A soft, polite knock interrupted the silence in Kira’s room.
“Can’t I just have some alone time? Is that challenging to understand?”, Kira asked herself with a soft sigh.
“Who is it?”, she questioned the person who was knocking.
“It is I, Luna”, the person answered, and Kira recognized the voice. It was the same maid who had come to her, to inform her about breakfast in the morning.
“What is she here for now? Did they send for me?”, Kira asked herself but let the maid in, “Come in.”
The door creaked open to reveal a maid. The maid bowed and greeted, “Good evening, Luna.”
“Luna?”, Kira scoffed in her mind, “Yeah, right!”
“Good evening,” Kira answered though, “Mmm is there a problem?”
“No, Luna, I just came to inform you that Dinner is being served,” the maid announced with another respectful bow, her voice gentle but clear.
“Mmm…okay, thank you,” Kira said to the maid with a soft smile.
The maid left afterward.
Kira got up, but she was tense as she glanced towards the door. She hesitated, clearly dreading the thought of joining Bryan and Aiden, even their parents.
Smh!
“Do I really have to go? Can’t I have dinner, breakfast, whatever in here? Alone?”, she muttered under her breath, her voice barely audible.
“But of course, that would probably never happen.”
Her stomach rumbled, and she looked down at it, “I had rather stayed here though”, she spoke to her stomach, despite the reminder it gave her about her body having other plans.
“To escape, I will definitely need food,” she said trying to convince herself, “I am already weak as it is, and it is just dinner. Immediately I am done, I will leave the dining room.”
While she did all these thinking, her stomach growled louder.
“Okay okay, relax,” she said. With a resigned nod, she took a deep breath and walked towards the door.
Kira’s heart pounded slightly as she opened the door and stepped into the hallway.
As she walked down the stairs, finally reaching the bottom, her heart skipped a beat as she saw Bryan and Aiden, standing there, almost close to the dining area. They were engaged in a low conversation, although their imposing presence filled the space.
Kira’s breath caught in her throat. She herself did not expect this to be her reaction when she set her eyes on them after what had happened earlier, but she could not stop herself.
A brief flashback hit her, remembering how Aiden choked her. Remembering his eyes and also Bryan’s eyes but most, especially Aiden on top of her, choking her with his eyes changing like she had never seen before, the darkness in it brought chills all over her body as she thought about it and remembered it.
Seeing Aiden there, she felt a strong grip on her throat. She could almost feel the hand tightening around her neck again. She instinctively brought her shaky hand to her neck and rubbed it softly, while trying to breathe properly.
Furthermore, she tried clearing her throat while still rubbing the area. Not only that, but she took deep breaths and counted along the way as she did, to calm herself down from the panic she was having.
Kira tried averting her gaze from where Aiden stood but found it difficult to do so. She felt stuck.
Bryan and Aiden had not noticed her earlier as they kept talking. But Aiden finally did when he turned his head to the side, after feeling someone’s eyes on him.
He did not need anyone to tell him what was going on, just by the way, Kira looked.
Bryan also turned, wondering what his brother was staring at, and was met with Kira standing at the base of the stairs, not moving and her hand on her neck.
Aiden’s eyes softened with a mixture of guilt and worry. Her trembling sight and hand gripping her neck, rubbing it, struck him deeply.
His mind raced, replaying the moments where he had lost control and the curse had made him do something he never wanted to do. Aiden did not want Kira to be afraid of him, but maybe she should be. Who knows what else might happen.
“Maybe fear is the only way to keep you with us, and we won’t have to lose you,” Aiden said in his mind.
His jaw clenched after what he had said, and his eyes went back to being cold. Immediately he turned away and left, not to the dining room, but outside. He needed some fresh air.
The things Aiden had said in his mind were actually to Bryan in their mind link, he wanted Bryan to know what he was thinking and so instead of saying it to Kira, he said it to Bryan instead.
Bryan understood what he meant when he said the stuff about Kira being afraid of them.
Her reaction to what happened earlier was worse than they imagined, and she already hates them, then that happened out of nowhere, Goddess knows what she would be thinking. But if they made her fear them, then maybe she would be too scared to leave.
“I suppose my brother is right. It would be best if you are afraid of us. That way we can keep you here. You will never love and accept us the way we are, but still, we apologize for being so selfish and wanting more than we can have. We just cannot lose you.” Bryan said in his mind, still staring at Kira. The message directed to her, just that she could not hear it.
Everything screamed at Bryan to go to her, but he took a step back and left too.
Fate can be cruel sometimes.
Kira remained frozen at the base of the stairs, her heart still pounding in her chest as she watched them disappear from sight although she was starting to get herself a little.
While outside, the air was thick and the moon shone so bright. Just as Bryan’s and Aiden’s feet touched the earth, they felt this unusual chill run through the air.
And then a voice hissed, “This is just the beginning!”