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"Siblings always manage to find a way back together."
Brother
~
He knew she'd come.
She wore madness beautifully.
Alakai was expecting her as she appeared before him, eyes blazing with just the right level of insanity. So she'd lost the battle in her own mind, interesting.
She was staring at him, face blank and devoid of any of the crashing emotions she'd previously wore during their visits.
She should recognise him, somewhere deep inside. He was the one that brought this upon her; that awoke this crazed persona.
Vines were twisting and clinging to her body, her very essence, and he was glad as he could make out from his position she was bare beneath the nature that entwined around her.
"Sister." He greeted her, a small smile playing at his lips.
He hadn't imagined unlocking inner power would be this potentially chaotic. It appears her mind had been warped during the process of her awakening, which he could spin to his advantage. Weakening her before releasing her power was a very good move on his own part, he wanted to praise himself.
That weakening of her would be what has spiralled her into a pit of hatred, has caused this manifestation of wickedness to come from all the terrible events that have happened over the course of these few weeks. With her released power, the inability for her sane mind to control such magic, it would prove difficult to control her, but he would.
Her lip twitched. "Alakai."
Good.
He dipped his head. Her memories will be in a state of current turmoil, and her hatred will be tainting all that she knows of everybody. He needs to slide himself into her current conscious state, needs to show himself as not a threat, before she decides to obliterate him.
"We have grown too powerful for this world, you and I," he needed to choose his words carefully, choose everything he said carefully. "Too much power that cannot sit idly by."
Her eyes narrowed slightly, the dark vines around her body tightening, the forest around them beginning to grow tense and quiet. "So what do you suppose we do?"
"This world, dear sister, is fit for a King and Queen. Wouldn't you say so?" He gave her a look of artificial innocence as he straightened his suit.
Her lips stretched wide, into a grin, but her eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "Why should I trust you?"
"Why shouldn't you?" He dared take a step closer, she didn't step away, she simply studied his movement like a predator examining prey. "I'm your brother, the one that our father lied to you about because he knew we would be too powerful together."
Her eyes shone, "it seems that both of our parents are very good liars."
He kept his composure, but he felt a weight on his chest at the mention of their mother. "What exactly is that supposed to mean?"
Acacia, as if she was enjoying every moment of his discomfort, smiled wildly as she tilted her head in feigned innocence. "Well, for the fact that our mother has been alive all this time..."
~
Tamlin was silent, and nobody had heard him utter a word since she'd left. Kaia had done all the talking, taken over almost, as if she'd never abandoned her family for decades.
He listened to her talk, how she sounded so different. She was the female he knew, yet not. This female was aged with violence and hardships, but the female he fell in love with honed the kindest smile and loving eyes.
"Acacia will tell Alakai I'm alive. I suspect my son will want to come and see for himself, and we need to take this chance to capture him..." Kaia talked strategies with Cassian, Rhysand and Azriel, all of whom were unsubtly keeping on eye on the blonde male sat quietly in a seat by the window.
"How do you know he'll come?" Cassian questioned, not so certain the Male they'd been after would so willingly fall into this trap.
"He'll take his chances. Trust me." Kaia's eyes shone, but Cassian' face didn't change.
Instead, Kaleb walked into the room, face set. "Kind of hard to trust you considering my mate only turned crazy since you appeared."
Kaia's lip twitched, "are you blaming me for what's become of my own daughter?"
The tension in the room shifted, and Rhys straightened, eyeing the female whose attention was now diverted to his son.
Kaleb shrugged lazily, his own brilliant blue eyes were bright, and Azriel also straightened, as if he would jump between the two. "Well, isn't it quite a coincidence. Perhaps you're working with Alakai, and have been this entire time."
Kaia's lips pulled back from her teeth, a silent warning, but Rhys's wings flared slightly, his own silent warning in return. The female ignored the High Lord, and instead spoke, "I needn't explain myself to you, Kaleb. I'm on your side, and you all know that."
Kaleb stalked forward, "you know whose side I'm on? The one that means Acacia returns to me safe and unharmed. You talk of capturing your son, but what of your daughter?"
"Alakai will have answers-" Kaia went to respond but Kaleb already cut in again.
"What if he refuses to give them? If it comes down to it and we come to blows with Alakai, what side would you really be on?"
Kaia growled then, "you would do well to remember that if you came to blows with Alakai then he might very well kill you himself, and he certainly has the power to do so."
"Is that a threat?" Kaleb breathed, amusement twinkling in his eyes.
Kaia's own eyes twinkled, but not with amusement. "No. It's a warning."
