How about 18, 24 or 37?
Thank you for the prompt! <3
37. Defy (850 words). In which Adiran’s older brother is recovering in the palace from a bad injury, and his visit to his room took a bitter, resentful turn.
“What? You think you can just show up half-dead, and that somehow gives you the right to tell me what to do? Who the fuck do you think you are?”
“I’m your brother, Adiran.” Even with his torso and leg thickly bandaged, Lorvain still struggled to sit higher in the bed. Breathing gingerly, he tried to speak through gritted teeth, his brow damp with sweat. “If you... if you would just listen to me—”
Any hope of that was dashed when Adiran barked a dry, bitter laugh. “Oh, so now you want to act like my brother? When you’re bed-bound with nothing better to do?” Still laughing humourlessly, he paced the length of the room, his footsteps a low counterpoint to the sharpness of his words. He wielded each one like a weapon - hurled them across the space between them. “You’re not trying to help me, so just drop the act. I’m not backing out of the tournament.”
His brother’s dark hair fell limp to either side of his face, its ragged ends barely brushing the tops of his shoulders. He was gaunt. Unusually pale. Some part of Adiran knew he shouldn’t be doing this. Not right now. But damn it, Lorvain gave up the right to tell him what to do a long time ago. Back when he had the chance to care. “Adiran, I am trying to help you,” Lorvain argued weakly. Despite Adiran’s derisive snort, he pressed on. “I know that tournament. The Red Fury. I fought in it when I was near your age. People die. All the time. And Crosus? Divider, if he” —a cough, sharp and short, wracked his frame, earning a second wince— “i-if I’d had to face a beast like that? I don’t... I couldn’t have...” Out of breath, Lorvain sank back down, shaking his head slowly. For a moment, standing in that sickly-smelling room, Adiran felt a twist of fear. A twist of truth, like a dagger in his gut, because Lorvain had always been the better duelist.
But it only lasted a moment.