Alice

What a riot, James shook his head. How dumb did the old man think I was? The young man sighed, slipping the silver band onto his finger. Looks nice, though.

“Nice ring,” he heard his older sister, Alice, comment from behind him.

“Shit,” the young man spun about in his desk chair, glaring at her and breathing quickly. “I thought I was home alone.”

“Jules called me,” the slim, raven-haired woman shrugged, mentioning her friend and classmate. “Classes were canceled for the day. Said a bomb threat was called in or something.”

“She okay?” James asked in concern. His sister’s friend wasn’t family, but almost. The petite redhead had moved in next door when he had been in grade school, just finishing his third year, and filled a hard void in Alice’s life since the **** of their father. Ever since, the two had been inseparable.

“Jules is fine. She’ll be over later,” Alice nodded and changed the subject back. “So the old man sent you that, did he?”

“Yeah,” the young man leaned back in his chair. “Nice that he thought of me. Didn’t think I’d get anything.”

“You were his last male relation,” his sister sat down on the end of his twin-sized bed. “You were bound to get something, from how I heard him go on about you with Mom.”

“Huh,” James’s eyebrows contracted, his eyes glancing at the silver ring on his finger. “Well – maybe his letter wasn’t a joke then.”

“Oh?” Alice arched a thin, dark eyebrow. “What did it say?”

“That,” he picked up the parchment, reading the pertinent section, “My words will be weighted, bearing a semblance of suggestion and command.”

“Suggestion and command?” both her eyebrows rose. “Go ahead and try something. Let’s see if old man Murphy was telling the truth.”

“Are you volunteering?” her brother’s eyebrows rose in return.

“Why not?” Alice smiled mischievously. “Tell me – tell me do something wild that I would never, ever do, not in a million years.”

“Are you sure about that?” James asked nervously. “No – no repercussions?”

“None at all,” she shook her head, her dark hair swaying, with a giggle. “Command me, my Lord.”