Chapter 32

Orchid

       Home had always felt so weird without Nolan living there. I understood why he didn't want to live above the HQ anymore because it was putting a lot of stress on him, but it still felt weird without him here.

       For starters, we never had to wait long for the alarm to shut off if we were needed in the HQ since Nolan was the one who always took the longest to get out of bed. Without him here, it didn't take that long.

      I did miss him a lot. Of course, I still saw him every day at the HQ, but it wasn't the same. I especially missed the two of us sitting on the balcony together, no matter what the weather was like and just talked about anything.

       Stupid Jerome had to come along and make my brother fall in love with him.

       When I got to the HQ, I immediately headed to the kitchen to find Nolan there eating a sandwich. I sat down beside him at the table and said, "Hey. Wanna spar?"

       "No," Nolan said. "I'm eating."

       "I meant after, obviously," I said. "I never expect you to stop eating just to do something else."

       "Oh. Well, the answer is still no," Nolan said.

       "Aww, why not?" I asked. "I'm bored, and I miss spending time with my favourite brother."

       "Then we can find some other way to spend time together," Nolan said. "I don't spar with people. I'll lose right away."

       "Come on, have more faith in yourself," I said.

       "I do have faith in myself," Nolan said. "I have faith that I'll lose right away. My weapon is a bow, Orchid. I've never trained with a sword before, or anything else for that matter. I don't see how we can spar if I use my bow."

       "Fair point," Orchid said. "I still miss you. You don't want to spend any time with me ever since you got yourself a boyfriend and moved out."

       "I'm sorry for not being able to control my feelings and falling in love with a sorcerer. A very hot sorcerer, I may add."

       "Well, I can agree with you there."

       "Don't call my boyfriend hot."

       "Do you want me to call him ugly?"

       "Are you blind? He's not ugly. He's hot."

       "But I can't call him that and I can't call him ugly, so what can I call him?"

       "You can call him Jerome."

       I just chuckled. Nolan was very protective over Jerome and honestly, it was adorable. He didn't seem like the type that would get angry, but it anyone flirted with Nolan, he would probably kill them.

       Not really, because he didn't like the idea of killing anyone, but if looks could kill they'd be dead.

       "So, how is it living with Jerome?" I asked. "Do you miss home? At all?"

       "A bit," Nolan said. "Not too much though since I do still see everyone every day, so it's not a huge change. Besides, living with Jerome means I could sleep in how long I want without getting water dumped on me."

      "Dad only did that once," I said.

      "Yes, and he didn't do it again because I cried and then he felt bad. Crying gets you everything you want."

       "You crying gets you everything," I said. "If I cried over anything, Dad would tell me to woman up."

       "Because I'm their favourite."

      "Wow, and you say you're not arrogant."

      "I'm not. I'm sassy. There's a difference."

      "Whatever you say," I said. "So, since you don't want to spar, do you at least want to train together? I miss spending time with you."

       "Sure," I said. "Just let me finish my sandwich."

       It didn't take long for Nolan to finish his sandwich. It never took him long to eat. He basically consumed everything like a vacuum.

       Once he finished eating, we headed over to the training room to train together.

       And by that, I mean get really competitive and see who could hit the target the most with their weapon. We did start by training together, but we ended up in a competition once I laughed at Nolan for not hitting the centre of the target and he told me to do better.

       Us Princes were always very competitive, so it wasn't really surprising that Nolan and I ended up in a little competition.

      That I lost.

      The one time he didn't hit the centre of the target was the only time he didn't get close. The other times, it was like the centre was the only place he could hit.

       Never underestimate the cinnamon roll that is Nolan.

       "Did Jerome put a spell on you so you can't miss?" I asked.

       "Yes, I got Jerome to put a spell on me in the small chance that I would end up in a competition with my sister, even though I wasn't planning on training today."

       "Just making sure."

       "Well, next time, make sure you don't suck at throwing your knives."

       "Damn, someone release the sass monster today. Alright, who bothered you?"

       "Everyone."

       "What did everyone do?"

       "Breathe."

       "Seriously, what's up?"

       Nolan sighed. "Jerome's mom knows we're the Protector and sorcerer for the Two Souls prophecy."

      "Oh," I said. "Is that a bad thing?"

      "To me, yes," Nolan said. "I don't trust her. I know she's Jerome's mother, but she still lied about him killing someone just so she could cover up the fact that he was kicked out of the Sorcerer Circle for being gay. That emotionally hurt him, so who's to say she won't do something that will physically hurt him?"

      "I don't think she'll use it against you and Jerome," I said. "She may be a complete bitch, but she's still one, Jerome's mom and two, the head of sorcerers. Jerome is a sorcerer, and while he isn't part of the Sorcerer Circle, she should make sure he's safe. Besides, she's also sleeping with Gary, and you're Gary's grandson, so..."

       "Ugh, don't remind me," Nolan said. "I still don't have a good feeling about it."

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Aww, I miss Nolan and Orchid's sibling interactions. <3 They be my favourite siblings (they even pass Nolan and Ryder, and Ryder is Nolan's favourite sibling lol)

Can someone tell my little brother to stop coming into my room? He keeps walking in without my permission just because I have Christmas decorations up and he loves Christmas.