The thieves stood frozen. Unable to talk and unable to move, paralyzed. Their minds still trying to adjust Aphrodite's words. Aphrodite watched in concern, as their faces rolled into different emotions at the same time, waiting for their reaction. Then finally, Rapunzel found her voice.
"Uh… what?!" she asked, confused, as if she wants to hear Aphrodite again, making sure she heard correctly.
Aphrodite sighed, then straightened again, and spoke with her regal voice for the first time in 15 years, "I said, my name is Queen Aphrodite of Arendelle… and the woman out there is my daughter, and her name is Elsa…. Princess Elsa."
"But that means….. That king!... is Anna's father?!" Flynn asked bewildered.
Aphrodite wasn't happy about this question, she wasn't proud that she married someone like him, "Yes…" she replied.
"So that makes Anna…." Rapunzel trailed off.
"A Princess." Aiden continued, eyes still wide, not moving from Aphrodite.
"Oh great, no wonder why she's always bossy!" Flynn mocked.
"It means…. That woman, Elsa… is ANNA'S SISTER!?" Aiden asked.
"Are you people serious?!..." Tyler finally spoke, fear showing on his face. "There's been a Queen living amongst us! She knows everything we've done! She'll probably go, bail on us and lock us in the dungeons! We can't trust her-"
"I have healed and saved your sorry asses many times all those years! You have no right to judge me! You own me more than I owe you a million times! I would have easily left you to die or brought you to justice… you are thieves! Remember that?!... Yet I didn't utter a word! So don't come pointing your filthy fingers at me!"
And that made Tyler and the others speechless. They knew she spoke the very truth, yet Tyler wanted to know more. "Then explain your plot!" he demanded.
Aphrodite became pacing back and forth, flailing her hands in the air. "What would have me do?! … I have seen my daughter being abused by her own father from the day she was born! And the more she grew, the more he became harder! I wouldn't have waited until I see my daughters dead in my arms from that monster! I had to hide them and get them away from him. And seeing that my escape can only be accomplished by the help of thieves, do you really think I would just tell them I'm a queen!? I didn't know back then what you would have done with me!... Maybe you would have slit my throat! Killed Anna! Robed me! Left me to die! Took me as a hostage! I don't KNOW! …. I would never have trusted a thief! So I had no choice but to change my identity." she said before turning to Brandon, looking for help.
"It was my idea." Brandon confessed.
The others stared at him in disbelief, "You knew!?" Rapunzel asked, surprised.
Brandon sighed, "Yes… I did…. Her brother Robin told me." He said lowering his head, mourning for Robin.
"Your brother is Robin?!" Tyler asked, fear from the Queen dissipating.
"Yes… he was…. Before my husband killed him." Aphrodite replied, surprising Brandon with her voice, kept regal. "I have lost my brother to this man…. And I thought I lost one my daughters to him too, but…" She placed a hand on her face, hiding the tears, her voice no longer strong. She gulped silently, then spoke. "God just showed me that I was a horrible mother…. Hiding in here while my daughter suffers, for who knows since when." She said, her voice quivering.
Brandon walked towards her, and rested a hand on her shoulder, "Aphrodite, are you sure this is her?" he asked, his voice gentle.
She wanted to say 'no'. She wanted to believe that this woman… this tortured woman, is not her daughter, yet she cannot hide the truth from herself. She pushed his hand off her shoulder, lifted her head and looked at him right in the eyes. Her green ones meeting his brown's. "I have seen these eyes… my daughter's eyes! … Pleading… begging for help! Every night in my dreams, since the day I had made my greatest mistake and left her!... And now… now I realize I wasn't dreaming."
