Page 156 of A Dead Man's B-Side
Wolf’s features flattened in a deadpan look before he turned on his back and closed his eyes as I had done moments ago. “I’m going to sleep before dinner. I’ll show you around afterwards.”
I got up and pulled the duvet back from my side before slipping under. “I’m still hungry. Some host you are.”
Wolf huffed and moved his arm to shove me before letting his breath even out.
I’d forgotten about the request I made, and just as sleep won the war I tried waging, I heard a sharp knock before someone entered, placing a tray of food on the nightstand next to me before slipping back out.
“Sasha…” a singsong tone echoed through the walls of my dorm. Or… it looked like my dorm, but something was different, wrong.
Something must have shifted, time must have passed, because in the next moment, I found myself shoved against the wall, King Kensington holding my shirt in his fists. “You killed me! I’ll make you pay, Alexei! You’ll pay!”
I didn’t know how long my heart had been beating almost out of my chest, but only then was I aware of it. “Get off me!”
I tried to scream but nothing was coming out of my moving mouth. As if the words would only ever remain in my mind, never to be manifested into sound.
The boy’s face was so close, I couldn’t ignore the sight of blood slowly trailing down the side of his face. A sense of nausea washed over me, but I wasn’t able to vomit, no matter how hard I tried. At least then, he’d back off, albeit in disgust.
His grip tightened, a vice around my neck. His hands squeezed strong enough for my lungs to burn. Panic filled me, and I was sureit showed, because his eyes turned sadistic. “You’ll soon learn how it feels. Soon, Alexei.”
My hands lashed out, nails trying to dig intoanything. Legs kicking out, limbs flailing. No matter how hard I tried, King remained where he was. Pushing him back did nothing, my fingers moving through him as if he were a figment of my imagination.
“King!” My strained voice turned pleading. “Stop!”
I didn’t know if he complied, because once the words were out, everything went black.
My eyes shot awake.
Dinner was, in a word, stifling.
It was only immediate family and me–an honour. That included Wolf, Evander, Charles, their younger brother, who I hadn’t known existed, and Evander’s ‘commoner’ wife, Lacy. One could consider her a nice woman if one chose to overlook her choice of marital partner.
Charles was fifteen and had golden brown hair with the signature Kingsley eyes to match. The matriarch, whom I was sure was still alive, hadn’t appeared and thus far, hadn’t been mentioned.
From what Wolf had told me before we made our way down, Charles wasn’t spoken of much because he spent his time in and out of the hospital. He had a chronic illness that even the best doctors inthe world couldn’t find a cure for. Their father, before passing, called him weak, and their mother couldn’t even look at him.
He spent nights in the hospital with no one but Wolf by his side until he too had to return to Scotland for school.
Charles remained close to home, in a private school nearby. When he was too sick to continue his daily tasks, tutors would be brought into the Kingsley Manor. At first, I assumed he had been pushed to study even at his weakest, but Wolf informed me that it was the boy who insisted on continuing his education.
In high spirits, Charles seemed to be in good health this holiday.
Lacy carried the brunt of the conversation. Asking Wolf questions about Castle Hill that I answered, lest her words fall to deaf ears.
It didn’t look as though Wolf was willing to give an inch, even to her.
Evander sat at the head of the table with Lacy at his side. Across from her was me, and moving down the row was Wolf and Charles.
On the menu was an assortment of dishes varying from caviar, which I found to be tasteless with a strange texture, sizzling salmon and mashed potatoes, and slices of meat and asparagus.
There were plenty of appetizers as well, but I didn’t think anyone could stomach it all.
“So, do you guys have any friends to get into trouble with? I know my high school years were filled with wild stories.”
I forced out a chuckle, the memory of The Founder’s Society lunging for King Kensington before watching him get eaten by pigscame rushing to the forefront of my mind, but I banished the memories to some far and desolate part of my brain, trying to come up with happier occurrences. “Uhm, yeah. Yeah, we get up to loads of trouble. We have this friend, August. He’s kind of known for being a uh… big talker. Gets us into all kinds of situations.”
Surprisingly, the only trouble August’s mouth had gotten us to witness was his own punishment when he’d ratted us out for smoking.
Lacy smiled politely and replied, “Well, I say keep him close. He sounds unpredictable, and sometimes that is exactly what we need.”
