Sanity

17. The Help

William sat in the throne room with his head in his hands, unable to come to terms with his emotions. He felt a pain in his chest he had never felt before, not even when he was told Angelie had been promised to another man. This hurt more. The betrayal. The lies. It had all been fake. The woman he had fallen in love with didn't exist, and so he had no one to mourn over losing because she wasn't even real. Where did that leave him? What was he supposed to do next?

One of the doors to the throne room swung open from the side, but William didn't bother lifting his head. He could only assume it was his father; that word of what happened with Kamryn had reached him, and he was going to give his son a lecture on how stupid he had been to trust her.

"Everyone, out," a familiar voice demanded, and William lifted his head quickly to find his brother stalking in towards him as the guards scurried out of the room. He almost blinked in surprise when he saw the anger in his eyes; he obviously knew what had happened, so why was he angry at his brother for getting rid of an imposter? Unless he had found out about their affair...

"Are you out of your god-damned mind?" Noah hissed when they were alone, his fists clenched as if he was physically stopping himself from hitting his brother. William glowered back at him.

"What are you on about, Noah?" he muttered, struggling to keep eye contact.

"You banished her. Was that before or after she confessed who she was to you?"

William hesitated at the man's words. "Wait, what do you mean? How did you-?"

"Did you even wait for her to explain before you kicked her out? What have you done?"

"Noah, explain yourself right now," William shot back tightly, gritting his teeth. "I'm so close to arresting you, too."

"I've known who she was ever since she came here," Noah replied coldly, crossing his arms over his chest defensively. "I was the one who poisoned her. When Father and I went to Ronile, I was looking for clues on her identity. I found everything when I came back. I confronted her, to protect you, but I realised she was in love with you. Will, she had no intention of going through with that contract. They were threatening her. If she didn't keep up the façade, they would have discovered she wasn't going to do it and killed you both."

William was quiet. He felt the confusion flooding in, and suddenly didn't know what to think. He eyed his brother unsurely.

"I don't understand, Noah," he decided to say finally, a frown creasing his brow. "I..."

"She was coming to confess to you," Noah explained, raising an eyebrow at his brother. "She was coming to tell you who she was, hoping you would accept her. And you stabbed her in the back."

"But... but she was sent here to kill me!" William shot back quickly. "That servant girl said she wanted me to- to fall in love with her, that it was all part of her plan."

"She made the girl believe that because that servant was spying on her, reporting everything Jaelyn did to her master. She was not going to hurt you, Will. She was in love with you. And you ruined it."

William's mouth went dry. There was that name again... Jaelyn. It had been replaying in his mind all afternoon, but hearing his brother say it brought something to the surface that he hadn't wanted to face yet.

Guilt.

"You said the servant girl was here," Noah continued. "Did you banish her too?"

"No... no, she's in the cells," William murmured back, still trying to comprehend what was going on. Before he could even think anything else, Noah had taken off, basically running out of the room. William cursed him before he followed quickly in pursuit. They ran down to the depths of the palace, coming to a slow when they reached the cells. The two men standing guard saw William and Noah approach, and stepped aside for them, allowing them to unlock and open the door to the servant girl's cell. She knelt in the middle of the room, head down with her hands tied to a loop in the floor. She lifted her head weakly when she heard the door opened, and flinched at the sight of William. She began to squirm, but Noah stalked forward and she shrunk back quickly as he loomed over her. William had never seen his brother so angry before; he stood back and watched, wide eyed and speechless.

"What is your name?" he asked quietly, looking down at her.

"M- Maeve," she murmured in reply. "Please, just let me go. I won't ever come back, I promise."

"I know," Noah replied, holding himself strongly. "But I don't care. I want your hideout."

Maeve paled slightly.

"You know I can't do that," she warned. Noah crouched down until he was at eye level with her. William couldn't see either of their faces, but he could only imagine the look Noah's features bore.

"You have no choice. Either you tell me where Tank is, or you'll spend the rest of your life rotting away in here."

"No I won't," she shot back. "He's going to come save me."

Noah laughed, but it was a cold-hearted sound that held no merit. "Don't be so stupid," he shot back icily. "You know you're expendable to him. He will have forgotten all about you already. So tell me where they're keeping her, or you don't want to see what I do next."

"She'll already be dead."

Will looked at Maeve steadily, ignoring the bile that threatened to rise up his throat at her words.

"What do you mean?" Noah interrogated.

"She betrayed the guild when she refused to kill the King," Maeve explained, looking between the two men before her nervously. "Tank wouldn't keep her alive."

"Tell us where it is and I promise you your freedom," William said finally, his voice eerily quiet. Noah turned quickly, looking at his brother with surprise. Maeve also seemed shocked.

"Do I have your word?" Maeve pressed. "You're asking me to betray Tank. He'll know it was me; I won't be allowed back there." William gave her a curt nod.

"You have my word."