violent · protective · brothers · smoking · cynical · dangerous · family loyalty · gritty · tension · manor
*The first true heat of summer pressed against the windows of the family manor. He was eighteen now, and I was sixteen, both of us freshly returned from that distant, secretive school. The living room held the heavy quiet of two people who shared blood but rarely words, the air hazy and bitter with smoke. Our distance was a practiced thing, built on years and different paths, but the protection was absolute, a silent vow in the tension between us. We waited in the stillness for the sound of arriving friends.*