My Vampire Brother Faked Dying—Mine Was Real Chapter 05
Alaric’s POV
We’d barely boarded the jet before Evelina practically launched herself across the aisle.
“Alaric, you finally get to fly with me again!”
She clutched a thick itinerary to her chest — Rosecliff, Silverwood, Kingsmont, Azure Bay, Wintercrest…
Every city had a neat red checkmark beside it. Every place she’d visited over the past five years.
At every stop, I’d made sure she got the best of everything — private guides, top security, five-star suites, blood wines most vampires would never taste.
I’d drowned her in everything I had to give.
But for those same five years, I’d been sitting in a broken-down wheelchair next to Selene, playing the dying brother. I watched her grind through back-to-back double shifts.
I watched the weight fall off her until there was nothing left. I watched her go from the brightest girl in the Veyron family to someone who wouldn’t spend a dollar to ease her own pain.
I kept telling myself she deserved it. But before the plane took off, I’d looked back through the car window and seen her standing in the doorway of that apartment.
She looked like the next gust of wind could break her in half. In the rearview mirror, that small, solitary figure shrank until I couldn’t see her anymore…
“Alaric? I’m talking to you. Why are you zoning out?”
“If you can’t stand being away from Selene, then go back. I’m only the adopted one, right? I’m used to being pushed around by her and forgotten by you.”
That line used to work on me every single time. But today, it just made me angry.
Evelina’s father had been a friend of our parents. She grew up alongside us. After our parents died, I felt sorry for her and gave her a permanent place in the Veyron family.
The family was falling apart back then. Every branch of the family was circling, waiting to carve up the bloodline’s assets and the estate. I held it all together.
Selene threw herself into vampire law and the family ledgers so I wouldn’t have to carry everything alone. She’d always been sharp. Smart and proud.
Then Evelina came to me in tears. She said Selene had read her diary, called her a lowborn, and threatened to throw her out of the family.
After that, she told me Selene had been leaking coven secrets to our rivals out of jealousy. The day I stormed back to the estate, I walked in on Selene standing there with her hand raised.
I caught her wrist before the slap could land. Evelina pressed herself behind me, eyes swollen and red. “Alaric, I know she doesn’t want me here. If she really thinks I stole you from her, I’ll go.”
I looked at Selene — white-faced, shaking — and I slapped her. For the first time in my life. She didn’t even flinch. She just stood there, frozen.
Shock. Pain. And underneath it, the smallest flicker of disbelief — like she still couldn’t accept that I’d done it. And what had I said?
“Look at yourself. I’ve never been more disappointed in you.”
That was when everything tipped. And it wasn’t until today, sitting on this plane, that I realized I couldn’t name one truly terrible thing Selene had ever done.
All I could remember was a girl who used to smuggle injured bats into her coat pockets and feed them her own blood. A girl who never dropped from the top of her class at the Academy.
I remembered the night we buried our parents. She could barely stand, tears running down her face, but she grabbed my hand and held on. “I’ll stay with you, Alaric. From now on, it’s you and me.”
She’d never hurt anyone in her life. Every cruel thing I believed about her had come from Evelina’s mouth.
I shut the thought down. I couldn’t afford to follow it to the end. Beside me, Evelina was still sniffling.
“Alaric, do you regret leaving with me?”
I closed my eyes and pressed the unease down. “Nobody’s throwing you away. I’m right here, aren’t I? Don’t talk like that again.”
I stood up. “I’m going to get you something to eat.”
I was halfway out of my seat when the personal phone I’d left behind lit up. Selene’s name filled the screen.