A/N: ORGANIC CHEMISTRY IS SAPPING MY LIFE. as a result, shorter chapters.
You stopped at the doorway and he glanced at you.
"Janx."
You nodded at him. "Asher."
Asher looked at Farrah. "Mother needs a few extra hands to prepare dinner today, go be a good girl and help her out, Farrah."
She nodded and quickly hurried to the kitchen, dark brown waves of hair swaying behind her.
Asher turned his eyes on you. "We need to talk. Come with me."
You followed him to his room in silence, wondering what could possibly be so important, so secret. Farrah probably was wondering the same thing – she wasn't a fool and she would know a dismissal when she heard one.
"Close the door behind you," he instructed.
You obliged, and it clicked softly shut behind you. "Well, what is it, Asher? What could possibly require such secrecy?"
"I've heard of the devilry that goes on behind the closed doors of Castle Renais," he looked straight into your eyes.
You stared back at him, unwilling to deny or affirm anything.
"You don't have to hide anything from me, Janx. I'm your brother! Is loyalty to your lord more important than honesty to your family? Blood is thicker than water, Janx, and if Orson stays in his gilded chair built on insanity and sorcery our family is sure to fall to ruin."
Silence.
He stared at you.
You stared at him.
And then you crumbled.
You had kept your silence for far too long, and the minute your mouth opened, the entire sordid story came spilling out.
The insanity, your lord's twisted stubbornness to see the lady's death for what it was, the doctors who proclaimed her dead, the charlatans that claimed they could heal her, and finally, Lyon. You told Asher of the way Lyon brought the lady back from the dead to her warped semblance of life. Of the way he had been possessed by the Demon Lord, that otherworldly power who surpassed all known evil. Of how Riev brought an army of undead warriors and a slew of servants that were barely held together by decaying sinews.
Disbelief in his eyes. Then he threw his arms around you, holding you close. You hadn't realized that you had been shaking so hard.
Tears of emotion leaked from the corners of your eyes. You had been holding all that terror, all that pain, all to yourself and now that you had someone to share with, someone who might not be able to understand, but could listen and comfort you, was almost too much to bear.
You stayed there in the comfort of your brothers' warm embrace, feeling safe, feeling relieved, feeling like everything would turn out okay.
Then he pulled away from you. Wet his lips a little nervously, but steeled himself and spoke.
"Janx, there's something I need you to do."
A/N: Oh my, what will Asher ask of Janx? We shall see...