He’s said he’ll kill me, and he has even more reason now than ever, seeing as I kind of kidnapped you. And I’ve said I’d kill him in the past. But just know that neither of us will probably follow through with that. Ask the Citrine, Protector of thoughts, for more details, but I can see it in both of us. No matter how much I wanted to, no matter how much I hated him, even if I did, I wouldn’t be able to kill him.”

He looked up at me. “So, no. When, not if, but when Cody tries to take my head off for kidnapping you and it comes to the final moment… This is an early apology, if I should hurt him. But I doubt it, seeing as he’s the Amethyst, and all Amethysts have ever done is hone their skill with the sword, for their lack of ability to use their power. He has the skill of hundreds of thousands of practice and a hard head, so he will probably kick my ass. But hey. This is just so you know I won’t kill him. He might half kill me before he realizes he doesn’t want to because I’m his brother, but you’re probably not so interested in that.”

I smiled. Then my eyebrows came together as I thought about what Rex just told me. “You know, Cody never said it like that. His ability with the sword. He told me he knew everything from the previous Amethysts, but he never presented himself like… a master or something.”

“Oh? Well, I guess he was being a little modest, then.”

A modest Cody. Not the bragger I thought I knew so long ago.

“He’s changed a lot,” Rex noted. “Especially from what he used to be in high school. But he has you to impress, right?”

“Um… I guess.”

“Say…” Rex cupped his chin in his hand. “How about you help me, we live through this, and I’ll give you the family blessing and you can have him?”