Caged In

It had been a month since coming back to the castle. Apparently there was some big event that the rest of my family was attending to, that Varian had failed to tell me about. I just woke up a day after coming back to notice there was barely anyone in the castle. Varian called my cellphone to tell me they were all gone, and apologize for forgetting to tell me.

I had the castle to myself for the month, and now everyone was back, and the castle was noisier than ever, which was especially shitty for my sleep schedule. I'd been laying in bed with my eyes closed, unable to fall asleep because I could hear what sounded like a dinner party happening in the dining hall.

Why do the people who work in this castle eat so god damn late ? I growled as I turned onto my side and pressed a pillow onto my exposed ear.

There was a sudden knock at my door that made my heart ram into my rib cage, as my body shot up in bed.

" Who is it ?” I ask.

" Your brother.” Corine says from the other side of the door.

My eye twitches,” Which one ?” I say.

" You know which one.” Corine answers back, sounding even more annoyed than me.

Out of all my siblings, he was one I really didn’t want to see right now. When I saw him in the driveway a few weeks ago, I didn’t really give it much thought, but he was definitely angry at me for Goddess knows what. Unlike Finn, who outwardly hated me since we were children, Corine and I actually got along pretty well when we were kids, so the fact that he was angry at me now was definitely a surprise.

" Are you decent ? I have something I want to discuss with you.”

I push myself off my bed and look at my sweatpants and lazy appearance in the mirror,” And it’s absolutely necessary to do that this late at night ?”

" I’m coming in.” He stated before pushing the door open. His silver hair bobs up and down as he steps inside my room and shuts my door quietly.

" ’Sup little bro.” I say casually to test the waters, and also water down the tension in the air.

" I’d prefer if you didn’t use that nickname.” He spat,” I'm not a child anymore.”

Okay, since when was he this aggressive ? I collect myself and offer him a smile, which he scrunches his nose in disgust at. Maybe it’s just because he’s a teenager. I swallowed.

" So, what did you want to talk to me about ?” I nervously ask.

He narrowed his eyes and pressed his lips together, as if he was stopping himself from saying something. He exhaled loudly and crossed his arms over his chest,” I thought we should discuss things around the castle.”

" What about them, it’s the same old creepy hallway and dusty paintings.” I hold up my hand to reference my room, which hadn’t changed.

" Well there are some staff that you need to meet with. You've been here a month and they still don't know you by face, I thought you'd introduce yourself to them while you were left alone.” He sighed," But it appears I was incorrect."

" I think I’ll pass.”

" Excuse me ?” He asks.

" I’d rather not go around meeting dozens of people because that sounds excruciatingly boring, and I’m not the best with names.” I say.

" Fine then, I also wanted to discuss the kingdom and maybe fill you in on current politics seeing as you’re next in line to succeed father.”

" It’s run by the same old bastard with the same outdated rules and the same outdated traditions.”

Though I do need to be filled in on the last five years. I didn’t like the constant feeling of being left out of the loop.

" The kingdom has changed.” Corine says.

" I’m sure.” I say as I stare at the ceiling.

" Look at me, this is serious.” Corine barked," Varian sent me here to discuss these things with you before you meet with father."

I snapped my eyes away from the ceiling to make contact with his ice cold silver glare.

I remember his eyes being warmer when we were kids. I wonder what happened.

" Say Corine, Varian was pretty reluctant about telling me what happened in the five years I was gone, would you mind filling me in ?”

Corine’s expression turned from rage to murderous.

" Don’t make scary faces like that, just tell me what happened.” I laugh as I stand up and walk over to him to lightly hit his arm. He didn’t laugh with me.

Don’t touch enraged teens, that’s how people die, Olivier! Come on, everyone knows that. I chastised myself.

I took a step back, to avoid any sudden attacks,” Come on, I can handle the truth.”

Suddenly he took a deep breath before looking up and then down. Corine slowly met my eyes with an empty gaze before looking away and sighing,” Now isn’t the time to be discussing these sorts of things, let’s go out.”

" Out ?” I ask.

" To the village near the castle.” Corine says as he grabs my hand and begins pulling me down flights of stairs and eventually the front door.

" I can’t . . . ” I don’t want to go anywhere alone with someone who would probably prefer me dead,” I’m under house arrest.”

" Oh, so suddenly you’re so eager to obey father’s orders ?” Corine asks impatiently.

" There are good people that he’s using as leverage to keep me here.” I reply in a defeated tone.

" Fine! Stay cooped up in your room until he tries to marry you off again, I don’t care!” Corine hisses at me,” If you’re going to be like this then I don’t need your help anyways.”

Help ? What does he mean by that ?

" Corine slow down.” I pull my hand out of his,” How about we start with what happened in the last five years.”

" It’s not that simple.” Corine growled.

" Fine.” I paused,” Then how about we start with why you’re angry with me ?”

" I’m not angry with you!” He growled again,” I’m just frustrated.”

I pull him into a hug," I understand if you're angry that I ran away."

" I'm sorry about the thing I said before you left." He wrapped his hands around my back," I didn't mean it, I swear."

" Seriously bro, I could care less about what you said four years ago.” I squeeze him tighter,” We were all kids back then, and kids say stupid things.”

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