Rilen pinched the bridge of his nose. “Please, Kimber. We can’t answer these questions. We’re just as much in the dark as you are about the whole thing.”
“Do you think they even know?” My hands fluttered around, distressed and stressed. “I am an able fighter! I don’t like being confined! Why drag us here if—”
“Enough,” Roran growled. “Kimber, enough! We don’t have answers, and we’re not going to pull them magically from our asses!”
“Neither of us like this either, but for the love of S’Kir, stop asking.”
“Questions are how I figure things out.”
Rilen dropped onto the bed. “That’s how we all figure things out, but Kimber, the answers are being withheld. On purpose, and there’s nothing we can do about that.”
“Why—”
“Please. Stop.” Roran’s voice was snappish.
Rilen grunted from the bed and stared at the ceiling. “We aren’t happy about this, either. We just need to wait to find out what’s going on. I don’t want to, believe me. We’ve never been held prisoner like this, but we also don’t know this world anymore.”
“That’s the second time you’ve said anymore.” I dropped my fists to my hips and glared at the two of them. “What the hell do you mean by that?”
The two of them looked at each other.
Roran laughed. “Oh, no, brother. You said it. It’s your turn. You can explain that one.”
It was clear that Rilen regretted what he had said, but after a minute, he sat up and let out a sigh.
“Before the Spine rose, the gate to Earth, here, wasn’t locked. There were guards, but...” Rilen shrugged, “over the years, the entrance has changed positions around this world. Roran and I may have come through a few times, on a lark.”
“A lark? Through a gate between worlds?”
“Ilati is ancient Babylonian,” Rilen said. “That’s a language from this world.”
“And there might be a city that could be named after me by accident.” Roran scratched his head as he spoke.
I stared at him. “What.”
“Yeah, we kind of got into a huge fight once, and there might have been some serious magic being hurled around. And I kind of may have used illusions to make it look like I had a wolf on my side, fighting against him because there was a bunch of people watching.”
“They seemed to think that the wolf was our mother,” Rilen said. “And they messed up our names in their mythology.”
“How did they even know your names?”
Roran shrugged. “We were yelling.”
Rilen nodded. “It was a big fight.”
Roran scratched his head innocently. “We were still pretty young and dumb. We weren’t supposed to be over here anyway, and it’s probably better that they did get our names wrong. We didn’t come back after that.”
While his brother was talking, Rilen had taken my tablet and tapped on it. He swore a few times but eventually got the screen he wanted to display.
The map looked like a boot, and it was kicking the small island at its tip. Rilen was pointing to a specific spot with a star in the center near the water and the word Rome written next to it.
“A capital of a country?”
“Mm, we read some more.” The cough from Roran was pure embarrassment. “I read some about it when we got here because I was curious. It’s not just a capital. It was the seat of one of the most powerful empires this world has ever seen.”
“Kind of messed up on that one,” Rilen said.
“So how did it get the name Rome?”
“They thought our names were Romulus and Remus,” Roran answered. “As I said, we were shouting a lot and very loudly.”
I stabbed the screen. “That’s a hell of a mistake to make.”
With a shrug, Rilen agreed. “We were really good at making mistakes. As we all are as younger versions of ourselves.”
“Once we realized how we messed up, we just stayed away from the temptation of that doorway.” A simple swipe cleared the screen Roran was holding.
“The point,” Rilen cut in, “is that we shouldn’t interfere unless we’re given specific direction on how we should do it. We’re merely visitors here, and I don’t want to have another city named after my stupid brother.”
“It’s not my fault you can’t fight.”
“It’s not my fault you threw rotten fruit, and I slipped in it!”
“It’s not my fault you can’t look and fight.”
“You fight dirty.”
Roran was honestly shocked. “Is there any other way to fight with a sibling except dirty?”
Rilen wanted to argue but snapped his jaw shut. “No. I won’t allow you to bait me. Go…away. Do something else besides bother me.” He flipped his hand toward the other side of the room.
“Show me how to use this walking contraption?” I pointed to the treadmill in the corner. “I feel stagnant sitting here, doing nothing.”
Considering me for a moment, he shook his head. “You cannot use this in that outfit. You need other pants. What did Gwen call it? Sportswear.”
“Sportswear?”
That sounded… uncomfortable.
* * *
“Sweet S’Kir, these are so comfortable!”
Both twins were staring at me, eyes wide and jaws unhinged.
“What?”
Slow, Roran turned and looked at his brother. “What is she wearing?”
“Leggings and a…um…sports bra, I think.”
“And this is what females on this world exercise in?”
“What’s wrong?” I glanced down at myself. It was unbelievably comfortable, and they were fun colors. Everything seemed to fit correctly. “Did I put something on wrong?”
“Uh,” Rilen coughed. “No, no, I don’t believe you did.”
“Sweet mother of mercy.” Roran choked out the words. “That’s… uh. That looks really good on you.”
“So,” Rilen said, pressing himself against me. “This is sportswear.”
“I like sportswear.” Roran ran his hand down my arm, tickling me softly. “I like it a lot.”
“It’s not like you two haven’t seen me naked before.”
“This is not naked. This is highlighting all of your best assets, ilati.”
Rilen’s hand was sliding down my back, trailing over my skin, then material, then skin again, and my whole body shivered.
“Was this hard to get into?” His words were whispered into my ear.
“N-no.” I swallowed.
“Good.” Roran slipped a hand under the shoulder strap and pulled it down my arm. “It’ll be easy to get it all off then.”
I felt a hand skin over my ass and a hiss of delight. “Oh, Kimber, this is exquisite. Brother, her ass is perfect.”
Roran just grunted from where he had planted his lips on the skin he’d exposed. He licked and sucked happily there while Rilen’s hands were busy elsewhere.
I loved it when they did this to me. They were possessive, fierce, and gentle, all at once. If I had known that clothes would set them off, I would have done something about that much, much sooner.