THE FIRST
'brother' has no meaning
first story part

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"tell me about your selected," keir demanded as he walked into the room, slipping black leather gloves off of his fingers and tucking them away in his suit jacket. for a majority of the selection, mirella had seen him clad in the uncharacteristic suit he was currently wearing, though she had yet to pipe off about it. knowing keir, it was likely some sort of power stance he was taking against the selected, and, with that in mind, she refused to be the first to speak among the room of siblings.

out of all the places he would have sat — by the window or fire with reese —, ky took his seat in front of her, legs crossed and arms extended over the back of the sofa. his dark eyes were vibrant with excitement, awaiting the details to slip past her lips. and, yet, reese was the first to speak up, not mirella.

"what do you mean?" reese asked lightly, "what do you want to know?"

"nice to see that you're with us, reese. too early to go running off?" keir inquired, an eyebrow arched as he pressed his youngest sister. reese let the comment go easily, however, her eyes dropping to the ground before she was is rising to take a seat next to mirella.

"i want to know what happened in your rooms," keir said. "every detail, of course. specifically you, mirella. i've heard you had an interesting group of selected."

"no one you need to go off investigating," mirella said with a stiff laugh, shaking her head at keir. "and who told you this time? the angel on your right? the devil on your left?"

"you'll tell me," ky started, leaning forward and clasping his hands together, "with or without reese present. though, i'm sure there's nothing you're meaning to hide from either of us."

mirella jerked her chin upward, about to answer in the same cold tone her brother was suddenly using with her. watching keir flip between moods wasn't uncommon, especially when he was in a state of discomfort such as the one the arrival of the Selected had sent him into. though, keir was switching subjects himself, allowing the previous one to dissolve. so, she thought, he already knew everything that had gone down. if he hadn't, she knew he wouldn't have easily been straying away from the subject, and certainly not on his own, at that.

"where's rowan?" ky was asking.

"since when do you care?" mirella snipped back.

"he doesn't want anything to do with the Selection," reese interjected.

after a moment of silence, keir's eyes peering into mirella's the entire time, the prince was leaning back against the sofa once more. "alright," he said slowly, "i'll speak to you later, reese."

flowing with the abrupt changes in keir's behaviour as the siblings were used to, reese was rising to her feet, nodding her head as she made her way to the door. both sisters knew better than to argue with ky by now. as always, mirella felt her heart sink at reese's dismissal. of all the siblings, she was the one who still even managed to look up to the older brother, and yet she was always the one being sent away.

when the door shut behind reese, keir said, "now, do you want to hear how you survived?"

"the stab wound? of course," mirella said, her voice much too desperate for her liking. though, she was quickly discovering that keir didn't care about the selection at all.

"mot the stab wound. we both know i don't give away my tricks," keir whispered, a playful note in his words that only succeeded in sending a chill down mirella's spine. "no, i meant the fire."

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( author's note! )

i know that parts of this
may be confusing, but
hopefully it wasn't too
unbearable to read. i'll
be posting more parts
similar to this that will
expand on the relationship
of the siblings, along with
what keir and mirella
are talking about :)

replies to chains will
be coming today! 💛