Aria Graice - 35. Chapter 35

“Who’s old?” Amara grumbled from the bed. “Must be Drew. You talk too loud. You must be shouting because he’s deaf.”

Aria and Drew exchanged glances and grinned. Aria rushed to the bed and scrambled up. Amara was struggling to sit up.

Amara glanced around vaguely. “Who kicked me?”

“No one kicked you, silly. You threw yourself on a car, remember?”

Amara frowned and shrugged. “Meh. I need to pee. I don’t think I’m supposed to do it here.”

“No,” Aria cried, his eyes going wide. “Not here. Come on, I’ll help you.”

“Help me what?”

“Get to the toilet.” Aria hopped off the bed and tugged Amara’s arm.

Amara shook himself free. “Stop pulling. It hurts.”

“Someone got out of bed the wrong side this morning,” Drew said, chuckling.

“I haven’t got out any side yet.”

Amara allowed Drew to help him slide out of bed and stand. He swayed against Drew’s side and moaned. “Hurts,” he grumbled, leaning his head on Drew.

“You’re the one who’s so godamn determined not to take pain meds.”

“Suck it up buttercup,” Aria called then cracked up laughing. “That’s what you tell me. Now you have to do it.”

“Being a twin is overrated,” Amara grumbled. “Stop talking and help me get to the bathroom.”

“Well, it’s not exactly a bathroom,” Drew said, “but on the bright side you’re not likely to fall.”

“What?”

With some difficulty, given the size of the corridor, Drew helped Amara stumble to the toilet. When he opened the door, Amara made a sound of horror and disbelief.

“Is this the only one?”

“We’re on a bus, Amara. Where do you think they’d hide another one?”

“Do I have to?”

“Unless you want to get out and pee against the wheel.”

Amara glared at him, then sighed and slipped into the room. He was small enough to have space to move. “Close the door,” he demanded.

“Will you be alright?”

“Not with you watching me, I won’t.”

Smiling, Drew withdrew a few steps along the corridor. He jumped and spun to face the main part of the bus when there was a shout outside the door which then burst open. Jay tumbled in, laughing and clutching paper bags to their chest. They almost dropped the paper cup they were holding in their other hand.

“Fuck off back on your bus, you dirty bastard. Don’t think I didn’t see the ring. Save your dirty mouth for your wife.” Cerrian stomped inside and slammed to door with her foot. “Don’t just stand there,” she snapped at Jay, “put the shit on the counter. Help me get this table back up.”

“Won’t Amara need it?”

“Drew?” Amara’s voice was muffled but sounded panicked. Drew immediately spun and wrenched open the door. Amara threw himself into Drew’s arms even though he whimpered with pain.

“What’s happening? Who it is? Have they come for us? Save Aria. Save me. No, Aria. Save him first.”

“Whoa. Hold on there.” Drew tried to pry Amara away from him, but Amara was having none of it and the only way Drew could have achieved it was by hurting Amara. Instead, he stroked Amara’s hair and bent to kiss his head. “No one’s hurt or is going to be hurt. It’s Cerrian and Jay. It’s just Jay, okay?”

“I heard… I thought I heard…”

“Cerrian was yelling at someone who was rude to her. No one’s here but us. I promise.”

“No one’s here?”

“No.”

“Only us.”

“And Aria, Jay and Cerrian.”

Amara gave a huge sigh and drew back, his head bowed. “You must think I’m an idiot.”

Drew tipped up his chin. “You’re not an idiot. You’re someone who’s been through a tough time and is a bit jumpy. It’s understandable. Doesn’t make you weak, or foolish, or any of the other things I know you’re thinking. It makes you wise. It’s a good thing to be on your guard right now with things the way they are.”

Amara bit his lip but managed to give Drew a small smile.

“Have you finished in there?”

“Haven’t started yet. Didn’t get a chance.”

“Then maybe you should get on with it. I’ll wait here—just outside the door.”

Amara nodded and disappeared.

When Drew finally emerged, with Amara dragging drowsily behind, Cerrian had put away the bed and spread an array of breakfast goodies on the table, along with various carboard cups of hot drinks.

“Breakfast courtesy of Jay,” she announced cheerfully. “Say thank you.”

“Thank you.” Amara said, somewhat robotically. Drew, on the other hand was in no mood to be grateful.

“What the hell have you done? What were you thinking? Do you think Amara’s going to sit in a seat all the way? Or maybe you’re happy with him lying on the floor? Why did you need to put the bed away?”

“I did tell her, Drew,” Aria said, sounding wretched. “I told her Amara couldn’t sit because he’s hurting and probably drugged, but she wouldn’t listen. No one ever listens. She said he’d be fine after he had some food.”

Drew glared at Jay who glared back.

“Don’t blame me, I didn’t help. You know what your sister’s like.”

Drew did, indeed know exactly what Cerrian was like. It wasn’t that she was insensitive and thoughtless…exactly. It was just that she’d spent so much time alone she wasn’t used to dealing with other people, and she was tough. She would probably have taken an injury like Amara’s on the chin and still be driving the bus. That was the problem. She thought everyone was like her.

“Stop making so much of a fuss over him, Drew. He’s a grown man. He’ll be fine.”

She pulled up short at the bump and yell.

Amara had drifted over to Aria, no doubt called by his distress. Trying to sit next to Aria, Amara had entirely missed the seat and fallen to the floor with a yelp of pain.

“Amara,” Aria yelled and dropped to the floor beside his brother. Amara put his arms around Aria’s neck and started to laugh. “Hurts,” he said.

“Then why are you laughing?” Aria asked, sounding confused.

“Because we’re on a stupid bus, and you’re here, and Drew’s here.” He stopped and looked around, apparently alarmed. “Drew is here?”

“I’m here,” Drew said, stepping forward, but not before giving Ceriann his best glare. She shrugged, chuckling at Amara.

“Then all is well,” Amara said with a curt nod. “Can I stay here? It’s a long way up there.”

“You can do what you want,” Aria announced. Amara nodded again, lay down on his side, pulling a cushion in to hug, then promptly fell asleep. Aria manoeuvred around so he could pillow his brother’s head on his lap.

“We’ll be alright down here,” Aria said. “As long as she doesn’t go around corners too fast.”

“I never go around corners too fast.”

“You sometimes do.” Aria insisted.

Cerrian grinned at him. “Aright, sometimes I do, but I’ll be extra careful today. I don’t think we have far to go, do we?”

She glanced at Jay who shook their head. “Not far. About an hour. We’ll be leaving the motorway at the next junction and the roads get smaller and smaller the closer we get. There are some pretty nasty corners, so you’ll need to be careful.”

Ceriann shrugged again. “I’m always careful.”

“Seriously, Ceriann,” Drew warned.

“Alright, alright, come and have breakfast.”

Breakfast was actually pretty good, and they made short work of it. Drew even managed to coax Amara to eat a little, then settled him in the bedroom. Aria was unhappy about Drew leaving him alone in there, but he slept the whole way.

Jay hadn’t been kidding when they’d talked about narrow, winding roads. They were hardly suitable for a car let alone the bus and there were some hairy moments with overhanging branches. Fortunately, they made it and were alerted that they were almost there by Ceriann’s, “Jesus fucking Christ,” through the curtain that separated the front seats from the rest of the bus. “Are you sure that’s it,” she was heard asking Jay, her voice shrill and therefore carrying easily through the heavy velvet.

Jay’s response was too low to hear clearly, but Aria chucked. “It is a bit of a shock the first time you see it. It’s very…er…grand. It’s been in the family for hundreds of years. To be honest, I don’t like it very much. It’s like a museum, not a home. Father says Grandmother should sell it and move to somewhere smaller. Maman likes the grandness. She never comes to the flat. We have to stay in the house when she’s here and she wears long dresses and sweeps about like she lived in another century. At least that’s what Grandmother says. She isn’t very nice about it. She doesn’t like Maman.”

“She’s clearly a discerning woman.”

Aria’s face fell for a moment, then he smiled. “I think you’re right. I’ve never liked her because she hates Maman so much, and she is very grand, but I suppose she’s been kind to us in her own way. She didn’t have to build the flat for us, especially not with all the equipment.” He sighed. “Maybe I haven’t been entirely nice to her either. Perhaps I should.”

“If you haven’t been nice to someone,” Drew said, kissing the end of Aria’s nose, then wondered what the hell he was doing, “it probably means they don’t deserve you, because you are the nicest person I have ever met.”

Aria shook his head in all seriousness. “No, Drew, that would be your mother. She’s the nicest person I’ve ever met.” He paused for a moment, pondering, then shook his head. “No, she’s even nicer than Jay.”

The words struck Drew like shrapnel. Aria wasn’t far wrong, and he’d totally failed to appreciate her. Looking, from someone else’s point of view, he thought about everything she’d done for her children, how she’d sacrificed and supported them. And it wasn’t just her own children. Their house was full, even now with neighbourhood children who she treated almost like her own. It was sad how loving children had become synonymous with sexual deviancy because his mother truly loved all children for the innocent, curious beings they are. Drew, on the other hand, couldn’t stand the little buggers. It hadn’t always been the case, but he’d realised soon enough on tour that evil could lurk behind even the youngest and most innocent eyes. He’d seen children as young as five or six raise a gun almost bigger than themselves and spit on the body once they’d blasted a hole in it. Sure it was all about indoctrination and the way they’d been brought up, but that held true in his own world, too and more than once he’d seen that sly cruelty and wished he could have beaten it out of them—or their parents.

“I’m not going to argue with you, love, but you come a very close second.”

Aria beamed and snuggled into his arms.

The bus came to a halt and the front door opened. Drew was about to get to his feet, but Aria stopped him. “They’re opening the gate, we’re not there yet.”

Of course there was a gate. “Do they need a hand?”

“With what?” Aria looked completely mystified.

“Opening the gate. I would imagine it’s a big one.”

Aria frowned, then his face lightened. “Silly Drew. Jay doesn’t have to actually open the gate, it’s electric. They just have to speak to the security guard to open them.”

“Oh, I see,” Drew said feeling foolish. Of course the gate would be manned and electric in a place like this. He was losing his touch, getting soft. He couldn’t let that happen, not while there was still someone out there who wanted to harm the twins.

The door opened and a frustrated-looking Jay stuck their head in. “He wants to see you and Amara off the bus, in case we’ve been kidnapped and are being forced to take the bus and the crazy lady through.”

“What?”

“He’s doing his job, Aria,” Drew said. “You can’t blame him for that.”

Aria sighed. “Yes, alright, but do we really have to drag Amara out?”

“He’ll need to get up when we get there anyway. Jay, can you if he’ll come to the steps because Amara’s not well and I don’t want him to have to climb down.

“Okay.”

Jay disappeared again and Drew headed down the bus.

Amara was still asleep, curled on his side with one hand under his cheek. In the pale light, filtering through diaphanous, sheer drapes, he was almost surreal in his beauty. Drew was reluctant to wake him, but he couldn’t leave him on the bus when they arrived and if the security guard was as good as he appeared to be, he wouldn’t be satisfied unless he saw both twins and was reassured neither of them were being held back to assure compliance from the others. He sat on the bed and stroked Amara’s hair. “Come on sleepy head? Wake up. You need to come out. We’re almost there.”

Amara groaned and turned his head on the pillow, but he didn’t wake.

“Come on, open your eyes, everyone’s waiting.”

Amara sighed and nestled further into the pillow.

Drew couldn’t help but smile. Amara’s hair was tousled and messy and he looked adorable. “Amara,” he said more firmly, tapping his shoulder. “We’re here. You need to wake up.”

Amara made sleepy noises and freed one arm to bat at Drew’s hand. Drew chuckled and ticked Amara’s nose. Amara’s sounds turned annoyed rather than sleepy. “Leave me alone,” he moaned. “I’m dead.”

“No you’re not, you’re fine. Come on. Everyone’s waiting.”

“Waiting?”

“Yes. We can’t get through the gates without you.”

“Aria knows how.”

“Yes, but the guard won’t let us through because we might have kidnapped you.”

Amara opened one eye and peered at Drew. “Did you?”

“Did I kidnap you?”

“Mhm.”

“Oh yes, I definitely kidnapped you and I intend to never let you go.”

For a moment, Amara looked alarmed, then fear turned to amusement. “You’re Drew,” he said, as if Drew didn’t know. “You love us.”

“I certainly do, but right now you need to get up and we can talk about love later, okay?”

Amara sighed, blinking. “Okay, what’s going on?”

He carefully sat up, holding his side but not seeming to be in too much pain.

“The gate guard wants to see you and Aria to make sure we’re not kidnapping you.”

“That’s ridiculous, of course you’re not.”

“But he doesn’t know that.”

“If you were kidnapping us, why would you be taking us onto the estate? Wouldn’t you be taking us away?”

“You’d think, but he’s probably been told to stop all vehicles, and he’s only doing his job. Let’s face it, he won’t have seen many like the bus coming in here.”

Amara chuckled and shook his head. “Have you drugged me again, because the thoughts going through my head right now…”

Drew chuckled. “For God’s sake don’t tell the guard that.”

Amara laughed. “It might be fun.”

“For you.”

“Alright, I’ll be good. Help me off the bed.”

Drew did as he was told and supported Amara as he made his way, somewhat unsteadily, to the front of the bus. A large man with a shaved head and large gold earring was standing just inside the doorway. Aria was sitting on the seat, chatting to him as if they were best friends. The guard wore the slightly dazed expression many people did when caught in the full beam of Aria’s personality. For such a small person he sure did pack in a lot of it.

“Look, Amara, it’s Jayden.”

The big man beamed at Amara. “Jayden.” Amara sounded genuinely pleased to see the man. “What are you doing on the gate?”

“Lady Jane sent me down to make sure you’re alright, if you know what I mean.”

“I don’t really,” Aria said with a frown. “Does she honestly think we might have been kidnapped again and brought here by the kidnappers? Why would they do something silly like that?”

Jayden grinned. “It was more that she wanted some notice about what you’d be arriving in and who you were bringing with you. You know she likes to be prepared.”

“But I told her who was with me when I called.”

“All you said, was that you were coming on a bus.”

“Oh yes, I did, didn’t I. I didn’t describe it. I suppose it will be a bit of a shock.”

Jayden grinned. “Don’t worry, I’ll prepare her.” He nodded at Drew in a friendlier way than Drew might have expected, then disappeared. Jay closed the side door and got back into the cab. Drew sent up a silent prayer of thanks that Cerrian hadn’t got out.

A short while later, the bus began to move again. Both Aria and Amara became restless and seemed nervous.

“Is she really that bad?” Drew asked.

“Yes and no.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“She’s a terrible snob.”

“She isn’t very nice to Jay.”

“She says nasty things about Maman.”

“And treats father like he’s five-years-old.”

“And doesn’t listen to anything we say.”

“She doesn’t listen to anything anyone says.”

“She’s mean sometimes.”

“She makes us dress for dinner and sit with perfect posture.”

“And no elbows on the table.”

“And always use the right spoon.”

The twins went on, clearly mimicking things their grandmother had actually said. It seemed to settle them, but now it was Drew’s turn to get nervous. What on earth was he going to find at the end of the drive?

They took longer to get there than Drew had expected and he didn’t know whether to be relieved or terrified when the bus finally came to a halt. The curtain between the cab and the back of the bus twitched and Cerrian’s face appeared. “Fucking hell, Drew. Get your arse out here and take a look at this.”

Drew obliged, glad to stretch his legs. He looked around. They were standing on a gravel patch looked down over a sloping lawn to a vista of trees and rolling, patchwork hills. He turned the other way and froze. When the twins had said the house was like a museum they hadn’t been kidding. It was huge. Drew had visited smaller “stately homes” on school trips. The door was massive, reached by a set of shallow steps up to a porch defined by pillars that were thicker than Aria and probably twice as tall. From there, pale gold stone rose to a portico on the fourth floor. To either side, slightly smaller wings spread out in perfect symmetry. It was grand, gorgeous and terrifying.

Standing at the top of the steps was a woman, presumably the twins’ grandmother. Drew had to admit she wasn’t what he’d been expecting. The woman was tall, possible taller even than Drew, and whip thin. Light chestnut hair which did not appear, from this distance, to have any grey, was swept up into an elegant chignon. A pale grey pleated skirt fell to just above heeled ankle boots and was covered by a long grey and white woollen wrap. All in all, she looked cool, elegant and much younger than he’d expected.

It was only when the crunch of gravel alerted him that one of the twins had landed next to him that he realised he’d been staring. A glance at his sister showed that she was doing the same without a shred of shame about it.

Drew turned to help Amara out of the bus. He whimpered when his feet hit the floor and swayed against Drew, who immediately wrapped his arm around him. Drew’s full attention was on Amara so he didn’t notice Lady Jane until she crouched in front of him. With barely a glance at Drew, she touched Amara’s face, gazing at him with an expression Drew had certainly not expected to see—concern that seemed to contain genuine love.

“My poor boy. What have they done to you?” Leaving her hand against Amara’s cheek she glared up at Drew. “We will talk later about where you were when my grandsons were taken. In the meantime explain what Amara needs.”

Completely taken aback, Drew nevertheless was able to pull himself together enough to respond. He thanked his army training for that. “He has two cracked ribs, but they’re stable and he’s in no danger. He needs rest, but he’s rather…stubborn.”

Lady Jane smiled. “I think you will find that is a trait that runs through our entire family. Properly directed, it can a great strength.” She stood and went to Aria’s aide, drawing him into a hug. “And my poor little angel. They told me you were lost, but you seem to have found yourself, for which I presume we are to thank Mr. Chance.”

“Drew’s been amazing,” Aria said, sounding stunned. “He loves us.”

“So I’ve been told.” She gave Drew a direct, appraising look that was far less hostile than he’d expected. Had be badly misread this woman?

Then her eyes skimmed over Jay and her face turned hard. “I see you’ve brought your friend again,” she said, with no attempt to hide the disgust in her voice. Jay dropped their head and stood dejectedly with their hands behind their back.

“You,” she said loftily, waving her hand at Ceriann, “can take that monstrosity to the garage. I won’t have it sitting on my drive. Follow the road to the left, and don’t spin the wheels on the gravel. When you’re done, go to the kitchen and they’ll feed you.”

“That’s my sister,” Drew said defensively, liking neither the tone, nor the summary dismissal.

Lady Jane gave him a cool look. “You may send for her when you’re settled. I won’t have strangers stomping through my house when my attention is on my grandsons. You,” she waved at Jay, “may go straight to the flat. The military gentleman is waiting for you.”

“Military gentleman?” Jay asked, frowning.

“Jeff?” Drew suggested hopefully.

“I believe that was his name, yes. Kindly tell him we’ll be taking lunch informally in the salon. You can both join us there at precisely one-o-clock. I wish to speak with Mr Chance and my grandsons and I don’t want any distractions.”

“Amara should rest,” Drew said. “The last thing he needs is to be sitting up and talking.”

Lady Jane narrowed her eyes at him, then she smiled. “I’m glad to see that my grandson has you to take care of him, Mr Chance. It’s a shame you didn’t do so when he really needed you.”

“That’s not fair, grandmother,” Aria said, sounding fierce. “Drew was my guard, not Amara’s.”

She raised an eyebrow. “As I see it, he did and even worse job with you.”

“It wasn’t his fault,” Aria persisted. “I ran away from him. He tried to catch me, but…but…they caught me first. He tried to chase the car but he stopped to help Amara and then it was too late.”

“We’ll talk about it later. Mr Chance, would you be so good as to bring Amara to the salon. Aria can show you where it is. I then expect to see you, alone, in my study. Aria can tell you where that is, too. Refreshments are laid out in the salon for the boys. I’ve arranged for the family doctor to check on Amara. He’ll be here before lunch. After that, you all relax.”

“Grandmother, it’s not fair to see Drew alone. I don’t want you to be horrible to him. Please don’t try to send him away, to not love us anymore. That’s what Father did, and it hurt us so much.”

Lady Jane gave Aria that strange look again. “My darling, I wouldn’t hurt you for the world. Don’t worry, as long as Drew can satisfy me that he truly cares for you I wouldn’t dream of sending him away. I’m so very glad you finally have someone to take of you. Come along now. Let’s get inside. Do you have anything inside the…vehicle?”

“A few things.”

“I’ll have Robert retrieve them later and take them to the flat. No doubt your friend will take care of them.”

“Their name’s Jay,” Amara mumbled testily.

“Of course it is,” she said, patting Amara’s shoulder, then turned and swept away up the steps, not checking if they would follow, because she knew they would.

“Wow. She’s something isn’t she?” Cerrian said, chuckling.

“She certainly is. She’s not quite what I expected though. She seems to care a lot about you.”

Aria sniffed. “She’s being nice because we just got here. She’ll start being mean soon.”

“Will she?” Amara asked thoughtfully. “I don’t remember. She was always arguing with Mother or Father. She always seemed cross. Maybe we weren’t very nice to her. We didn’t listen to her much. She didn’t like us running around the house, and we broke some things. We haven’t been here for years. Maybe we remembered wrong.”

“Or maybe that’s what you want it to be, not what it is.”

“Let’s wait and see,” Drew said. “I have a feeling you’re both right.”