4 Princes

XXXIX

Rook
It didn't seem real. It shouldn't have been that easy. The hole that satisfaction from a victory filled, still felt vacant. I sat up in bed and stared at the darkness in front of me. If I morphed the shadows right in my head, I could almost make them look like her, like mom. But I knew the truth, she was gone.

Gone like Hans. He died shortly after the battle. I expected retaliation from his men, but there was nothing. I killed Hans and they all began packing their things, war over.

There were no repercussions.

It was too easy.

I reached my hand over to set it on Elaina's shoulder. She opened her eyes and smiled lazily at me. "Rook, go back to sleep."

I shook my head. "It was too easy. We didn't even need great a plan."

She shut her eyes and, in a near asleep voice, asked what the plan even had been.

"I was to walk through the camp and begin the fight with Hans. Jack was going to come in at the end and help me finish him off, and help me get you back. Then, we were going to leave through the back and meet Hera and Seth and his troops to move through the left over dames, which would have been most of the army because we did the first part quietly.

"Seth would take you back to the castle to stay with Adam, who stayed behind with some men to guard the castle, also so there was a Fairisles line in case we all died."

Ella widened her eyes as though that shocked her. "So it wasn't just to bust through and rescue me. I thought that was you Prince's go-to."

"Jack said this required more skill. But it really didn't. It was easy."

We were silent for a moment, thinking in the dark. If it weren't for her breathing, I could convince myself I was alone in the blackness. Again. I was terrified of the dark. With Ella here, I could imagine she was a small light. She practically was.

I started to fall asleep again when I heard the door to my room open. I shot up, practically throwing my arm over to my sword. I was never going to be caught off guard again.

I fixated on the door, my heart racing, and then Seth walked in.

He fiddled his fingers together, his eyes down at his feet.

I didn't know what it was but something was wrong. Everything felt... off. I just didn't know what it was. Judging by the look in Seth's eyes, he did. And he came to tell me.

Ella sat up as well, drawing the blanket to her chest. Not that she had any reason to be embarrassed, she was wearing a silk nightgown. Still, I thought she was cute for it all the more.

"Rook, I have some confessions," Seth said. "This will most likely cost me my life if you tell anyone, so I come to you in confidence that should I die, my sister is properly taken care of."

I looked worriedly over at Ella, tempted to take the conversation outside. No. Ella deserved to hear this. I would never lie to her again. "Of course, I'm not saying anything to anyone."

"I thought you died. Jack took me in as a Knight. He had me slip what I thought was a sleeping drug into Adam's rum," he admitted.

"The poison," I scoffed. "You poisoned him."

Seth shook his head wildly. "I didn't know, I swear, I-"

I got out of bed and Seth walked backwards away from me. I set my hand on his shoulder. "What else do you know?"

This was it. This was the power shift I had been feeling. This was the betrayal father felt coming. This was what Hans was building up to, what mom probably wanted me prepared for.

"I think he wants to take over Hans's army. I think he's going to go to war with us," Seth admitted. "We thought you were dead, Jack said he would take me in if I kept my mouth shut and did him some favors. He's going to kill me for telling you,"

I hadn't seen Seth like this in... years. Back when we were younger, when I killed his father, that was the last time I had seen his hands shake like this. That was the last time he had been so small, looking up at me like he needed me.

He fell forward and laid his head on my chest, tears pouring down his face. "My loyalty is to this kingdom and to you, that's why I'm telling you this, your highness."

I didn't know how was I supposed to handle this. The whole situation. The reliance on me, the fact that my brother is a traitor, the emotional level Seth needed me to be on.

I wrapped my hands around him. He was a kid. He was fifteen, sixteen soon. He was an independent soul, but everyone needed someone sometimes. Seth included.

"It's gonna be ok, Seth, it's gonna be ok."

But the truth was, I wasn't sure if it was gonna be ok. I wasn't sure if I was going to get everyone through this. Who, besides my future wife and my top knight, could I trust in this world?

What was I going to do? What were we going to do?

End of Book One