The Vampire Prince's Toxic Consort (BL)
Chapter 41 Brothers

Julian didn’t change much, except he was not wearing his usual high priest white robe but a regular jacket, jeans and boots, obviously disguising himself as an ordinary tourist. If not for the different clothing and shorter hair, he was like a mirror image of Lucius.

Another person stood beside him. A tall, handsome man with lustrous black skin and the body between a soldier and a supermodel. That was Julian’s bodyguard Isaiah Lewis.

Julian gazed at Lucius with a sea of roaring feelings surging in the depth of his hazel irises, and his lips trembled a little. And the next moment, he dashed forward and hugged Lucius tightly.

“I finally found you, brother!”

Lucius was still in shock, and it took him a few seconds longer to return the embrace. His eyes darted to Dorian, and the latter produced a conflicted look.

Lucius pulled a little distance between himself and Julian and gingerly scanned over his twin brother, ensuring he was safe and unscathed.

“What the hell are you doing here?” That was the first thing a dumbfounded Lucius said to his twin brother.

“I heard that you are going to come to Esmore, so I come to see you.“Julian grabbed Lucius’s hand so tight as if fearing he was going to run off, “They didn’t allow me to see you before they sent you away, and they wouldn’t give me any way to contact you. So I thought, this is my best chance to see you after a whole year.”

“Are you out of your mind?!” Lucius snapped. He glowered at Lewis, “And you allowed him to do this?!”

Lewis shrugged, “it was either he ran away by himself, or I came with him.”

“Did the Churches know about this?”

Lewis scoffed and replied with another sarcastic figurative question: “Would they ever allow a High Priest to come to a vampire-friendly country?”

“They kept a close eye on me for a whole year, keeping me hidden from all eyes, and only relaxed a little recently. I was on vacation because of some...ailments. The lodge had fewer guards than Celestine Palace, so we found a chance to leave without causing too much ruckus. I thought I could pretend to be you. Turns out, Prince Dorian already knew...“Julian glanced at Dorian quickly.

Lucius couldn’t tell what he was feeling at the moment. On the one hand, he missed Julian terribly, though he never mentioned it to anyone. Probably because he was deeply wounded when Julian didn’t even come to say goodbye before he departed, not even a phone call...but now it turned out Julian didn’t have a choice.

Even though he often felt that Julian stole their parent’s love from him, Lucius still loved his twin brother greatly. The profound bond between twin brothers is ineffable and incomprehensible to people who don’t have a twin.

On the other hand, it was too dangerous for Julian to be in a foreign land with only one bodyguard. And the danger was not only coming from vampires or any other powers. As the only known true prophet at the present time, he was too precious to Anthor, both symbolically and pragmatically, and Anthor’s government must be in panic and turmoil once they found Julian was missing, which could lead to disastrous consequences.

Moreover, why did Silvan say he left a present for Lucius in his room? Did Silvan make contact with Julian? At this point, Lucius surmised that Silvan knew about their switched identities, or suspected it. The vampire decided to keep the secret probably because he would use it against Lucius and Dorian later.

And finally, there was the delicate and complicated relationship between Lucius, Julian, and Dorian. After almost a year and all the crazy shits they had been through, Lucius finally was a little sure that Dorian had some feelings for him, and now...

Now his husband’s true love had reappeared.

“How could you be so reckless.” Lucius shook his head, “everyone back home must be worried sick!”

“I know...I just have to see you. They didn’t tell me anything, and I didn’t know if you were ok.”

“Well, now you know I’m perfectly fine.” Lucius opened his arm to show how ok he was, “so we are going to get you and Lewis tickets for the first flight to Anthor tomorrow morning, and you need to get your ass home asap.”

“I’m not leaving.” Said Julian calmly.

Lucius blinked, “what?”

Julian glanced at Dorian nervously, licked his lips and said reluctantly, “I never wanted you to sacrifice yourself for me, Lu. I was hoping that...since Prince Dorian requested me at first, maybe I will stay, and you can go home.”

Lucius goggled at him. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

After a whole year, after he had thrown away his life and everything he had been through in Eternia, now his brother decided to show up, gracefully release him from his duty, and try to claim his husband as if he was doing him a favor. As if it was all so simple.

“Are you fucking kidding me?“Lucius blurted out angrily.

“I couldn’t let you sacrifice your whole life for me, Lu. And I was just speaking to Prince Dorian. Perhaps we can reach some agreement...”

“You were discussing it with my brother?!” Lucius snapped at Dorian incredulously, “about sending me back?!”

Dorian blinked in surprise, “of course not! We only spoke of what happened since the last time we met.”

Reminiscing the good old time, huh? Did I come back too soon? Thought Lucius bitterly.

“You came back before I could ask, but that was why I had to come to replace you. I figured you must be missing home very much.”

“Missing home?!” Lucius laughed angrily and sarcastically, “tell me, my naive, sweet brother, what is left at home for me to miss?”

Julian was taken aback. Lucius’s reaction was not what he imagined. As he fumbled for words, Dorian interpolated, “you must be tired from your trip, Julian. I’ve arranged another room for you and your companion. We can talk later.”

“But I...“Julian didn’t want to end the conversation in such a tense state, but Dorian insisted, “I will need to talk to my partner privately.”

Hearing Dorian referring to him as his “partner” slightly appeased Lucius’s ire, though not by much.

Lewis stepped forward and whispered something into Julian’s ear, and the latter nodded amenably. He glanced at Lucius apologetically, “I didn’t mean to upset you, Lu. I’m sorry.” And then he and Lewis exited the room.

Dorian closed the door gently as if not wanting to stir up the smoldering air in the room. Lucius glowered at him, went into the washroom and slammed the door shut. He splashed cold water on his face, washing away the dust and calming down his nerves.

What was going to happen to him now?

One thing was for sure, there was no way Anthor would allow their precious prophet to fall into the hand of vampires. Hell, that was the whole reason they took the risk of breaking the treaty and arranged for Lucius to be the surrogate. More importantly, Julian wouldn’t have lasted a day in Eternia court.

He had to persuade Julian to go back.

However...what if Dorian decided he wanted the real Julian after all? How should Lucius convince Dorian to choose him over the prince’s true love of life?

And what was Silvan’s role in all of this? What was the wily vampire’s plan?

Throughout the whole thinking process, Lucius tried his best to ignore the pang ringing in his chest. It was not the time to dwell on how hurt he was when thinking of the possibility that Dorian would return him as if returning a defective good. He had no time for self-pity.

“Lu? Are you ok?” Came Dorian’s voice.

Lucius rolled his eyes and replied coldly, “as ok as I can be.”

“Can you come out?”

Lucius took a deep breath and pulled the door open. Dorian leaned against the frame, and Lucius almost bumped into his chest. Lucius gave Dorian a dirty look and went past him, grabbing a beer from the cooler and sitting on the bed, “you are not keeping him.” He warned frigidly and took a big gulp from the beer can.

“Who said I want to keep him?“Dorian frowned in exasperation, “can you stop acting like this for a second so we can have a normal conversation?”

“Fine.” Lucius put the beer can on the nightstand with a little too much force, “what do you want to talk about?”

Dorian sat beside him, took a moment to collect his thoughts, and said, “I had no idea of Julian’s plan. I came back, and he was waiting for me in the lobby. The front desk thought he was you. I took him to our room to meet you, but you hadn’t returned yet. He told me he came to see you, and I only asked about his life since our last meeting. ”

Dorian didn’t know how he instantly recognized that the young man with the same face was not Lucius. Perhaps it was something subtle in their mien and demeanor that only someone who knew them well could tell apart. But the residual shock of realization still lingered in his chest.

Julian...the angel who lifted him from the bottom of an agonizing abyss of loss and hatred, the one he thought he had lost and would never see again, was right there, staring back at him with so many unspoken words and feelings.

All the memories flooded back like a surging tide, and he felt dizzy and unreal. The first time they met, he was half beaten to death, and the angel kneeled down next to him, extending a hand to him. The golden sunlight crowned his reddish blonde hair, and he was so beath-takingly beautiful. The last time when he got into the car and looked back at the angel one last time, Julian stood forlornly in the rain. Sadness filled his irises, looking almost as if he was weeping.

“Wait for me. I will come back for you.” Dorian shouted at him as the car drove away.

But Julian didn’t wait. Not even for a year.

There were a thousand questions he wanted to ask, yet not one word could climb to his lip.

“It’s been a long time, Don.”

Don, the fake name Dorian used when he escaped from Silverkeep, and Julian was the only one who would call him that. And if it was a year ago, he would have sold anything just to hear that voice calling that name again.

But now, everything had changed.

“Let’s not beat around the bush. Do you want him instead of me to be your consort?” Lucius said as steadily as possible, though the insecurity and fear were written evidently on his face and in his voice. He was like a prisoner waiting for a verdict from an unsympathetic judge, and he was almost sure that he was going to lose the case.

He was going to be discarded again. He was sure of it. Because he was only the shadow of the true angel. A counterfeit.

But Dorian turned to him, studying the haunting expression on Lucius’s face, “I have no intention to replace you.”

Lucius stared back at him with wide, startled eyes, and after a short silence, he said quietly, “not even if he is willing to stay?”

“No.”

“But why? You wanted him to be your consort when you wrote those premises. You’ve dreamed about having him by your side for six years.”

Dorian smiled faintly as if listening to a silly child’s worry, “Do you really have so little faith in us?”

“I just want to know the truth. Please don’t sugarcoat it.” Lucius said sternly and proudly, “Rest assured, I won’t be broken by it.”

Dorian sighed and brought a hand on Lucius’s cheek, caressing him with subdued affectation, “He is not you. He can’t do what you can do, and he is not as strong as you. Maybe I did... and still have some feelings for him, but as I said before, you are my consort, and no one, not even your brother, can change that.”

Lucius gawked at the vampire prince, lips slightly trembling, “are you lying?”

“No.” Dorian replied firmly, “Our marriage is real, Lucius. Believe in it.”