Amber Erin Anderson

"Not now, Ira." Ember mumbled, a hint of intimidation evident in his voice.

Did he dislike his brother? By the way he was glaring at him darkly and were sending daggers to him, it was obvious he didn't like him or they weren't in a healthy brother-brother relationship.

Ira turned around after closing the door of his room, walking straight and coming towards us. I knew I was in trouble and I also knew there was no way out for me as wherever I'd decide to go, Ira's eyes would catch me.

It was a do-or-die situation.

"And you just dug your own grave, along with mine." Ember sighed and ran a hand through his hair, thinking about something deeply.

"Why don't we just sprint off now? He hasn't come here yet." I suggested as Ira came more forward towards us, his eyes already on us.

"That would only make him more suspicious of you and me," Ember said quietly, tapping his foot on the ground.

"Now, listen to me," Ember faced me, his expression suddenly serious. What was so big deal with his brother? "Do not say anything. I'll do the talking, you just smile and nod. If he asks you something, I'll answer." he warned with his deep voice.

I couldn't help but just swallow and say, "Okay."

Ember bobbed his head and said: "Also, don't forget to curtsy."

Curtsy?

"Why curtsy? He's your brother, right? Not the first Prince.  Aren't I suppose to curtsy royalties?" My eyebrows were drawn together as I asked him the question.

He looked at me, clearly dumbfounded

"Do as I say. When he arrives here, you'll curtsy him. Understood?" his eyes were fixed on Ira as I rolled my eyes.

After our small bickering, Ira was finally visible to my eyes. His chin was held up, walking straighter than anyone else, wearing the same vest as Ember and his footsteps were quieter than a whisper.

My eyes landed on his face. He looked nothing like his brother who was next to me, him and Ira eyeing each other with pure hatred. Ira had an admirable face with higher cheekbones, chiseled prominent jaw, soft angular shaped eyebrows and not to forget, thin lips.

While Ember had longer than shoulder length hair, Ira's hair was much shorter; it was chin length and was raven black with curls in the end but that didn't make him look less attractive.

If there was one thing similar between him and Ember, that'd be their heights. Both of them were much taller than me and looked like were 5'10 or 5'11.

His light brown eyes were flickering from me to Ember and I realised I had to snap back to reality.

"Curtsy." Ember hissed and I realised Ira was in front of us but his eyes were still sending daggers to Ember while completely ignoring my existence.

Hurriedly, I did my very first curtsy--placing my right foot behind left and slightly bowing while saying, "Your Highness."

That caught Ira's attention and he scrutinised me from head to toe, as if I was an animal from a different planet. He nodded at my greeting, not letting me say anything else and then he faced Ember again.

The next few minutes passed just by the two brothers glaring each other until Ember finally decided to break this silence. "Never thought I'd see a day when you will be late for father's important announcement."

Ira's face remained expressionless as he spoke, "The important announcement is also about you. Which I don't find important at all."

I somehow held my laugh after hearing this even though I wasn't understanding anything. Ira looked around and then at me and asked: "Who's this?"

I was about to open my mouth and tell him who am I but I realised Ember told me to not say anything but just smile and nod. Besides, I had already created a problem for him and didn't want to anymore. So, I just gave him tight lipped smile and nodded.

"She's someone you don't have to be concerned about." Ember gave him a tight smile as Ira bobbed his head.

"Pardon us but I've to go and get Ace," As Ember and I were about to leave from here, Ira's voice filled with disgust stopped Ember which made me stop as well.

"That lunatic brother of ours? What's he going to do there? Create a ruckus and humiliate us?"

Ember's eyes went dark upon hearing this and I had a feeling this wasn't going to end well. These brothers definitely weren't in a healthy relationship of brothers.

Ember marched towards Ira, eyeing him dangerously, him and Ira having a battle of sending death glares to each other. If looks could kill, both brothers would've been dead by now and I'd be collecting their bodies with a clueless Keith and an annoyed Zenix.

"You are the reason why he's like this," Ember hissed at him angrily and for once, Ira's expressions softened and I could see a little hint of sadness in his eyes but it only lasted for a few seconds, before he returned to his usual monotonous face.

Ira didn't say anything else. Instead, he closed the distance between him and Ember and walked towards the end of the hallway but not before craning his head and saying,

"Don't be late, Elliot. You don't want father to be angry."

"Elliot?" I faced Ember once Ira was out of sight. "I didn't know you had another name. Is that a middle name?" I inquired as Ember ignored me, frowning and in a terrible mood.

I didn't say anything else as I knew, if I said something, Ember was most likely to take out his anger on me as he was frowning more and more and the scowl on his face was enough for anyone to show he was furious.

He walked faster and I tried to do the same as well but his pace was getting more fast so I started running and was finally walking by his side. As I was walking and thinking about random things about him, Ira and the first Prince Ace, some things started to confuse me.

"Wait, wait. I'm a bit confused." I stopped walking and Ember did, too but I was sure he wouldn't if he didn't notice my frown.

Ember was about to ask what was it but I already spoke. "Ira is your brother, right? But he also mentioned the first Prince was his brother and that makes him a Prince and he's also your brother. And that makes you a...." I gasped, realisation hitting me harder than puberty.

"Took you long enough to realise I'm the second Prince. Now, come on, we've to go," he rolled his eyes, already walking to his brother's room but I didn't move an inch, feeling utterly stupid.

Ember noticed how shocked I was and sighed. "Hey, there's no need to be so surprised about it. It might have slipped out of your mind as a lot of things have been happening around you,"

"Yeah, but still...." I was out of words. What was I suppose to say?  "I misbehaved with you. I pushed a Prince! Not once but twice! And I also talked rudely with a royal person. I'm not going be punished for that, right?" I laughed nervously, already picturing my death.

He wetted his lips, clearly annoyed and said. "Can we go? I'm getting late."

"Y-yes Your Highness," I stuttered and bowed.

He looked more annoyed now.

"Cut the formality, will you?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

Ember huffed and began striding  towards his brother's room, his long legs walking too fast for me to pace up with him, his posture straight and just like Ira, his footsteps quieter than a whisper. I followed him silently, still wondering what had I done.

After a few moments, we finally reached his brother's room, his door closed and I realised the first Prince's door was in the left side, beside Ira's room and two other beside him while Ember's was parallel to the four rooms, alone. Ember took a deep breath, preparing himself.

He mumbled something to himself and knocked on the door, earning no response from the other side.

"What happened? Isn't he there?" I asked after he knocked for the fourth time.

He stayed silent.

"Ace, are you there? Father wants us to be present in the court. He's making an announcement," Ember said quietly, still knocking.

Three minutes passed and both of us were getting impatient. Especially me as I was desperate to see the first Prince and I also wanted to say 'Let's just barge in!' but then I realised that'd be extremely rude towards these Royal people and I might get punished so I shut my mouth, waiting eagerly for the first Prince.

Five minutes passed and Ember himself exclaimed, "Let's just barge in. I'm getting worried." And with that being said, he pushed open the door.

As we both entered the room, darkness surrounded us and I searched for a little light that'll at least guide us but found none. It was pitch black.

"Ace, are you here?" Ember finally asked.

"Yes," answered a weak voice as I heard footsteps striding somewhere.

Ace walked towards something as I heard curtains being ruffled and moved and soon, Ace removed the curtains, letting the bright rays sunlight enter his room and illuminate. Ace was still looking outside the window, making me unable to see his face. Meanwhile, I scrutinised his room which wasn't in a well condition.

Everything was in a mess; starting from his bed which had barely a bedsheet on and pillows were ripped and shredded apart, its cotton everywhere scattered around the bed and the floor.

The floor, however, was in a worse shape than the bed-there were broken pieces of glasses scattered everywhere and I knew it was the broken mirror which was placed across the room. There were also scratches on the walls and it looked like nails were the cause of it.

Seeing this, I couldn't help but cover my mouth--hiding my gasp. I had finally met the Elysian Princes and if there was one thing that I learned that'd be:

The Elysian Princes were polar opposites and had their own mysteries.

◈ ━━━━━━━ ⸙ ━━━━━━━ ◈

We finally got to meet the other brothers! What do you think about them?

There are still some important side characters left to be introduced and I hope you will see them in the upcoming chapters very soon.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter?Don't forget to vote and comment as it makes me happy UwU

Thank you so much for your support. Means a lot to me.

*hugs*

◈ ━━━━━━━ ⸙ ━━━━━━━ ◈