Brother's Betrayal

Chapter Nineteen {Calls}

With a slam, the bedroom door hit against the wall and I jolted upright. Aurelia gracefully walked in as I held a hand over my chest, dumbfounded. Katy was interrupted when I lowered the phone from my ear (the same old one from Karen), watching Aurelia as she shut the door and walked into my bathroom.

"I'll call you back," I said. Katy was telling me when to call her (Sarah was planning on serenading her at some point in the afternoon) when Aurelia poked her head around the bathroom door.

She waved her hand - naturally, I winced and waited for something to happen until she continued - and turned around. "Keep talking. I won't interrupt."

Looking after her disappearing figure, I laid back down on the bed and returned to Katy. "Hey, sorry. Continue."

She cleared her throat over dramatically. "Right, so Sarah told me that I'm not allowed to see Evie until she knows for certain I won't try to escape." Katy started to laugh between her words as she forced the next sentence out. "Sarah-Sarah thinks that Evie and I are going to... *hook up*!"

I guffawed. "Really? You've been there for almost two months and she still doesn't trust you?"

Flatly, Katy said, "Does Dillan trust you yet?"

Curiously, I saw Aurelia leaning through the bathroom doorway. I had no idea what she was doing but I frowned both at her and Katy's question. "This isn't about me."

"It easily could be. How is he?"

Heaving a sigh, I muttered, "It was about me last time. Return to Sarah."

Katy shuffled around for a second before she asked, "Fine. What about that witch? What's she up to?"

I collapsed against the pillows. Stretching my hand out, I waited for under a second before Aurelia shouted: "I'm amazing, thank you!"

I heard Katy's laugh without having the phone pressed up to my ear. "Alright, okay. I'll focus now." For the following few minutes, Katy babbled on about her situation, dropping hints that I needed to remove the engagement ring I was still wearing around my neck at several intervals, but she mainly stayed on topic. Then, there was a knock on my door.

Aurelia, hidden behind the bathroom door, shook her hands wildly. "Anya, can I come in?" Desperately, Aurelia started shaking her head. "I'm coming in."

"Are you listening? Alice, what's happening?"

"Anya," I groaned. "If I have to call you Katy, call me Anya." I drawled, ignoring the incessant knocking for a second.

Fletcher opened the door and entered. Pausing, he surveryed the room, skipping past Aurelia hiding herself behind the bathroom door, before turning to me.

"Where is she?"

"She's not in my room," I replied. To Katy, I then muttered, "I'll be back in a second."

Fletch stoically crossed his arms. After seeing him being united with Aurelia, I recognised that the same bond which just so happened to be the one that caused Dillan and I to be drawn to each other was strung between Fletcher and Aurelia. However, Fletcher was far more relaxed than Dillan; maybe it was because he trusted Aurelia, maybe it was because she wasn't cautious of him, maybe it was also because she could take care of herself without him (as I could, just to a lesser extent). Either way, their bond was a lot less strained.

"Her scent led here."

Out of my peripherals, I saw Aurelia concentrating on her fingers as wispy shadows flicked around her hands. Abruplty, a downstairs door slammed and Fletcher twisted around as I jumped. Without a word, he ran from the room before Aurelia began walking out too.