The Brother Who Should Not Exist
1691 Words
The black fragment slipped into the night.
Darius was already moving before anyone even said a word.
“Kael.”
He bolted out of the storage room, Luna right behind him.
The golden and silver fragments cut across the sky like falling stars, racing toward Blackwood’s medical wing.
“They’re splitting,” Evelyn said as she ran.
“The crown isn’t picking just one bearer.”
“No,” Luna said.
“It’s going for three.”
A chill settled over everyone.
Three fragments.
Three ancient powers.
Three people tied together by blood, love… and fate.
The clinic doors slammed open before Darius even got there.
Inside, nurses backed away from the windows as black light spilled through the ceiling.
Gabriel tried to push himself upright in the hospital bed.
Amara stood beside him, one hand glowing over the healing scars on his wrists.
The second the black fragment entered the room—
Kael screamed.
His body jerked violently.
Dark metal vanished into his chest.
Every monitor blew out.
Glass exploded outward.
Darius grabbed Luna and turned, shielding her from the shards.
She clutched his arm.
“I’m fine.”
“I know.”
“You still did it.”
“Yes.”
“You’re impossible.”
“I’ve accepted that.”
Kael dropped to one knee.
Black veins spread under his skin.
His gray eyes flickered—black, then silver, then gray again.
He grabbed his throat.
“No…”
His voice sounded like two people speaking at once.
Gabriel stared.
“Kael…”
Kael looked at him.
For a heartbeat…
Gabriel wasn’t seeing Darius’s brother.
He was seeing someone else.
“No,” Gabriel whispered.
“That can’t be.”
Luna looked between them.
“You know him?”
Gabriel slowly stood despite Ethan’s protest.
“I know his face.”
Silence filled the room.
Gabriel stepped closer.
“I don’t know your name.”
Kael’s breathing stayed uneven.
“You wouldn’t.”
“But…”
Gabriel frowned.
“You have Gideon’s eyes.”
Ronan froze.
“My father?”
Gabriel looked at him.
“Yes.”
Ronan stared at Kael.
Then at Darius.
“No.”
Gabriel slowly nodded.
“I thought Gideon’s second son died before birth.”
Everything went still.
Luna felt Darius’s heartbeat skip.
Then again.
Ronan took a slow step toward Kael.
“My father had another son?”
Gabriel looked sick.
“No.”
“He had twins.”
Nobody spoke.
Ronan’s face went blank.
“You’re lying.”
“I wish I was.”
Kael looked more lost than anyone.
“I don’t…”
Pain ripped through him.
He dropped to both knees.
Black energy burst from his body.
The clinic walls shook.
The reflected Book snapped open.
Words appeared faster than Luna could read.
KAEL VALE.
The name vanished.
Rewritten.
KAEL BLACKWOOD.
Gone again.
A third line formed.
KAEL GIDEONSON.
The pages burned.
The names kept changing.
None of them stayed.
Luna understood why.
“He doesn’t know who he is.”
Gabriel looked horrified.
“No.”
“He was never allowed to.”
Ronan stared at his father’s brother.
“What happened?”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
“When Gideon learned his second child carried Command…”
Darius looked sharply at him.
“…our enemies came.”
Gabriel swallowed.
“We thought one child had died.”
“And the other was me.”
“Yes.”
Kael let out a weak laugh.
“No.”
His voice cracked.
“I remember…”
He pressed both hands to his head.
“A woman.”
Snow.
Blood.
Someone running.
Then—
Nothing.
“My memories just stop.”
Amara stepped closer.
“The crown is pulling at what’s missing.”
Luna looked at the reflected Book.
“Can it bring them back?”
“It can.”
Everyone turned.
Lyra stood in the doorway.
“But not without a cost.”
The black fragment pulsed under Kael’s skin.
The golden fragment hovered outside the clinic windows.
The silver fragment circled Evelyn like moonlight.
Three separate powers.
Waiting.
Lyra continued.
“The crown wants three bearers because the original ruler never held all three at once willingly.”
Luna frowned.
“So it split itself.”
“Yes.”
“To come back together later.”
“Exactly.”
Kael suddenly looked at Darius.
Not with anger.
Not with fear.
With recognition.
“You…”
His voice broke.
“I know you.”
Darius knelt in front of him.
“We’ve met.”
“No.”
Kael shook his head.
“Before that.”
The black mark spread across his chest.
“You’re…”
His breathing stopped.
“My brother.”
Darius went completely still.
Kael reached toward him.
Then collapsed unconscious.
The black light settled under his skin.
An hour later…
Kael lay asleep in the largest room of the medical wing.
Silver restraints circled the bed.
Not chains.
Wards.
Everyone gathered in Gabriel’s room.
No one spoke for a while.
Finally Ethan broke the silence.
“So.”
He looked around.
“My cousin has been living right next to us this whole time.”
Gabriel nodded.
“Yes.”
“And nobody knew.”
“No.”
Ronan let out a short laugh.
A broken sound.
“I spent my whole life thinking I was the last thing my father left behind.”
Gabriel’s eyes filled.
“You weren’t.”
Ronan stood.
Without another word, he walked out.
No one stopped him.
“He needs time,” Luna whispered.
“He needs the truth,” Gabriel said.
“And he’ll get it.”
Darius stood by the window.
Watching the snow.
Luna joined him quietly.
“You’re thinking.”
“I usually am.”
She bumped his shoulder.
“You know what I mean.”
His eyes stayed outside.
“I grew up thinking I only had one brother.”
“Ethan.”
“Yes.”
“Now?”
“Now I have another.”
He paused.
“I don’t know him.”
“You will.”
“What if he doesn’t want that?”
Luna smiled softly.
“Then you ask anyway.”
He looked at her.
She added,
“You’re getting better at that.”
His mouth curved slightly.
“Very funny.”
She slipped her hand into his.
He squeezed it without thinking.
“I keep wondering,” he admitted.
“What?”
“If someone had found Kael sooner…”
“You can’t change it.”
“I know.”
“But I still think about it.”
Luna rested her head on his shoulder.
“Me too.”
They stood there in silence.
Neither pretending the past could be fixed.
Neither carrying it alone.
Across the room…
Evelyn stared at the silver fragment floating inside a protective circle.
It no longer tried to reach her.
It just waited.
Mason approached carefully.
“You’ve been staring at it for twenty minutes.”
“It looks calm.”
“It tried to kill us.”
“Yes.”
She glanced at him.
“That’s what worries me.”
He frowned.
“The dangerous things always stop looking dangerous right before they do something worse.”
Mason followed her gaze.
“You’re not thinking of taking it.”
“No.”
She gave a small, sad smile.
“I’m thinking about how easy it would be.”
He reached for her hand.
She let him.
“I’ll keep you from doing anything stupid.”
“You always do.”
Late that night…
Everyone except Luna was asleep.
She stood alone in Blackwood’s library.
The reflected Book lay open in front of her.
Blank pages.
No warnings.
No prophecies.
Just silence.
“That’s new.”
A voice came from behind her.
Luna turned.
Gabriel stood in the doorway.
He already looked a little stronger.
Still pale.
Still tired.
But standing.
“You should be resting.”
“So should you.”
He walked over beside her.
For a while, they just looked at the empty pages.
Then Gabriel spoke.
“When you were born…”
Luna looked at him.
“I held you for exactly four minutes.”
She stayed quiet.
“I counted.”
His voice softened.
“You wrapped your whole hand around my finger.”
A small smile crossed his face.
“I remember thinking…”
He let out a quiet laugh.
“…that something so small had a grip like it meant to hold on forever.”
Luna’s eyes filled.
“I don’t remember any of it.”
“I know.”
He looked at her.
“But I do.”
He reached into his pocket.
Carefully…
He placed something on the table.
A tiny silver bracelet.
Worn smooth with time.
“You wore this until you were six months old.”
Luna picked it up gently.
Inside the band…
Tiny words were engraved.
Always choose freely.
She looked up.
“My mother?”
Gabriel nodded.
“She made it.”
Luna closed her fingers around it.
“I lost eighteen years with you.”
Gabriel’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
“You don’t get that back.”
“No.”
She stepped closer.
“But you get tomorrow.”
For a long moment…
Neither of them moved.
Then Gabriel opened his arms.
Not forcing.
Not expecting.
Just offering.
Luna stepped into them.
She hugged her father for the first time she could really remember.
Gabriel closed his eyes.
“My little moon.”
Tears slipped down his face.
“I’m home.”
Behind them…
The reflected Book quietly wrote a new line.
THE HOUSE OF VALE IS WHOLE.
The ink lingered.
Then another line formed beneath it.
ONLY ONE REMAINS LOST.
The pages turned on their own.
A portrait formed in shimmering silver ink.
A young woman.
Dark hair.
Gray eyes.
She looked almost exactly like Luna.
Beneath her was a name none of them knew.
SELENE VALE.
And outside the library window…
A woman stood watching Blackwood Manor.
She touched the silver crescent around her neck.
Then smiled.
“At last,” she whispered.
“My family finally remembers us.”
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