Page 122 of Night's Fall
I tried not to smile, butIhad a feelingIfailed.
“Not sure they didn’t deserve that,Aleksei.”
“I’m not saying they didn’t, but it was easy, and everyone has pride.Tim, too much.Rol, it was too easily bruised.Althoughthey have strong, handsome creatures,Rol’sis quite small.AndTim’sis smaller than mine, larger thanRol’s, and mean.Itplays dirty.Thisis something that might get you ahead in schoolyard bullying, in a street fight, but in battle, there’s only so far you can get using nasty little shortcuts.Youneed to think on your feet.Beable to pivot.Ifa strategy you’re using isn’t working, you have to have dozens more you can try.Thereare only so many tricks you can roll out.Eventually, it comes down to strength and intelligence.Someonehas to win.Ialways won.Andthey’re very poor losers.”
“So in all things, you bested them, and rather than finding their niche, their vocation, some mission, something that set them apart from you and could give them a calling, they decided to be fuckboys.”
“It’s arrogant to assume it’s all about me.”
“But they didn’t have to make their beds.”
He seemed relieved thatIgot it.
“Mom tried, butDadwasn’t happy she did it with me.Heput his foot down with them.”
“And as such, they never learned inner accountability,”Ideduced, then carried it forward. “Andsince you have, and due to your position in your family and your popularity, you’re used to covering their foibles and missteps, which puts more pressure on you to be perfect.Toperform.Toput yourself out there when you prefer privacy.”
I just knew this was going to spoil my appetite.
And it did, asIharked back and put together times whenAlekseiwould show up at a youth ring ice match afterTimotheestole some pit ball player’s girlfriend then promptly dumped her, making her cry prettily on social tape while he squired around another pit ball player’s girlfriend he also stole.
Or whenAlekseiwas walking a street during some village’s septuacentennial, accepting flower bouquets from little girls and smiling at crowds waving handheldNight’sFallflags with its purple dragon on black, doing this after thePalaceallegedly paid off some males who got in a back-alley shifter fight withErroland some of his bros.
“I love them.”
WhenAlekseisaid this, my eyes shot to his.
“They can be funny,” he went on. “Theydote onAleece.Andthey’re just my brothers.”
“Okay,”Ireplied, not having any siblings, so not really getting it.
“That’s why it’s so disappointing,bissi, especially whatIlearned today.”
“Because they can be better?”
“No, because they never will.”
Oh gods.
“Also, they just get worse,” he carried on. “Today, with what we learned, the worst of all.Ican’t even wrap my head around doing that to anyone.Heshould be facing charges, but instead,Dadwill pay the female off, and it’ll all go away.Andlearning that after finding you’d been drugged against your will was bad timing, but even if that hadn’t happened to you,I’dbe livid.Makingit worse, it won’t stop.Theynever learn, and they’re not stupid.Theycan.Theysimply refuse to.AndsinceDadmakes it so there are no consequences to their actions, they have no reason to try.”
I had to bury howIfelt thatTimotheewould get away with what he’d done.Ijust had to hope that the payoff was worthwhile for the female.
AndIdidn’t have time to think too long on it.
I had to stay here withAleksei.
“I’m sorry, honey,”Iwhispered.
“I am too.”
“With the bullying when you were younger, didn’t your parents intervene?”Iqueried.
“At first,Momdidn’t because she thought it built character.Thelength of time it went on, and how unrelenting it was, she eventually tried to put a stop to it.Dadwas adamant she not get involved, saying, ‘Boyswill be boys, we have to let them be boys.’”
KingFillionseemed to be a dab hand at platitudes.
“Are you close withAleece?”Iasked.
