Page 59 of Fearless

“We used to laugh like that all the time.”

Kitt brushes my shoulder as he rounds the pillar. I glance over at him with a shake of my head. “You read my mind.”

He sounds tired. “I miss enjoying these balls.”

“As do I.” I stare out onto the dance floor. “At least someone is having a good time.”

He takes a sip of his drink, eyes following Paedyn’s spinning figure. “She seems so… happy.”

“Well,” I sigh, “half a dozen glasses of champagne will do that to a person.”

Kitt snorts. “So she’s taking a page out of your book for the night?”

“It would seem so.” I crack a smile. “But she’s definitely doing it better. I would have stolen a bottle of something stronger and staggered off to my room by now.”

“And I would follow,” Kitt adds, “because I refuse to endure a ball if you aren’t suffering with me.”

I shake my head, smiling at the floor. “The good old days, huh?”

“Oh, yes.” He blows out a breath. “I wish these balls were our biggest concern now.”

I’m not sure what compels me to say it. Even the words taste bitter. “I wish they were my biggest concern then, too. But I was busy being cut open by our father.”

I can feel his shocked gaze roaming my face. “Kai, I… I can’t tell you how sorry I am about that. What he was to you, what he put you through, was just so… different from the man I knew.”

Guilt twines its way around me as I immediately regret the words. Taking a breath, I look him in the eyes. Father’s eyes. “I only say that to remind you of how much better you can be. How much better you’ve already become.”

His eyes light with an emotion I can’t quite make out. “I want to be better. Hell, I want to be great.”

“And you will be.” My hand meets his shoulder, shaking it slightly. “I’m with you until the very end.”

His voice is a murmur, earnest as the gaze he pins on me. “You and me, Brother.”

“You and me,” I repeat.

We share something then. A smile. A moment of understanding. A repairing of a bond once strained.

It’s taken much grief and anger to get here, but I’m proud to say that my brother has returned to me. This is the Kitt I know and love. This is the friend I’ll spend the rest of my life with.

This is the man who is marrying the woman I love.

I push the thought away. “That was too depressing a topic for a ball. We should be attempting to have fun.”

Kitt nods to the dance floor. “I think the two of them are having enough fun for the both of us.”

Indeed, they were. Jax and Paedyn had yet to stop causing a scene with their incessant spinning. “Has it been three dances? If they have any more, the court may begin to think our little brother is trying to steal away your betrothed.”

“Oh, I doubt that’s the brother they’re worried about,” Kitt says evenly.

Here we go.

I have rehearsed my rebuttal to this touchy topic. Clearing my throat, I ensure it is only those soft, practiced words that fill the air between us. “I don’t want to get in the way of you two.”

It is the truth. I have no desire to be the wedge driven between them. But that is what I am, and I will not stop loving her because of it.

Kitt chuckles, and I’m slightly startled by the sound. “It is not you who’s getting in the way.”

I don’t have the chance to ponder his words. He moves on quickly, avoiding any further discussion on the matter. And some cowardly part of myself is thankful for it. “Andy seems to be enjoying the show.”

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