Fated To Three, Betrayed By All… Until She Rose.-Chapter 322: Hungover.

Caelum.

I used to pride myself in being very careful about my feelings. I used to go around town with my shoulders held high.

Why?

Because everyone respected me for being very brutal. It was no secret that amongst my siblings, I was always seen as the most difficult one to impress or get along with— well everyone thought this, besides the women in our lives.

But I liked it.

I liked being known as the devil’s incarnate.

I liked being the cold-hearted brother.

So why the hell do I feel like I was the most vulnerable right now? Why the hell is my heart pounding against my chest like it was about to fall out.

My breath caught as her feet landed on the last set of stairs and I glanced up, totally nerve-wracked and trembling as I greeted; "Good morning, Lani!"

Goddess, I tried to force all the courage I could muster into my voice and failed miserably when her eyes landed on mine. I tried to seem as unaffected and cool as anyone could possibly be. But just one glance at her had me reliving last night and I lowered my head, in both apprehension and embarrassment as I whispered;

"I just said... good morning!"

At the sound of my voice, everyone snapped out of the trance they’d been in. Leilani smiled softly—but I could clearly see that she was forcing it and greeted back;

"Good morning Caelum."

Her soft voice rubbed against me like a caress. It made me feel things that even I... with my stone hearted reputation... never thought I could ever feel.

A fierce blush crept up my face when my eyes followed the line of her dress, noticing the way it hugged her frame like a second skin and I drawled; "You woke up late."

And I know... I know that that was stupid of me to say. I know that if others—I mean my friends— were here, they would’ve laughed at me for feeling so tongue-tied around her. But what else could I say?

How else could I tell her that she was practically glowing? That she was beautiful beyond words and that her hair was the shiniest I have ever seen it in my entire life?

Zevran, as if noticing how stoned I was, cleared his throat dramatically. His eyes darted from my face to Lani’s and then he said; "Come, let’s have breakfast."

His words, so softly said, was the thing that finally broke the tense awkwardness between us.

"It’s practically brunch at this point!" Kael chirped nervously.

"Yes," I chuckled, equally nervous and scratching the back of my neck, "it’s practically brunch."

"Let’s go." Leilani cut in and at her voice, everyone instantly shook out of their self-induced reveries. We all settled around her fancy little dining table to eat our food; But just as I finished helping her to her plate, my heart skipped a beat.

I immediately turned to Zevran and mouthed the words; "What if it is bad?" to him,

His eyebrows shot into his hairline as soon as he caught a whiff of what I’d just asked; But Leilani, completely clueless, had no idea that we worried for her tastebuds.

She picked up a spoonful of porridge and brought it up to her lips... but before she could even eat it, Zevran grabbed her elbow, his eyes wide with bright as he stuttered;

"W-wait!"

She frowned. "What?"

"He said wait!" I almost yelled, shocking myself and her. Her eyes widened as they turned to look at me, and in that moment, I could swear that I felt something warm settle over me. My knees felt like jelly and my chest... goddess, my chest was so full, I feared it would explode.

"We want to check it out first," I hissed under my breath, "...because we fear that we may have made something terrible... again." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

The amusement that shone in her eyes when she heard me say those words was comical. Her eyes lit up with glee and a blush— it was unmistakably a blush— crept up her face as she shrugged Zevran’s hands off.

Without another word, she brought the food to her lips and took a swallow... and frowned.

I froze.

My heart started to beat wildly against my chest and sweat broke out on my skin, soaking through my shirt and making my palms so clammy, I could barely hold my spoon.

"How is it?" The words fell out from our lips in sync and we turned to pin each other with a glare before turning back to Leilani who was currently gobbling up the rest of the food.

A smile spread across my lips when she didn’t answer when we continued to pester her to know how bad or good the food was. In fact, I already knew her answer without being told from the way she was eating like there was a battalion running after her.

When she was done, she slammed her plate down, beamed a smile at all of us and raised her thumb.

"Good," she whispered, causing Kael to frown in confusion.

"Huh?" He asked,

"The food," she drawled softly, "...it is good!"

—

We spent the rest of our brunch time eating as quietly as we could. And when we were done with that, we quickly cleared out the table and washed the dishes— which were things that our subjects back at the pack must never catch us doing.

Not like they were bad things to do anyway.

However, the house soon descended into silence when we finished with all of these, and silently deciding that we had probably overstayed our welcome, I turned to Leilani expectantly and sighed;

"Thank you for housing us last night,"

My words made her stop what she was doing, which was arranging some roses into an empty vase, and then she turned to me. "Does that mean that I should thank you too for coming through for me last night?" She asked, and at the sound of her words, I frowned.

What do you—

"I was grieving," she drawled, interrupting me— not like I’ve said anything yet. "I was at my lowest last night until you three showed up at my doorstep, drenched beyond reasoning and reeking of alcohol and sweat..."

"We were sweaty," Zevran cut in, but she only glanced at him for a second before resuming her speech.

"You were sweaty because you had spent most of the evening going from one bar to the other, looking for me."

When I heard those words, I gasped. Because... how could she have possibly known?

My eyes darted to my brothers’ accusatorily as if saying; ’I know one of you told her,’ But from the surprised looks on their faces, it was jarring that they were equally as stunned as I was.

The thought made my throat instantly go dry and I turned to Leilani with the intent of asking her this when she shrugged at me, her voice cold as she seethed;

"I don’t know how I know. I just do. Anyways, thank you for coming for me despite the pouring rain... and for always looking out for me."

"You’re welcome!" I managed to rasp while Kael only waved dismissively at her, blushing fiercely simply because he’d been appreciated by her.

I turned to glance at Zevran who still hasn’t said a word yet and as if a light bulb had suddenly been turned on in his head, he snorted;

"Yeah that... But Leilani, where are our clothes?"

Silence.

The silence that descended upon us as soon as he asked that was deafening. And this was specifically because her face had suddenly gone blank.

Gone was the courage that oozed off her like blood from an open cut. Gone was the confidence that she exuded too like it was her special trait.

Her eyes held a hint of something akin to confusion as she looked from one brother to the other and then she murmured; "Your clothes?"

"Yes, our clothes." Zevran pressed on, obviously having fun.

She gulped, pressed her hands on her chest and then pointed slowly to us, a tremor seeping into her voice as she asked; "I took your clothes?"

"Yes, you did last night." Kael answered with a smile, "...you ensured that we took them off before crossing your threshold. And then you took them away to bring us towels."

It wasn’t until he said this that she lowered her eyes to our waists; And lo and behold, we still had the said towels wrapped around our waists because truth be told, it was better than walking around half naked.

Her face stained a bright shade of red and she slapped her hands on her cheeks as she stumbled backwards, pointing a shaky hand at us as she cried; "I do not remember doing that! I do not remember where I must’ve put your clothes."

"Well, if you don’t—" Zevran began to say but was interrupted when she snapped;

"I didn’t do that! Did I?"

"Well, you did," he replied, his smile widening, "you even called us hot stuff!"

And goddess, she was mortified!