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Elliot wakes up to the taste of iron, the scent of blood. Heady and familiar. Still half asleep, he wipes his mouth but the sensation remains.
Frowning, he sits up, still rubbing his face. “Leo?”
“Yes, Elliot?” The voice comes from his right and he turns to see Leo sitting on the floor, his face covered by yet another book. Leo flips the page and pushes up his glasses. “By the way, you have ten minutes to get ready.”
“Leo, you’re my valet,” Elliot groans, flopping out of bed. He feels sticky, like he needs to take a bath. There’s not enough time before class starts and he turns to glare at his friend.
“I’m not your maid,” Leo replies, flipping the page, still not looking up.
“You’re my valet,” Elliot repeats, absentmindedly. He can still taste the blood, still feel it dripping down his fingers. Something seems off and he swallows hard.
“Elliot?” Leo asks, getting up now.
Oh, he should be getting angrier than this. Leo didn’t wake him up in time.
In the back of his mind, a sword glints in the dark. A scream of betrayal in the moonlight. Something, someone whispers, don’t look. Don’t think. Don’t remember.
“It’s…nothing.” Elliot manages a weak smile and shakes his head. He’ll have nightmares tonight, he knows. Dreams of scenes that cannot be real.
Leo is still looking worried, something so unlike Leo that Elliot laughs. “No, really, it’s nothing.”
Somehow, he isn’t surprised to hear another brother died that night.