A Past

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"W-what?" I stammered, moving back from him. "What?"

He pleaded with me. "I'm sorry, please don't hate me."

"What?" I repeated, still in shock. I looked around me, expecting the walls to answer my question.

"I'm Prince Theodore, Aviva." He said, apologetically. "I have been this whole time. I'm sorry I never told you."

I still looked around. "It can't be true."

"It is." Dorian said helplessly. "I wish it wasn't but it is."

"But- then you would have lied to me." I said slowly, coming to terms with what had happened.

"Technically, no." Dorian said, sheepishly. "I never said I wasn't the Prince, you just never asked me."

"Oh so now it's my fault?" My voice was loud. "Don't try to pin this on me Dorian. Or Theodore or whatever."

"You're right, I'm sorry." He said putting his hands up. "I just- I don't know. I promised I wouldn't tell anyone."

"Not even me?" I asked him, incredulously. "You couldn't have spared me the time and effort. Never once could you have said, 'hey Aviva/Hunter just so you know, that's me, the guy there. Please don't tell anyone. It'll be our secret.' No?"

"I couldn't risk it." He said shaking his head. "You were blinded by the money. I don't blame you for that. I was afraid you would turn me in."

"Turn you in?" I asked. "Do you know how long I've loved you? Do you think I could give you up?"

"You gave up Ryder pretty quick." He objected. "You made a big scene of how you loved him."

"My reasonings now don't affect your reasonings then!" I shouted. "I 'loved' Ryder recently, and yes, I decided to give him in. But when we were young you wouldn't have known about how I would have treated the Prince. Therefore, you can't justify yourself based off of how I treated Ryder!"

"I was afraid to go back Aviva! I couldn't run the risk of someone knowing. Even if you did nothing, what if you told someone and they turned me in?" He reasoned. "And I loved my life with you." There was a long pause where neither of us knew what to say.

"I'm hurt that you wouldn't tell me something like this. You made me go on a wild goose chase. You egged me on. I did that bounty for you!" I said sadly.

Dorian laughed a little. "I did it for you! You seemed so obsessed with it, I had to let you think I was too, or else you might get suspicious. But I loved that it was our thing. Somehow I imagined myself telling you one day, and watching your jaw drop as it did five minutes ago."

My arms were folded, but a smile creeped at the corners of my mouth. "So you planned on telling me then?"

"Well as a child yes." He admitted. "But I was a fool, like most kids. I didn't realise how I couldn't."

My expression changed to that of confusion. "Why couldn't you? You said we couldn't be together because of this- I mean, why is this your reason that we can't marry?" I moved to my bed and sat down on it.

He rubbed his temples, as though the thought gave him a headache. "Because if we did, I would be signing away the entire English monarchy to you. I would be handing over that life to your hands. And if we had kids, they would be expected to rule this country. I couldn't do that to you. Give you the life that I hid from."

"Why did you hide from it? Surely you had everything you could ever want?" I asked, puzzled. "Money, fame, comfort, family. You had everything I dreamed of."

Dorian moved across the room and sat down on the bed beside me. "Well I have that now. Plus I have the exciting adventure that I always desired." He looked off into outer space. A change passed over his face. Recalling his childhood memories, he recounted. "You know, it was awful there. Really. I had two older brothers you see, so my father never really cared about me. I wasn't his heir, so I wasn't his problem. My mother was nice enough I guess. She hire tutors to teach me school things. She gave me books to read. That was a nice thing. But overall, I was overlooked.

"I mean, for example, the only painting I was in was the family portrait one, taken when I was 5 years old. The rest held paintings of my brothers and father on horseback, on the throne, holding various expensive items. They just forgot about me.

"Even the servants didn't care. Sometimes one would come into the library where I was studying and jump at the sight of me. A couple of times, the chef forgot to cook my meal they were so set on the perfect meal for Alexander and Edward. They were so busy running errands for my brothers, that I was just an extra, an unnecessary burden in the family.

"My father hated me. I don't know what I did. Maybe I didn't work hard enough. Maybe I worked too hard and outshone my brothers. Maybe he drank too much. Maybe it was all of those reasons. But he hated me. Anytime he saw me he would have me sent away, or yell at me for half an hour. If I tried to reason, he would tell the servants to rid me of one meal a day, or to hit me with a belt. He told me that I didn't matter to him. That I was no Alexander or Edward. That he would be better off without me.

"So I left. I ran out one night and never looked back. I took nothing but a pouch of gold coins that I could trade for food. I had no plan. I changed my name, taking the last syllable of my name (Dore) with my middle name (Orion) to make Dorian. I wandered about the streets of England for a month or so. In that time frame, two wanted posters were put with my name on them. Neither of them offered stunning rewards. My father meant what he had said. I didn't matter to him.

"Then I found a boat. A chance to move away. A chance for a life where someone cared. That was you, Hunter at the time. You cared about my life. I mattered to you. I could finally live the life I wanted. Then something terrible happened.

"Edward was killed in battle, shot down whilst protecting his friend. A terrible loss for the family, but father was still okay. He had his eldest child Alexander, to prepare for the throne. Then he died too. Cholera, I think. And my father was without an heir.

"So naturally, he turned to his third son. But he had disappeared. So, he issued a massive wanted poster with my name on it. This time the reward was £10,000. A hefty sum. This meant I had to hide much harder than before. So I told myself never to reveal who I truly was, because I can never go back to the man that called himself my father, but refused to be one. I was only a Prince to him, whilst in this life you've made me feel like a King. So that's why I hid." He finished with a smile. The memory had been painful, but he was relieved to tell it to me. "Thank you."

I looked at him, and held his hand. I spoke quietly. "I'm very annoyed with you right now."

He kissed my cheek. "Yes. I know. I'm mad at me too."

"I can't forgive you yet."

"I understand."

"Good." I said. And together we held each other.

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