Forget Me Not

VII

Erik, Tristian, Lucian, and I had met up in the council hall shortly after my walk with Lucian. Erik has let us know there was no change with the prisoner that had tried to kill me. We were still talking, about how the defenses in the castle were heightened for everyone's protection, when we heard the speeding footsteps outside the doors. We barely had time to react before the huge doors were violently pushed open. In the opening, you could clearly see Maleah, looking bloodthirsty and full of adrenaline——and right at Tristian.

"Oh, shit," Tristian said quickly.

"'Oh, shit,' is right!" She started to stomp her way over to Tristian and probably would have done something if not for Erik blocking her. He shook his head at her, and although she didn't seem to like it, she respected what Erik wanted and took a step back.

"Why was my Geneth crying? Tell me exactly what you did to her!" Maleah looked at Tristian from around Erik.

"You crazy woman, I have no idea what you're talking about!" Tristian spat in defense.

"Stop!" Geneth had reached the entrance to the room, huffing, Verity coming up behind her. They must have been running after Maleah. "He didn't do anything wrong!"

"You don't need to lie for this pathetic piece of trash, Geneth!" Maleah turned to Geneth with her hands on her hips, like an older, condescending sister. "I saw you crying! You were at the training grounds. I can make the connection!"

"I'm really okay. He didn't do anything... I was just happy that I actually won against him today."

"Geneth..." Maleah looked as if she wanted to burst with joy. Any anger she had vanished and she ran over to Geneth and smothered her in a huge, tight hug. "I'm so proud of you! My awesome little fighter! You're as strong as you are beautiful!"

I turned to see Tristian with a pained expression on his face, stand up and quickly push past everyone in order to leave the room. My concern must have been noticeable because Lucian put his hand on my shoulder before sliding out of the room after him. Verity watched them go, and then turned and she nodded her head down the hall, motioning for me to join her, leaving Erik, Maleah, and Geneth behind without a word. A part of me felt bad, but I was also very curious and decided I could apologize for abruptly leaving later.

"What is it?" I asked Verity, when we were far enough down the hall. Up ahead, I could see Tristian and Lucian turn the corner. "Is something wrong?"

"Has anyone told you about Lucian's or Tristian's past? About the bloody war we had a few years ago?" Verity asked quietly.

"I... no. No one has said anything about anyone. I'm not sure people want me to know..."

"Well, I think you should. It will help you to understand... a lot of things." Verity wrung her hands, and went quiet for a moment, preparing herself. "Our kingdom was ruled by King Torryn, but after time, the king turned out to be betraying us, siding with our enemy, the Kingdom of Qleph, having made some secret deal with them. He allowed them to come into our kingdom, and they killed and stole, but nothing was done about it. He even had his own council of trusted knights make sure no one disobeyed orders. And they did it without a second thought, perhaps because of a promise of something or maybe they were just too scared to disobey, I don't know."

Those knights were just like her, Erik, and the rest of the group. They were trusted protectors, and looked up to for guidance. How could those knights have so easily abandoned and hurt the people they were sworn to protect? For what?

"The people fled to neighboring kingdoms in help, or rose up and took up arms. We had a war within our kingdom. The Qlephians retreated back to their land like cowards once the uprising started, abandoning King Torryn. The king, and the council of knights were all overthrown... and then killed when they didn't stand down. Tristian's and Lucian's father... he was in the council of the knights, the most trusted of them all. Tristian, from an early age, wanted to be just like his father and did everything he could to be as strong as him and to make him proud. It destroyed Tristian when his father took part in the bloodshed of our own people."

I felt the words slam into me like a wall, I almost took a step back in shock. I hadn't seen any of that coming. It was so much to take in.

"He has had a wall up ever since. He... he is scared to love or trust anyone else because of his father's betrayal... It took him a long time to show everyone he wasn't going to be the same as his father. We have all gone through so much. We were all part of the uprising that took back our home... But he was the one that killed his own father. Nobody should ever judge him harshly."

I was stunned. What could I possibly say? Anything I could say in response would have sounded stupid and pathetic. A voice said from up ahead of Verity and I. I finally realized we were outside and had followed them almost all the way into town.

"Why are you two following us?" Tristian sounded annoyed and irritated.

"I--" I started to apologize, feeling my face grow hot with embarrassment, but I stopped when a girl's bloodcurdling scream pierced the air. It turned my blood freezing cold and filled me with dread. We all turned in the area the scream came from, and everyone's faces fell when we heard what was said next among the screaming.

"They killed him! He's dead!"