Page 38 of The Broken Queen
“You know why.” I inched the flowers closer, hoping she’d take them.
We stood there for a few silent seconds before she finally snatched them from my hand and then slammed the door in my face.
Smiling at the polished surface, I considered it progress.
I tooka sip of whiskey while I connected the little dipper with my finger, drawing invisible lines in the air. I thought back to the first time I had found it as a kid and how I had been so excited that I could actually find a star system on my own. Mom and Dad didn’t even make light of it or explain that it was literally something anyone could see when the stars came out. They were always doing that.
Kingston was the one who broke it to me that the baby dipper was easy, and if I wanted a challenge, I should try to find the star system shaped like a bull. Then he’d tell me to find an archer with his bow string pulled. He’d keep giving me little challenges until astronomy had taken over my life, and it became the thing that I studied more than anything else. The thing that calmed me, defined me, and reminded me that it was possible to be connected to someone, no matter how far away they were.
Which was ironic because my brother was the reason I currently detested stars. It wasn’t his fault, but everything inside me still wanted to blame him. I needed him to fix this shit because somehow it was hurting more than the first time we left and were separated from Presley.
“The fuck, Gio?” Kingston startled while crawling out onto the roof with me.
I connected a few more stars with my finger, drawing an invisible line between them. My twin crawled next to me and took the whiskey from me.
“You know better than to drink while you’re up here.”
Always the buzz kill. I sighed, then leaned back. “King, did youever think that maybe we’re being kept away from the one person we love, simply because we both fell for her, and we crossed some cosmic boundary by doing so?”
He made some grunting sound while watching me. “The hell are you talking about?”
“We shared a womb, and then we shared everything else afterwards. We can’t also share the same soul mate. God wouldn’t be that cruel.” My voice was somber, but I felt the words punch through my chest.
Kingston finally glanced up at the sky, but only for a second before his eyes traveled down to the ground. “Not sure God did this to us, brother.”
Me either. Maybe it was a curse…or a dream we couldn’t wake from.
“Why are you up here, Gio?”
I found another constellation, but this time I didn’t lift my finger to draw the lines connecting it. Instead, I pushed out a heavy sigh. “I gave Presley a bouquet of flowers.”
I didn’t catch if he froze or looked concerned. I didn’t care anymore.
“That’s good, right?” he asked.
I laughed while lying flat on my back. “Yeah…she accepted them…but this morning I woke up covered in them.”
The memory of the golden petals littering my covers had something punching again in my chest. Like whatever it was needed to get out, but I’d kept it captive, so now there was nowhere for it to go.
“She…” Kingston started, but I interjected again with a laugh, feeling warm from the whiskey.
“Ripped the entire bouquet up and then poured the petals all over me so the first thing I’d see when I woke up was her rejection.”
Kingston didn’t respond for a few seconds, and I realized belatedly that was because I hadn’t stopped laughing.
“She’ll come around, Gio. I promise.” My brother placed his hand on my shoulder before forcing me back inside the house.
But I couldn’t help but think about how easily she’d texted him, even though she was angry; at least she had wanted to speak with him. She wouldn’t even accept a bundle of marigolds from me.
Maybe she’d dug into the ground so deep, the only thing she craved was darkness.
Kingston wasn’t made up of anything other than shadow, so it made sense for her to crave him. I was always her sunshine, and now she hated my warmth.
Chapter 15
Presley
“Try slowly easing into it.” My cousin’s voice echoed from my phone, where I’d placed her.
