Chapter 16: Ephram.

Luna and Kalon both turned around as fast as they could to see who had said that. They didn’t recognise the voice but it sounded familiar to Luna. But as they turned around it became apparent who it was.

“Ephram? You almost gave me a heart attack. Don’t sneak up on people like that!” Luna complained as she saw her older brother standing behind them while holding a ripped blanket in his arms. It looked like it had been torn to shreds and the only thing remaining was a pile of threads.

“Sorry, I was just on my way to throw this out. Damn it. I really liked this blanket too.” Ephram looked down to the ground as he held the pile of torn fabric in his arms.

Although Ephram was the oldest of the emperor’s children he was also the most childish. Just like Luna, he was born as a werewolf. Werewolf’s matured a lot slower mentally than other races but that was balanced out by them maturing a lot more physically. Despite being only nineteen years old Ephram could already fight against Captain Moro the leader of the nights.

And by the looks of things Luna was too far behind him. Octavian was often jealous of his siblings since Ephram was looked up to as the emperor’s strongest child, Luna was the emperor’s kindest child and she would go out of her way to help the townspeople. And then there was Kalon who had the title of the emperor’s weakest child.

Being the child without anything specific to his name he ended up hating his siblings and the people who praised them more than they praised him so he decided to give himself the title of the emperor’s cruellest child. At any chance that he had he would make someone’s life a living hell.

And he got away with it since he was the heir to the throne. The emperor let him do whatever he pleased and would cover for him every single time by blaming the other person who was involved as the instigator and then locking them up in the dungeons.

But despite that fact, Octavian was still jealous of Kalon the most. Since the day of Octavian's birth, he had known that he was the one responsible for his mother’s death so every time he saw Kalon spending time with his mother it would infuriate him. And that was the main reason for the grudge between the two of them.

“I thought you were one of Octavian’s lackeys for a moment. If news got out that Kalon had come back I bet he would try to kill him again.” Luna replied to Ephram who was looking down at his blankets.

“Kalon is back? Wait don’t tell me it’s this little guy?” Ephram suddenly dropped the torn blankets and got down on one knee to look at Kalon more closely. He was tall enough to be on eye level with him while kneeling and that frightened Kalon a little as he looked at Ephram.

“Of course it is. Who else do you think I would be holding like this.” Luna wiggled her fingers to show that her hands were still on Kalon’s shoulders.

“So you’re Kalon huh?” Ephram said before moving his head down into the crease of Kalon’s neck and then sniffing him.

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“Ah…” Kalon didn’t know how to react to whatever was going on. He was too afraid to move since he knew full well that Ephram was the strongest person of his generation. And his height alone was enough to intimidate most people he came across.

Suddenly Ephram moved his hands and wrapped his arms around Kalons body before hugging him.

“My Little Kal has finally come home! This is amazing!” Ephram shouted before suddenly lifting Kalon higher into the air and then letting go as he threw him upwards.

“Ahhh!” Kalon yelled out as he was thrown up into the air by Ephram’s mighty strength. He flew in the air for around five seconds before swiftly coming back down to find himself in Ephram’s embrace once again.

“I used to do this when you were little. Do you remember it?” Ephram asked before once again throwing Kalon up into the air.

“Aghh!” Kalon yelled once again as he felt the earth disappear from under his feet and a feeling of weightlessness washed over his body.

“Ephram stop! You were told about this before. What if you drop him? Kal isn’t like us remember.” Luna shouted at Ephram for him to stop and as Kalon came back down Ephram raised one hand and caught him as if he was catching a ball. Ephram was well known for his strength so it wasn’t unusual to think that he could hurt somebody without realising.

He was big and clumsy as well as a little immature so he didn’t think about his actions before he did them he would often get into a lot of trouble because of it. But Luna was always there to clean up his messes and remind him that he could do some serious damage if he wasn't careful.

Ephram looked down at the dirt beneath his feet before lowering Kalon back down to the ground. Kalon stumbled a little with dizziness from being thrown around like a rag doll before falling back into Luna’s arms.

“It’s okay now. Don’t worry.” Luna placed her hand on his head to comfort him after the traumatic experience he had just gone through.

“I’m sorry I was just excited to see him again after so long,” Ephram said with tears beginning to form in his eyes. For someone of his age and strength, he really did act like a child which is one of the reasons why the emperor didn’t particularly favour Ephram. But he was still loved more than Kalon was.

After Kalon was banished from the palace Ephram said that he was going to protest and then sat down outside their father's office and cried until he let Kalon come back home. But that didn’t last long. After around an hour of crying, he got tired and fell asleep. So when he saw that his younger brother had come home he felt excited and wanted to make up for all the time that they had lost together.

But the way he went about it made Kalon think otherwise.

‘Was he trying to kill me? Who is this guy?’ Kalon asked himself as he looked up at the muscular young man with long brown hair and sprouting a thin stubble beard. He didn’t recognise his face at all but his face seemed a little bit familiar.

“You do remember me don’t you?” Ephram asked and then kneeled down to Kalon’s level once again. His face was too close to Kalon’s but he had no place to retreat to since his back was pressed against Luna’s body and she was holding him still to protect him from Ephram’s clutches.

“Well uh…” Kalon struggled to respond as he didn’t want to offend him. But then he remembered what Luna had said a few moments ago. That she and Ephram used to play with him when he was little. If he was in the palace back then, that could only mean one thing.

“You’re my older brother aren’t you?” Kalon asked. Although he spent a lot of time with Luna she didn’t really talk about things that were happening at the palace unless he asked about it. He knew that he had three siblings but he didn’t know the name of the oldest one since he didn’t remember him at all.

“So you do remember me! That’s great!” Ephram shouted out with joy as Kalon asked if he was his older brother. Although his answer wasn’t answered directly, the reaction that Ephram gave was more than enough to answer whatever else he had to ask.

Ephram was his brother and it seemed like they had some kind of connection when Kalon was young that he didn’t know about. But as Ephram put his arms out once again and took a few steps forward. Luna stretched out her leg and kicked him in the middle of his chest.

Ephram flew back a few metres and skidded across the floor as he stayed standing. He looked over at Luna with questioning eyes.

“Kal is still young. You need to be careful so that you don’t hurt him.” Luna said before hugging Kalon more tightly with her arms around his chest.

“Please let me go. I can’t breathe…” Kalon said in a breathy voice as he tried desperately to inhale.