Stars
At the Alpha Summit, my younger brother Felix accused me in front of everyone.
"I grew up crushed under my older sister's thumb. If I so much as ate a piece of candy, she'd pry my mouth open and dig it out."
I swirled the red wine in my glass and gave a cold laugh. "That wasn't candy. It was a pill made from wolfsbane. If I hadn't saved you, you wouldn't even have the chance to stand here talking to me."
Felix's face froze. Refusing to give up, he said, "When our cousin Toby came to stay with us, you gave him every single moonstone I'd worked so hard to find. I'm your own brother, and you played favorites with someone else?"
I sighed. "Your cousin had it rough. A big fire burned his family's house to the ground."
"What does that have to do with me? Just because he had it rough, I'm supposed to give in to him every time?"
"You set that fire."
The room went dead silent.
The reporters hammered their shutter buttons, capturing Felix looking as if he'd swallowed something foul.
"Well, didn't I find him a job afterward? I went out of my way to help him, but the second you found out, you beat me up. Do you have any idea how badly that scarred my fragile young heart?"
His eyes reddened as he spoke, while the memory made my blood boil all over again.
"You shipped your cousin off to work in a mine in the Wastelands. How is that any different from exile?
"You locked him into a five-year contract when you sent him there, so he's still serving hard labor in the Wastelands. You're telling me you didn't deserve that beating?"
The viewers watching the livestream didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
[Poor Toby. He still hasn't escaped that family?]
[See, no beating is ever wasted.]
[Just get a new brother. This one's a lost cause.]