Dusk to Dawn (The Legacy Duet - 1)

𝕳𝖊𝖑𝖑 𝖔𝖓 𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖗𝖆

𝖂e don't hug.

Which was the most normal thing about this interaction by far. I doubt we'd ever willingly hugged each other at any point of our lives. I couldn't imagine he'd be willing to do it now, under the circumstances.

It had been months since I'd last seen him.

His presence was domineering, shoulders wide and posture tall, in contrast to my lithe sharpness. He looked even bigger, harder and less penetrable. My twin stood a foot taller and a foot broader than anyone else in the area. His dark mane untamed and unruly as ever, but he sported a full fledged beard on a face that used to be strictly clean-shaven. Dressed in his usual dark garb, Taimoor looked a part of the night.

"Get out."

"No."

"You're not welcome here," his lips pressed together tightly, revealing the scar that carved a path across his lower lip. He looked haggard, completely exhausted and beyond irritated by my arrival.

"Don't remember asking you," I snapped icily. He was no better than a scorpion, striking out when cornered. His attention shifted toward Akbar's line of sight instead.

"You-" Taimoor started and I stepped between the two, my body a shield in front of Asfand.

"Don't growl at him, look at me."

"I'm done here."

"You'll be done when I say you're done," his apathetic expression shifted into something more animated, but I was too intent on my mission to catalog the change. I was supposed to be playing it cool, keeping it all in, but felt like a flame, burning tall and bright. I couldn't put it out. "Taimoor, don't walk away from me!"

"Leave!"

"Make me!" a clap of thunder punctuated his shout, and before I knew it, I was standing outside and the main door was being slammed in my face. "Fucking hell, why does he have to make everything so difficult?"

"He's had a... challenging day ma'am," Akbar said apologetically.

Heavy wings of sorrow unfurled in my throat. I smothered the feeling, snapping its fluttering limbs. For most of his life, Taimoor had pretended to be a playboy, obsessed with all that glittered. Frivolous, egotistical. Unconcerned with anything aside from pretty lovers, parties, and baubles. But I, the queen of masks, knew these were false identities my brother wore.

Taimoor was much more complicated than he let on. His secrets were so vast, that even I, as his twin, hadn't unearthed them all yet.

"I'm glad you're here with him, it's the one solace we've all had."

"Would you like to eat before you settle in ma'am?"

"No, just have the rooms cleaned... we'll be staying for a couple of days," even under the darkness there was something otherworldly about the building, something enchanting. Much like the vexing man who occupied it. "Make sure Asfand is comfortable."

"Don't worry about me."

"I know you've been here before...but believe me, if I have any hope of getting through to my brother, we'll need to hunker down for a few days," I caught his eye, looking at me in a way that felt like a question, and a fluttering sort of panic sparked in my chest, my heart pounding a bit harder.

"Gotcha captain, I'm on your side here."

"Now that we got that decided, Akbar?"

"Yes, right this way sir. Ma'am, shall I notify your grandfather that you've arrived?" he spoke as he always did: clipped, terse, honest but for the first time, I detected an underlying sense of distrust.