Chapter Twenty-Four: Bradley Endless
996 Words
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
BRADLEY ENDLESS
I sipped my tea quietly and listened to Clark explain everything that had happened. Oberon had finished fixing Ben some time ago. He rested now, in Louisa’s room, in her bed. Where he would be for some time, I expected.
As an older brother, my first instinct was to protect Emma. Louisa had explained Oberon’s intentions with her, to make her fae. I knew my sister well, and the one thing she had never wanted to be was faerie.
She hadn’t even wanted Oberon. Or Clark.
She had wanted Ben Taylor, the author that was unconscious in Louisa’s bed at that very moment.
“I don’t need tea,” I said, “I need f*****g scotch.”
I went to one of the kitchen cabinets, and pulled out a bottle, and a glass.
Clark looked at me expectantly. “I told you the truth about who I am, and all you can say is that you need a drink?”
“We just found out our brother is a faerie Prince,” Louisa said, “I’m bi, and I have a rainbow tattooed on my neck. Somewhere, Elton John stopped playing piano to say, ‘What the f**k that’s too much!’”
I snorted. “Damn straight. I mean. f**k. You know what I mean.”
Louisa’s lips twitched into a smile. “I know, brother.”
I sighed. “You also want me to go fight a dragon with you to get f*****g Excalibur.”
“Apparently, the sword doesn’t actually have a name, according to Hecate,” Clark said.
“Oh yeah, and then, to top it all off, you’re going to go fight a faerie King to win Emma back, and…. what?”
Clark looked up at me. “You told me you thought that she loved me.”
I shrugged. “I do, but….”
“But what?” Louisa asked.
“I’m all for saving Emma. I really am. But,” I took a drink of the scotch I had poured, ad pointed my finger between the two, “at the end of the day, you both have forgotten something incredibly important. I feel the need to remind you of it.”
Louisa took a sharp breath. “Bradley, nothing’s going to happen.”
“That’s not the point,” I insisted, “the point is that a few days ago, we packed our sister’s life up. A life that should have been entirely different. She fell in love with Ben. She wanted to be with Ben. She was broken hearted over not marrying Ben. Who was her fiancé. The person that she loved enough to risk the wrath of Oberon for being with. I’ll rescue her, but only in under one condition.”
Clark spoke his next words through a clenched jaw. “Which is?”
I looked directly at Clark.
“Emma Endless isn’t a prize, she’s a young woman with hopes and dreams of her own. If she still wants to be with Ben Taylor at the end of the day, and he still wants her, you have to promise me that you’ll be on your own. Otherwise, you can fight your own f*****g dragon.”
Clark ran a hand through his red hair. “All I want Bradley, at the end of the day, is Emma happy. If it’s with me, so be it. If it’s not with me, so be it.”
I nodded, put my scotch down on the counter, and walked over to where he sat. I held out my hand, and he shook it. “Alright brother, let’s go hunt a dragon.”
Louisa stood from the table. “Not quite yet. You’ll need some supplies. To the weapons room.”
“Excellent,” Clark clapped his hands together.
Leaving our drinks behind in the kitchen, we made our way up the stairs to the weapons room. When you lived near the entrance to faerie, one never knew what to expect. As such, we kept the place stocked, ready to go to battle at a moments notice.
Louisa helped us prepare, packing everything that we would need in order to go save our sister.
“Won’t you come with us?” I asked her.
Louisa shook her head. “I’m needed here. Besides, Ben’s still going to need some recovery after the curse being removed. It’s my job. Anyway, we’ll stay here, and research how to break bargains instead. You’re right. Emma’s her own person, and she deserves her chance to find love for herself. Not because of some bargain our grandfather made years ago.”
“Look at you, being all enlightened.”
“I’m the older sister,” Louisa said with a shrug, “at the end of the day, despite everything, I really want what is best for her.”
I patted her on the shoulder. “That’s what we’ll get for her. I promise.”
“But Bradley…”
“What?”
“Just keep in mind, I gave permission to turn Emma into a faerie. She might already be one. If that’s the case, she won’t have any choice but to stay there. You know the rules. Faeries can’t reside on earth. They cause too much trouble.”
“I know,” I said with a grimace, “I know.”
“C’mon, Brad,” Clark called, with a sack full of weapons and travel necessities, “let’s go!”
And go, we did.
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