Page 24 of Until the Stars Fall

Later was all I could handle right now though.

“Someday, Matthias. But not yet. There will be time for that.”

The door slid open behind him, and Brennan entered, looking as disheveled and haggard as I felt.

“You wanted to see me,” he said, as if I might have forgotten sending the page off to fetch him.

I peered over Matthias’s head.

“Yes, hours ago actually,” I said before meeting Matthias’s gaze and giving him a silent command to leave us.

“Remember, Your Highness,” he said as he rose to leave, “time’s ticking.”

He laughed once when I rolled my eyes but quickly left without another word, only giving Brennan a polite nod as he passed him.

Brennan rocked back on his heels and shoved his hands into his pockets.

“What was that about time ticking?” he asked.

I scowled at him and ignored his question. “Have you any idea what you’re doing?”

“Besides standing here awaiting another lecture from my brother?”

“If you don’t want to hear it from me, I’m happy to take this to the king,” I offered.

His eyes twitched with humor before he let a single laugh escape and dropped himself into the chair. “No, you’re not. Because then you’d have to admit to him that you’ve failed.”

He wasn’t wrong, but at this point I was nearly considering taking the beating from our father if it meant getting Brennan in line.

Nearly.

Rubbing my fingers against my temples, I stared down at my desk. “We all have things to do, Brennan. What happens if you fail? Have you thought about that at all?”

Why I bothered asking him, I didn’t know. He’d never cared about anyone or anything beyond his own whims and fancies. He’d never had a care for the future or for anyone else.

“That’s your business, Connor, not mine,” Brennan said with more emotion than I would have expected from him. I opened my mouth to argue, but he pinned me with a bitter glower. “We all know everyone hates me.”

“No one hates you,” I argued. “Frustrated with you, perhaps, but we don’t hate you.”

He leaned closer, his glare darkening. “Regardless, it’s been made perfectly clear that I’m the lesser son who can be tossed aside and forgotten. This is no different. I’m nothing more than bait needed to lure some politically beneficial pussy.”

“You really see it that way?”

“How could I see it any differently? Mother doted on you. Father confides in you. And I’m just here, like some accessory the family parades around when needed.”

My throat tightened, and I couldn’t find the words to convince him otherwise. If he didn’t see how much the family cared for him, how could I say anything to help at this point? My heart ached as I stared at him, but then something in me snapped.

Brennan. The princess. The armies. The rebels. Everything. Rested on me.

The least this fucker could do was marry a princess for the good of the kingdom.

“Which is it, Brennan?” I asked, all my pity for him slipping away.

“What do you mean?”

Leaning forward, I laid my forearms on the desk and glared at him for a long breath.

“Do you hate being inconsequential? Or do you want to be needed?”

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