In the Shadows~zayn au~Completed ✅EDITING

~Chapter 46: It Is What It Is~

SURPRISE!! Short, quick update and you have @LaylaMonfradini to thank for that! However, you also have her to thank for the second cliffhanger that I'm leaving you with. I might finish another update tonight, but who knows. ;)

Louis as a kid, because, come on. He's freaking precious.

"What the actual bloody hell is going on?" he breathed.

"You of all people should know exactly what is going on!" Kalysta said harshly, frustrated at the interruption. Zayn moved away slowly, deliberately, and grabbed his shirt to put it back on.

"Don't get smart with me!" Louis snapped, striding further into the room and slamming the door behind him. "I saw the way you two have been trading looks, but I never considered that you'd act on your feelings! And why would you? Both of you know the risks! So I'll ask again, what the actual bloody hell?" His voice was urgent and more insistent than she'd ever heard it before.

"Louis, give me a chance to explain," Zayn pressed, motioning toward the door. "Let's discuss this somewhere else."

Louis ignored him. "I already know what you have to gain from this, Zayn, but what's her angle?" It was the first time she'd ever heard him address Zayn as anything other than "Captain" or "Ambassador".

"I beg your pardon?" she sputtered. "What's my angle? You're insinuating that he's just in this for a shag and that I have ulterior motives? That I simply seduced him with my feminine wiles in order to ruin this mission? Don't forget that there's more at stake for me here than for either of you!"

"Well, you did sedu-" Zayn began, but she cut him off.

"I did not! Just hush!" she snapped, not in the mood for it. "Let's not just gloss over your little secret, Louis, rightful heir to the throne of Wolvecaster! You have more explaining to do than I ever will."

"It didn't concern you until now!" His voice was just as vehement. "We weren't sure how my brother would accept me so there was no reason to tell you while that was in question!"

"Regardless, this is something you should have told me! Is there anything else you're hiding that I should know about? You have a lot to answer for so you may as well start before a war does."

Louis sighed, scrubbing his eyes.

"Fine!" he relented, pulling the chair away from the desk in the room to sit at it. "I'll explain myself and then you two will!"

Kalysta didn't promise anything. She simply waited.

He took a moment to gather his thoughts.

"I wasn't a fit ruler," he confessed. "But I suppose it-it starts with my parents," he began haltingly. "They had wanted children for some time, but it had never worked out. As they grew older, they didn't think it was going to be possible and they worried. No child means rivalry amongst the nobility over which family will get the throne next. By some miracle, I was born and my parents couldn't have been happier. I was spoiled." His face grew fond as he recalled the memories. "They raised me as the heir, but they also raised me with love.

"My mom was fifty years old when they found out she was pregnant again and, while they were overjoyed at the thought of another child, they were terrified at the possibility of what could happen to the child and my mother." At this, his voice shook. "They were right to worry. My mother never properly recovered and Liam was born without the ability to walk."

Kalysta gasped. "I thought that was just a rumor!"

Louis grimaced. "My parents tried their hardest to quash the rumors. It didn't matter to us that he couldn't walk, but we knew that people would treat him differently. Being unable to walk didn't stop him from excelling. From the start, he was kinder, more intelligent, and adept in the political maneuvering. He does well now, and has some function of his legs, but he'll never walk fully."

"I know the rest," she cut in, shaking her head in disappointment. "You abandoned the throne and left it to him. Honestly, I knew you hated responsibility, but abandoning a country and your children?"

#allthelove

Please don't kill me.

~Kari~