Children of Diezor

Chapter 4

When I wake up, I'm alone.

Jaim and I had fallen asleep together fairly quickly after he'd tickled me relentlessly. But by the time I wake up he's long gone. In fact, by the time I wake up it's already after noon.

I slip on some clothes quickly and hurry out of my room. I feel slightly embarrassed that I've slept half the day away.

"Rough night?'' Marcus, Dyria's brother, asks me as I enter the small kitchen on the second floor. He's eating lunch at the bar with Dyria next to him. They're not supposed to this. They're supposed to always eat in the dining hall. But since their parents are barely around to notice and the staff would never correct a prince or princess, this has become their new routine without hiccups.

''As wild as I could make it,'' I answer him with a grin. If there's one person in the palace there's no need to feel embarrassed for, then it's Marcus.

He rolls his eyes at me, but Dyria really laughs at that. I love my stepsister slash best friend to death, but if there's one thing that can be annoying about Dyria, then it's the way she always has to giggle at everything. Though, most of the time it's nice to have someone always so positive around.

Everyone is quiet after that; all of us absorbed by our own tasks. I open one of the many cupboards to get the plate I usually use for breakfast. And from the platter on the counter I get the fruit I usually eat. I plump down on a chair with the plate in my lap and slowly start the tedious task of peeling apples.

Sitting there in the kitchen – while being the only one actually preparing to eat – I take my time to compare Marcus's and Dyria's physical appearance to each other. Something I've never done before. And now I'm actually doing it, I can't understand why I never have. When you pay close attention, you can see they differ quite a lot from each other.

They both have very dark blond hair and green eyes, indeed. But when you look at their features, you can detect some outstanding differences. And no real similarities at all accept their coloring. Their faces and features are just shaped so differently, it's hard to consider them as people who share the same genes.

I don't know how to describe it. Maybe it's my weird and long sleep that's making me imagine things. Maybe my exhaustion is making my usually pretty accurate intuition run wild. But I'd swear, right now, in this moment, that they aren't related.

Ridiculous. I tell myself. I try to convince myself forcefully that there's nothing to it. But still, I can't seem to keep my thoughts from running back to wild assumption every few seconds.

Suddenly, Marcus gazes up from whatever he was doing and looks me right in the eye. His expression changes abruptly. A dark cloud blows over his before open and carefree face. He knows I'm doing something. Something significant. While staring at him and his sister. Maybe he can even guess that I'm comparing them. But is he able to tell what I am thinking of? The assumptions I'm making?

''When, did you say, are those people from Kentros coming?'' Marcus asks his sister, his eyes now leaving mine.

''I didn't,'' she says. ''But I do know. It's sometime today.''

''And who will be receiving them?''

''Father, of course,'' she answers with a slight crinkle in her brow – she is slowly becoming suspicious of her brother.

''Well, then,'' Marcus says as he rises from his chair, ''I'll go and find him,'' and he leaves the small kitchen.

I can't help but stare after him as he leaves. Which I don't realize. It takes Dyria interrupting my thoughts to notice it.