Page 22 of I Am the Storm

When we arrive at the castle, we find Liam and Elijah are in the library talking.

"We have a lead," I say, grabbing an apple from a fruit platter someone has taken to leaving out for me. "The Collector."

I bite into the crunchy sweetness as Elijah raises an eyebrow curiously. "We have one as well, but it's not good," he says.

"Who?" asks Sebastian, taking a seat by my side.

"The Beggar Queen," he says, closing a book on his lap. "She disagrees with the policies put in place in the last few centuries by the Council of Dragons and could have taken the egg for leverage in those discussions."

"Or out of spite," Liam says, folding his arms over his chest and staring into the fire.

Elijah stands and paces the room. "The problem is—"

"She won't meet with us," Sebastian says, finishing his brother's sentence as he looks to me. "We've tried before."

"It won't be easy to reach the Collector either," Elijah says. "He doesn't exactly deal with lawyers. Well, not honest ones, anyways."

We all take seats and continue discussing possible avenues to reach our two biggest leads. I don't have a lot to add to the conversation, given my newness in this world, so I listen and pull out my sketchbook to draw. I flip open to the drawing I've been working on of the mysterious man who keeps finding his way into my dreams. I add some details to his eyes and blend the shadows around him. There is something…familiar…about his features, I realize. As if I should know who he is.

As I work to make the sketch more detailed, Liam glances at the drawing, and his expression hardens. "What is this?" he asks.

I'm surprised by his intensity. "It's just someone I saw," I say. “You’re not jealous, are you? It’s just—"

"Where?" he asks. "Where did you see him?" His voice is urgent and angry. This is more than jealousy. Something is wrong.

"At the Midwinter Festival,” I answer. “Before the explosion. Why? Who is this?" I ask, holding up the drawing so they can all see better.

The other three brothers lean in, their eyes going wide at the picture.

"It can't be him," Derek says, his eyes haunted. "It's impossible."

"Look at the drawing," Liam says, taking the sketchbook from me to study more closely. "She saw him. He's back."

Sebastian pales, his jaw hardening, but he says nothing.

"Who?" I ask. "Tell me." Lily's words come back to me then. She said she saw him. Is this who she meant?

Liam's rage turns to ice, his glare glacier as he studies me. "Our brother."

The Brother

When you light a candle, you also cast a shadow. ~Ursula K. Le Guin

"Brother?"I ask, confused.

Sebastian lowers his head, still silent. Derek shifts in his seat. Liam begins pacing again, and Elijah just looks like he wishes he were reading—or doing literally anything else—rather than having this conversation.

Finally, Derek clears his throat. "There are five us. Five Night brothers, not four. Who you've drawn," he says, pointing to my sketch, "…that's the fifth and youngest of us. The likeness is unmistakable."

My jaw drops open in shock and I snap it closed. "Why…how did I not know this? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because he betrayed our Order," Sebastian says with clenched teeth. “Long ago, before we became vampires, before we became cursed, our brother betrayed the Druidic order. In turn, he was punished. Whipped. Imprisoned.”

I look over at Liam, who seems stung by the words, by the vehemence in them, as he stares at the recent scars on his own arms and hands. It was him, I realize. He was the one who whipped his own brother. Who punished him.

“And we...” continues Sebastian. “We were forbidden to ever speak of him again. He was to be erased from history.”

I swallow the lump in my throat. The tension in the room is palpable, and I have so many questions. “How did he betray your Order?”