Draco took Vi’s hand in his, trying to ignore the sparks that shot up his arm at the contact. Now that he was alone with her, he could tell she was exhausted. The dark smudges under her eyes were certainly telling.
“Why don’t you go get some rest?” He asked gesturing toward her dorm.
“Because I don’t sleep much these days,” she answered.
She sounded so nonchalant about it.
“What keeps you from sleeping?” Draco asked partly out of concern and partly out of curiosity.
“It’s the nightmares and the visions,” she shrugged again like it wasn’t a huge deal she was a seer. “Is it as bad here?”
“Is what bad?”
“I take that as a yes,” she answered without elaborating. “So many of my people are…”
She broke off mid sentence and cocked her head. Her eyes widened almost imperceptibly before she disappeared down the hall to the girl’s dorms. Draco stared after her in confusion until the wall behind him opened. Hadrian stepped into the common room followed by Blaise and Theo. There was a third person who entered with them that Draco hadn’t seen before.
“Draco, where’s the new girl?” Hadrian asked.
“She went to bed, I think,” he answered turning to Hadrian and their friends. “Who’s he?”
Hadrian’s eyes cut to the new boy in their midst.
“Why don’t introduce yourself?” Hadrian smirked.
“There’s no need for that,” Vi’s voice came from behind him. “Bricriu what the ever living fuck are you doing here?”
“Can’t I go on exchange to see where obaasan met ojīsan, cousin?” He asked.
Vi said something in Japanese that caused the boy’s eyes to darken in anger.
“I get it,” Hadrian said in Japanese, though the rest of them had no clue what he was saying. “He’s your twin but your uncle took him away and raised him instead. Your aunt must not have been able to have children.”
“My aunt had only one child, a daughter. A daughter cannot inherit the throne and their daughter did not marry a noble man. She gave up everything thing to marry her husband.”
“So they took your twin as their son?” Draco asked.
“Well they could hardly take our older brother,” Bricriu grumbled. “He’d already gone off to school by then. Besides, he’s 11 years older than us and wants nothing to do with ruling the country.”
“Not that you’re much better,” Vi snapped. “I know for a fact you hate the idea of becoming emperor.”
“Only because I know you’d be better at it than me.”
The sentence was said quietly but everyone heard it.
“Wait, the two of you are not only twins but royalty?” Theo demanded.
There was a momentary pause before everyone in the room began laughing.