Hidden Secrets

Chapter Fourteen

A gasp was heard from Reyan as Mehdi tried to comprehend what he had just heard. He looked to his mother thinking she would have the same reaction, but she looked almost guilty.

"Mother?"

Kara sighed and looked at her son. "He's telling the truth, Mehdi." The leader snickered.

"Why haven't I been told this?" Mehdi asked. He felt betrayed. "Why didn't father ever tell me that he had a brother?"

"Because," Lyeth started, standing from the bed, "I was a disgrace to the family name." He walked towards them, only to be stopped short from the manacles. "I was always going to be second, no matter what I did." He darkly chuckled to himself. "So I did what anyone would've done. I ran away." He glanced at Mehdi. "I must've been around your age when I did."

"What did you do?" Reyan asked, intrigued.

"I did what any outsider would do: Join the rebels. But I had to change my whole identity," he explained. "My real name is Blythe Coden."

The prince was still dazed from the new information. "How can I trust you?"

"You can't," Blythe responded, "but you can trust Theodore."

Hearing the name still hurt, and he was taken aback. "I thought—"

"He was part of the rebellion?" his uncle finished and scoffed. "It was part of our plan." He studied Mehdi, narrowing his eyes. "Did he ever tell you how his father died?"

Mehdi shook his head. "I never got the chance to ask."

"His father was originally the rebel leader." He smirked when he saw his nephew's eyes widen.

"How did he die?"

Blythe shrugged. "Nobody really knows. Some say it was from natural causes, others say suicide."

"How did you become the leader?" Reyan asked out.

"Theo handed it over to me. Because he was the son, he was given it, but the role was too much for him," he explained. "I'm terribly sorry about your boyfriend, by the way," he added to Reyan. "He was a great man."

"Oh...um thank you..."

"So what was your plan?" Queen Kara asked.

The prince's uncle focused on the queen. "Ever since Theodore joined, I could tell he never wanted to follow after his father, so I confronted him about it. It took a while to convince him, but in the end, I persuaded him. Then, we created a plan to end the rebellion. It started with Theodore getting a job..." He glanced at the prince.

"The bakery," Mehdi said slowly. "That was all a plan?"

The man scoffed, "I wish. I'm sorry to say, but your boyfriend is actually a dumb-ass."

Mehdi choked on his spit. "How...how do you—"

"Honestly, do you really think the shy looks and closeness goes by unnoticed?" Blythe asked. "You are just as oblivious as Theodore!"

A snicker could be heard from Reyan. Mehdi turned towards her, brows raised.

"It's true," she said with an innocent shrug.

He looked to his mother, but she was looking anywhere but him.

"Anyways," Blythe continued, "Theodore getting fired from his job and then running into you worked perfectly. From there, we just went along with whatever happened."

"But what about all the attacks in the other towns?" Mehdi asked.

"We had to scare others to keep our reputation up, or else some would get suspicious."