4 Princes

XXXIII part II

RED
Jack led me threw hallways in the castle, through corridors and secret tunnels. It was quiet, nobody else seemed to be up at the time. A lit torch was in his left hand, illuminating the sharp features on his face. His curls seemed more defined, and the bags under his eyes were deeper than I had realized. His right hand was holding mine, a little too hard but I wasn't going to ask him to loosen it.

We made it to a hallway full of portraits and paintings. I hadn't been down this way, although that wasn't saying much because the castle was too large for me to have seen everything during my stay here.

We stopped in front of a painting that was hung backwards, so the art was against the wall and all we could see was the back of the canvas. Jack let go of my hand and held the torch to me.

I took it in my right and watched as he flipped the painting around. It was a portrait of a man who looked like King Anderson, but he was slimmer and his hair wasn't as light. He had a longer beard and a straighter nose.

"This is my Uncle Flik," Jack explained. "My father had him killed for... being a traitor to the family."

I held the torch closer to the painting. I had seen this man somewhere, and the name sounded familiar. Where did I know him from?

"What did he do?"

"It's all very vague," Jack winced.

We continued walking until we stopped at a painting of a burned down house. I knew this house.

Flashbacks of a young Grey crying in front of rubble stuck in my head. I moved my fingers over the dried oil, reliving a memory I barely wanted to remember.

"As my father said, Grey's parents were planning an attack on my family. Starting with us 4 young Princes. Hera and Rook were babies. I myself barely remember the time. However, I do remember my father executing my Uncle Flik in the middle of battle for it. Because he wanted the story to go under the radar and Flik was threatening to tell everyone," he explained.

The Kingdom never hid anything, even their dirty laundry. What would the kingdom even have to hide over this?

"I never understood why Grey's family wanted to kill us though. And if they really did want us dead, then my uncle Flik never would stood up for them. It's like my father was covering something up." Jack's mind went exactly where mine went. "Something else."

The Royals didn't do the best job of taking care of us, ever, but they never went out of their way to make us miserable. "Is it because of how awful the people are treated? His family was rioting?"

I always knew Grey was an anarchist but I didn't know his parents lit that flame.

Jack snapped his head to me. "What do you mean? Our kingdom thrives. Our people are well taken care of," and it sounded as though he truly believed that.

I shook my head slowly. "No, Jack. After the Queen died your father mostly forgot about us. Grey started leading people down there, trying to keep order and feed everyone. That's why I was stealing food from Rook's fancy balls."

Jack looked down at the ground as if everything he knew were a lie. "But, if the people are hungry, we are as well. It's how my father raised us."

"King Anderson doesn't visit the towns, the villages, he doesn't know when we're starving. He offers us supplies and helps our trade routes, yes, but he has been... mostly absent."

Jack clenched his hands into fists. "For a wise King, he doesn't seem very wise." He took the torch from me once again and continued walking.

We came upon a portrait of Jack and his family. Rook and Hera looked so much younger, Jack too. Queen Carmine was in this one, smiling brightly. Flik was in this as well.

"Flik helped my father burn Grey's family to the ground, but disagreed with what my father wanted to do next, which was kill Grey, the son. So Flik hid Grey, and started teaching Grey the act of revenge," Jack finished.

It made me wonder what Grey knew. This explained a lot of where Grey's anger came from, his back story. It explained so much of his pain.

The kingdom. The Fairisles. They've always run things, they ran everything and we didn't have the shred of privacy we thought.

"I knew he had a talented assassin. You've killed... countless scouts and spies. You've killed... wolves and men. We could never find anything on you."

He didn't know any of my dirty laundry. I wouldn't have to tell him anything, I knew he wasn't going to force me to. He had done things, I had done equally awful things.

"There's always a betrayer in my line of family. My Uncle Flik, my great Uncle Andy. I think you are my sign." He set his hand on my cheek, rubbing it softly with his thumb. He looked at me sincerely. He really looked at me. His eyes were watering, his lips shaking. "I know Rook killed our father, he isn't good at hiding things. But I think I'll be the one to truly dishonor our family."

I backed up from him and eventually hit a painting on the wall behind us. "What do you mean?" I asked shakily.

Was he going to kill Rook? Or Adam?

"When this is over, I'm taking Hans's place. He's right. Adam should never be King, he's a useless brute. He won't fix these issues happening in our villages." He grabbed a dagger from his waist and slashed Adam's face out of the painting.

"Rook is too arrogant to run a kingdom," again, another slash.

"Hera is too angry. I deserve it. It should never be about age, but about talent. Isn't that what it boils down to anyways? I'm taking Hans idea, but I'm executing it right." The last slash.

And he wants me to help him. Jack's whole life is a strategy. Everything about him was thinking about the next card.

He was brilliant, mad, but brilliant nonetheless.

I had the right contacts, the right people to really take over the kingdom from the inside out. And Jack's mind could do anything he set it to.

Or this was a test.

So I'd answer vaguely and wait this out. "I follow you. I don't follow rebellion or unfairness, I don't follow what's wrong or right, I will follow you."