"Lan!"

I stare up from my distasteful miniatures to find my brother standing in the middle of my kingdom. Brandon is a striking, identical picture of me, who can't resemble my sublime character to save his life.

"How did you manage to get in?" I sound groggy to my own ears, so I pull out another cigarette and jam it between my lips.

My brother doesn't like the smell of cigarettes, but then again, he shouldn't be in my space.

"I helped." My cousin Eli flashes me a vicious grin as he appears from behind Bran like a horror cliché.

He's my second cousin, if we're being specific, since his dad and mine are cousins. Being a couple years older than me, he takes that as a pass to brag about the King firstborn privileges.

Oh, and he happens to be antagonistic for the fun of it. Yes, I'm the same, but I don't like competition in my own game. One of these days, ell take it to far and they'll find his body mysteriously float-

"With what?" I deadpan. "Giving yourself a personality?"

"The only one in this building in need of a personality transplant is you."

"He found the master key so we could open the door," Bran says in his usual attempt at peacemaking. It's so disturbing to see him being Mother Teresa and spouting nonsense with my face.

I blow smoke in his direction. "And you trespassed in my space because..."

He closes his eyes for a beat, but, like a boring nun, he doesn't display any form of anger or even displeasure. "You weren't answering your phone or the door when I knocked for the past fifteen minutes." And the hole of fucking strange keeps widening.

I'm usually more aware of my surroundings than a predator in a dark African jungle.

"I told you he's fine," Eli supplies like an arsehole. "As unfortunate as it might sound, nothing can hurt the twat."

"You, however, could accidentally end up on an MIA list." I match his grin with my wolfish one. "Don't worry, I'll console Uncle Aiden and Aunt Elsa after they receive the news."

"Not if you magically disappear first."

"Catch me if you can."

"Is that a challenge?"

"Can you both stop?" Bran shakes his head like a headmistress who's sick and tired of her most troublemaking students. "We're family."