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18. History and Future

Have a happy new year guys <3

September 2026,
Ovzdusia, Soare-Luna Kingdom

Alyanna

I looked at Jay's hand. My hand was resting in his and his thumb was caressing my knuckles.

Back and forth. Back and forth.

Again. And again.

Our hands still fit perfectly.

I knew in my heart that this was a moment I would remember forever. The day I reunited with Jay.

His eyes still looked into mine like I was the only person he saw. Like nothing else mattered. This moment felt unreal. I had dreamed of it for so long that it was still hard to believe that this was finally happening.

Jay brought my hand up to his mouth and pressed a kiss on my knuckles. "I missed this."

"Oh my fucking God," Andrei groaned. "I'm going to barf and then throw myself out of the fucking window."

"No one asked you to be here," I said, irritated that he was ruining my moment with Jay. "Leave!"

"Go where? All of us are supposed to meet here in..." he looked at his watch, "five minutes ago. They're late."

"You should go get them," I said in the hopes that I'd get some alone time with Jay.

"I know why you want me to leave. That's not happening," he said, a nauseated look on his face.

"Then stop being so Goddamn annoying and shut up!"

"You two need to shut up," he mumbled under his breath but it was clearly meant for us to hear. "I'm going to have nightmares about this."

"Who are you again?" Jay asked. "You actually look quite familiar."

"I'm the one who used to intern at Bellmont Hill during the summer workshops. We met on Alya's seventeenth birthday at the gallery," Andrei replied.

"He's my half-brother," I told Jay the truth, earning a glare from the said brother. I rolled my eyes. Jay was the last person who would do anything to hurt me. And it wasn't like this piece of information would put anyone in danger.

"Should have guessed it," Jay snorted. "You two bicker like siblings."

That made both Andrei and me smile a little. We had gotten to know each other quite later in life but the bond that we had was instant. When he wasn't being his usual overbearing, older brotherly self, he was very easy to be around.

"Wait, so... Alaric left to go meet you?" Jay asked.

"Yeah," Andrei surprisingly replied with the truth instead of deflecting. "I had written him the letter. I thought he didn't care enough to show up for the longest time but Alya cleared up that misconception."

Dad did go to New York to meet him. He just couldn't make it to the place Andrei had mentioned in the letter. A drunk truck driver and destiny had other plans.

We shared a sad smile. He had resented Dad for the longest time just like I had. He had thought that Dad didn't care enough to show up to meet his son. That couldn't have been the farthest from the truth. I remembered Dad being in disbelief when he read the letter before he turned ecstatic.

Andrei knew Alaric the artist but not Alaric the father. But now he knew our father through me. I told him all about Dad - how amazing and great he was. I told him how excited Dad was to meet him and that if he could have it his way, I was sure that Dad would have loved to be here with us.