Paying the Price

Chapter 51: Oakley

Last chapter recap - Jenifer

Now I had plenty of food and water. I had this big castle house to live in and this nice room with four beds. I had never been more grateful in my life.

But Ms. Madison was right I am just a brat. A brat no one loves, no one wants to hear from, and a brat no one cares about.

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This was now my second time in a cell within a week.

I was pissed. How dare he hurt my sister. How dare Mother starve my sisters.

I was worried for them. Mother and Father now know that June and Janae told us about their punishments and I would place money on the fact that they were told not to.

They better not try to hurt them again.

I had let my anger get the best of me. I should have known better than to try and argue with Father. He often told me that I could defeat anyone. Anyone but him. And I think he was speaking the truth.

"This was not your brightest plan. I thought you were dumb when you argued with Father the first time when we got here but I think this one takes the cake for Oakley's dumbest moments."

Here we go. Sometimes I want a mute button for Oliver.

"You know you agreed to it. You came with me. This is just as much on you as it is on me."

"See here is where you are wrong again. I did not provoke Father the way you did."

I rolled my eyes at him. "You getting in his face and pushing is what tipped him over the edge."

"I only did that because he pushed you."

"I don't need you to defend me. I got it."

"Didn't look like it," he responds.

"Shut up. I'm over hearing your voice."

"We have the same voice dumbass. Besides, you are just mad that I'm right and you are wrong."

I wanted to glue Oliver's mouth shut.

"I want to be with Janae," I broke the silence we had fallen into.

Oliver looked down to the ground. He was feeling guilty.

So was I.

I should have never let that happen. I should have stopped her.

My sweet little sister did not deserve that. I want to be with her. I want her to be with me at all times so that she never has the chance to even think about doing something that stupid again.

But here I was. Stuck in a cell in my own palace with my annoying twin brother.

"I want to be with both of them. She starved them Oak. Right under our noses and we didn't catch it."

That pissed me off too.

"When I turn 18 I am dueling Father for the throne," I announced.

Oliver whipped his head so fast to look at me. "Oakley you know that I always have your back in everything but, a duel? With Father? You know the outcome of that right?"

A son could challenge his Father in a duel for the throne. The winner gets to be King and the loser dies.

It's a death match. One true winner and one epic loss.

It had never been done before but it was in law. I had all of our laws memorized by the time I was ten.

Well, there was a duel a long long time ago but the Father forfeited before anyone was really hurt.