Chapter 63 Twin Instincts

Chapter 63 Twin Instincts

---
Without thinking too much she ran after him.
The gym doors slammed shut behind them with a metallic clang that echoed across the empty corridor.
Elowen barely had time to process what had just happened before Kieron’s hand tightened around her wrist and he pulled her farther down the hall. 
Her pulse was still uneven.. Not because of Kieron but because even now, all she could feel was the warmth of Lucian’s skin beneath her fingertips, the way he had looked at her, the way he had leaned in and the way, for one reckless suspended second, she had wanted him to close the distance.
She hated herself for that.
“Let go of me.”
Kieron stopped abruptly near the stairwell and released her wrist, but the fury rolling off him was almost tangible.
He looked wounded and somehow that hurt more than if he had looked angry. “What the hell was that?” he immediately demanded.
Elowen folded her arms tightly across her chest, more to keep herself together than to look defensive. “It wasn’t anything.”
“Don’t insult me or my intelligence.” His voice cracked like a horse whip through the narrow hallway.
She flinched and the moment he saw it, Kieron raked a hand through his dark curls before trying to calm himself as he spoke again.
“I saw you.”
“You didn’t see anything.” She whispered.
His laugh was bitter. “Seriously, El?”
She looked away and that was mistake number one because Kieron knew her too well.. He always had.
He knew every tell, every flicker of hesitation, every subtle shift in her expression that gave her away before words ever could.. You could say it was the curse of being a twin.
You could lie to everyone else but never to each other.
His gaze sharpened. “That look on your face just now?” His voice dropped. “That wasn’t hatred.”
Her stomach twisted. “Kieron..”
“No.” He cut her off, his tone colder now. “No, you don’t get to brush this off.”
He stepped closer. “Tell me what’s going on between both of you.”
“Nothing is going on.”
“Then why were you touching him like that?”
Heat rushed to her face and she desperately hated that he had noticed and most of all she hated that she didn’t have a believable answer.
“I.. I was cleaning his hand.”
“That’s not what I meant and you know it.”
Kieron studied her face, his expression darkening with every passing second then he said quietly, “You’re changing.”
The words landed harder than they should have and Elowen stiffened.
“I’m not.”
“Yes, you are.” His voice rose again. “You defend him now.”
“That’s not true.”
“It is.” He laughed once, humorless. “Do you even hear yourself lately?”
Her jaw clenched. “I’m being rational.”
“You’re making excuses for him.”
“I’m looking at facts.”
“He nearly killed me Elowen what bloody fact do you need again?.”
The words hit like a physical blow and the accusation hung there between them, heavy and brutal.
She hated herself for the flicker of uncertainty that followed because she whole heartedly knew now that the story was bigger than either of them had believed.
She now knew with her full chest Lucian had been drugged and it wasn’t because he had told her, she knew the records had been tampered with.
She knew none of it added up but standing here in front of her brother, staring at the scar that still cut faintly across his brow, all of that certainty blurred.
Kieron saw her hesitation and  his face fell. “Oh my God.”
Her stomach dropped. “Kieron look I need you to calm down please”
“You’re actually doing this.” His voice was low now, raw with disbelief. “You’re standing here doubting what happened to me because of him.”
“That’s not what this is, I can promise you.”
“Then what is it?”
She opened her mouth but then she closed it again because she couldn’t tell him at least not yet, not until she had concrete proof to add to what she already had.
And that silence of hers said more than any confession could have.
Kieron took a step back like she had physically struck him. “You believe his lies don’t you.”
“I’m trying to understand the truth.”
“The truth?” he snapped. “For heaven's sake Elowen, how many times do I need to say this.. The truth is Lucian Langford destroys everything he touches.”
Something inside her snapped. “That’s not the whole truth K.”
The words came out before she could stop them.
“Excuse me?”
Elowen straightened, lifting her chin. “He was manipulated.. Everything about that day was a lie.. a trap.”
The moment the words left her mouth, she knew she had said too much because Kieron went utterly still.
“What did you just say?”
Her heartbeat thundered. “Nothing.”
“Don’t do that.” His voice was deadly calm now. “What do you know?”
She shook her head. “Kieron, I can’t..”
“You can’t what?” His voice rose again. “Tell your own brother why you’re suddenly defending the guy who put him in the hospital?”
“It’s not like that.”
“Then explain it to me.”
“I can’t.”
The silence that followed was devastating as Kieron looked at her like he didn’t recognize her and  maybe that was what hurt the most because for the first time, she wasn’t entirely sure she recognized herself either.
He laughed bitterly. “Wow.”
“Kieron..”
“No.” He stepped back again. “You know what? Don’t. I spent months trying to rebuild after what happened. Then I spent days trying to make peace with the fact that my own sister was training him because we needed the money.”
His jaw tightened. “I told myself I could handle that.”
Guilt twisted viciously inside of  her as she listened to hom.
“But this?” he continued. “Watching you stand here and defend him like he matters more than what he did?”
“He doesn’t.” The answer came too quickly and yet even as she said it, it felt wrong.. Kieron noticed.
His eyes darkened. “You didn’t even believe that.”
Elowen looked away which was now mistake number two and when she looked back, something in his expression had shifted.
The anger was still there but underneath it was.. fear.
“He’s going to hurt you El.”
Her throat tightened. “He’s not.”
“How do you know?”
Because he looked broken when he thought she hated him, because he shook when memories overwhelmed him.
Because when she touched his face, he had gone still like tenderness was something he had forgotten how to receive.
Because somewhere along the way, the monster she thought she knew had turned into a boy who looked unbearably human.
She said none of that. Instead, she forced out, “Dad taught us to trust our instincts and right now I’m trusting mine...”
The second the words left her mouth, Kieron’s expression cracked.
There it was… The betrayal.
Slowly, he nodded. “Wow.”
“Kieron if you could at least hear me out..”
“Do you hear yourself You’re defending him instinctively now.”
She hated that he was right.. Hated that she hadn’t even realized it until he said it out loud.
His voice dropped and somehow that made it worse. “We only ever had each other, El. You know that.”
She nodded.
Their father’s death had forged that truth into bone.
Everything they had survived, every sacrifice, every sleepless night and every impossible choice.
It had always been them against the world and now, standing here, she felt that bond straining in a way it never had before.
Kieron studied her face for a long moment then his expression changed.
The anger faded, replaced by something far more devastating.
Whatever softness had taken root inside her for Lucian, whatever dangerous shift had begun.. He saw all of it and his voice, when he finally spoke, was barely above a whisper.
“Tell me the truth.. Why did you look at him like that?”
The question shattered through her to the point her mind went blank because she knew that there was no immediate answer, no easy denial and no believable lie.
Kieron’s face slowly drained of color as his expression shifted from suspicion to understanding to horror.
And Elowen stood frozen beneath his stare, realizing with sick certainty that for the first time, her brother had seen straight through her.
Seen the truth she hadn’t even admitted to herself.
That somewhere between hatred and understanding… between resentment and reluctant trust… between all the quiet moments she hadn’t meant to keep something had changed.
And she no longer knew how to stop it.