A Guide to Charming Royals

Chapter Thirty-Four: ARIAH

We remember the day Kalen had gone missing. Because we'd requested to play hide and seek, with Kalen, Madyan and Uncle Rami. At one point, Madyan and Kalen had fought about neither of them wanting to count, and Uncle Rami had suggested we all take turns. He'd been watching over us the entire time, except when it had been our turn to count, he'd received a call. He had asked us all to return inside with him, but we'd said it had been our turn to find the boys, so the guards had assured they'd watch over us. But we'd told the guards to remain at a distance, otherwise they'd give away everyone's location. And no one had argued, because the entire cabin and forest was blocked off to visitors. And no one had thought one of us would get lost.

We remember cheating, peeking through our fingers at Madyan and Kalen as they ran off, and Madyan pushing Kalen away from him, telling him not to follow. Every time we close our eyes, the memory of Kal slowing is still vivid in our mind. He'd moved away from his brother and looked back at us. He saw us watching him, but he didn't tell Madyan. He only grinned at us, waved and followed his brother down the path.

That was the last time we'd seen him.

It was the guards who had first noticed Kalen had gone missing. And before we'd found them, the guards had brought Madyan back, immediately reporting to Uncle Rami, that the brothers had ventured too deep into the forest, and Kalen could not be sighted. Guards had gone looking for him, and an hour later, a team of twenty guards had searched for him. But somehow no one could sight him.

The guards on duty that day had all been fired, regardless of how long they'd been with our family. It mattered, for the sake of appearance, to get rid of them. To show the entire country that the Drasqat family truly cared about the Prince of Emir and his family.

We hadn't thought of it then, but we wonder now, just like Uncle Rami, if it's guilt that bites at Madyan, that if he'd let his brother follow him, if they had hid together, then Kalen would still be with us.

We turn at the sound of footsteps, finding Madyan approaching. His hands remain behind his back as he walks, head raised, shoulders stiff. Once he's close enough, he says, "Everyone's ready to leave. Your flight is going to leave soon too."

We rise from the bench. "We're going."

As we turn away from him, he calls. "We apologize for our behaviour. It wasn't right to confront you like that." He pulls out his hands from behind his back, offering us a bouquet of chocolate roses. One of them is unwrapped. "We tasted one to make sure it wasn't poisoned for you."

We laugh, accepting it from him. But then we say, "Thank you for acknowledging your mistake, but how you confronted us on the matter was not right," we say. "If there's one thing we've learned by watching our family members fight is that, when you want to fight with us, do it when we're alone. Everyone fights, and yes we've heard and seen our family members disagree, but when it's a big matter, they take it to a private space. They don't let themselves become a mockery in front of a crowd. This wasn't only just about you. This was about us too. Our friends and family were with us. In the future, we may forget the fights we had, but people will remember. They will talk about anything that could potentially damage our relationship."

He runs a hand over his face, closing his eyes and hiding away his green eyes. "Kalen isn't dead. You told Leila he was dead. How could you say that?" The anger returns to his features. "Why must you kill him?"

"We're sorry about Kal, about what we said. But we can't move on if we let him linger."

He doesn't respond, shutting his eyes tight. "Are you sure you want to marry us? We're an idiot."

"We like your eyes," we say. "They're pretty and sad."

His eyes snap open. "What?"

We shake our head. That sounds like something Leila would say, accidentally revealing her thoughts. "We should get going. And again, we're sorry about Kal."

"You referred to him as Kal again," he points out. "Just like you always did when we were children."

We smile. "Don't be jealous, hubby, it's an old habit. Don't we also call you May?"

He shakes his head, stepping away, hands returning to his back. "No, when you call us May, it's... you're trying to irritate us. But when you say Kal, your voice changes, something about it soft and light, like you're trying to hold onto his name. It's like how you address Samideen as Deen. There's something tender about your tone."

We pause, the smile slipping off our face. "What are you trying to get at?"

He clicks his tongue. "We don't know." Then, he shrugs. "Have a safe trip back to Medina."

Somehow, despite his lack of explanation, we understand what he hadn't said. We say Kal, the way we say Deen's name, as if he's always been a part of our life, as if he never disappeared, and as though everything about Madyan is a lie, like one of our games we used to play when we were upset with Kal and pretended we'd marry Madyan instead.

It shouldn't bother us when we've gone our entire life letting people believe what they wanted to. But it does, for some reason, it horribly does.