My Father Brother Novels & Stories

My father sighs heavily before turning to the two young men and something in his expression shifts — the particular energy of a man stepping carefully through a moment he has been thinking about for a long time. "And these," he says, "are your brothers." A pause that lasts slightly longer than it needs to. "Elijah." The taller one steps into focus like he's been waiting for his name to be called. He's close to my age with the kind of height that makes people recalculate a room when he enters it.

"Don't listen to him." The man chuckled. "Sounds like Adrian." Adrian's fists were clenched into tight balls,"Kael." The smile on Kael's face disappeared instantly. "Still remember your brother's name." My heart was pounding in my chest. "Kael? What is he?" "Stay behind me", I heard my father say. "Who is he?" I asked. "My brother" replied Adrian. "You have a brother?" I asked. "I thought he was dead". Kael chuckled. "I suppose you were told that to keep you from knowing the truth". My father stepped forward."Enough"

"You've spent twenty-one years pretending I died or disappeared. But I was right here." Damon looked back and forth between them, his world shattering in real time. "You're... you're brothers?" "Richard is my older brother," my father confirmed quietly. I felt like the marble floor beneath my feet had dissolved. My father wasn't just an accountant from the valley who got caught up in a wealthy family's game. He was a Hayes. He was Damon's uncle. Damon slowly turned his head to look at me, horror creeping into his eyes. Then he looked at my father, and finally back at Richard. "So... Amelia..."

I could only hope she would understand what I was trying to explain, and that she would see from my lens how anyone would avoid this kind of conversation. “You asked if my family was involved in this mess,” I muttered, letting out a deep breath. That must have glued her to the spot, because, a few seconds ago, I heard the sound of her feet on the floor, indicating that she was moving closer to the door, reducing the chance to redeem myself. “It's actually my father that was involved in the tragic incident that took your parents out of this world.” I revealed, sighing deeply. She definitely knew something like this would come up after noticing how hesitant I became when she asked the question

I probed further, after he answered in the affirmative. “My father died a long time ago, and I grew up having my mother and Gri. Her father is dead as well. I have a younger brother, but he was lost at a young age. We found some traces of him ten years ago, but following that, he seemed to have wiped them out.”

My father cleared his throat uncomfortably as he chuckled nervously. "How is everything going? Hope everything is going fine in Nithilorc-" "Everything's fine." My father was cut rudely by other brothers. I narrowed my eyes at his audacity. My father was a king, the leader of a prestigious kingdom. And he was talking to him like that?

I shrugged. After my father's death, me and my brother didn't have the best kind of relationship. He seemed unattached and distant afterward. I was hoping that we could have that brother and sister bond back. I missed him and when my father died I did not only mourn his death but the loss of my brother too.

I questioned “ My father was going to be the one to do it, but the world still needs my father in it, we are not ready for a world without him. My brother tried to volunteer but I would not allow it. He is my younger brother and I need to be able to protect him for as long as I am here to do so.” He spoke strongly

“You should really step your game up, dad, or mom might leave you.” “I’m plenty romantic son, let’s see how romantic you are when you’re not spending my money renting Scottish castles.” I snicker as the two of them bicker, and we huddle together to watch mom’s favorite movie for the fifteenth time. I smile at my family's happy faces, mom smiling as the movie begins, and my dad's eyes are filled with love and my heart sitting next to me. We’ll be one weird but loving family, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m looking forward to spending the rest of my life with my stepbrother.

" You know what it is. It's getting too long and you're getting older by the seconds, Xander. Your brother–" " Don't mention him." He cut his father off. " No matter how you keep forcing that word on me, I'd never accept him as a brother. Mother gave birth to me alone, she didn't have the opportunity to give me a younger sibling so quit with that and say to me whatever you need to."