The Legends of Kartas | Ongoing

48. DREAMS OF YORE

The first time Taehyung had shown Elyagon the fake coins, his younger brother was elated. He had smiled, now a blessing so rare, then as habitual as the changing seasons, the falling leaves whirling in the wind, the warmth of the sun seeping between the fissures of the wisteria growing around the castle. Space was Taehyung's plaything, his clay to mold and shape, so their reality was whatever he—they—had desired.

No more arguments. No more shouting. When the coins were out, all that had faded. Friends, twin brothers, mirror reflections yet different, but the hunt brought even nemeses to heel.

"Find a coin, and I will grant you whatever you want," Taehyung had promised. Such a hopeful, fragile, childish dream whispers away from collapse. All it would take was a louder shout from the king or queen, reckless banter from the servants or guards, to shatter the lie Taehyung had fashioned.

They are our children, those voices had shouted. It is better for the kingdom. But they need us—you. They speak to me, Caos. Voices. A slap. You are blind, you mad wretch! Open your eyes, Gwyneth. Screams upon screams. An endless torrent, a bottomless pit. They will kill you! They will kill us all! No, no, no—

Elyagon didn't need to know what happened behind the curtain. Elyagon—his sweet brother with his then-tawny hair, the shining personality who had braved every murky territory, the perfect prince, who Taehyung had wished would grow into everything he was not.

Taehyung was older, only by a minute but older still, so he had to protect Elyagon's innocence. No, no, wrong. It wasn't about age. Never was. It was the way Elyagon had looked at him as if the entire world would crumble or mend at the slightest movement from Taehyung's fingers. It was the cheerfulness in those lilac eyes oblivious to the perilous ship that was their family—an ignorance only afforded to starry-eyed children. It was the consternation furrowed in those creased brows that made him want to burn the world just to see Elyagon smile again.

In the end, Elyagon never did find a coin. What he had found was much worse.

Blood. And murder. There had been no time to explain. Elyagon's knees had hit the hardwood before Taehyung could even open his mouth, and they had stared at each other in silence. Reflections. Two sides to the same coin. Between them, a knife and a mother—dead and cold, sullied with blood.

It was the only way. That was Taehyung's excuse when Elyagon distanced himself and erased every resemblance to Taehyung—all except those lilac eyes. Taehyung was the oldest, the most sensible. His duty was to protect his siblings, so he did. And he liked to believe he still was.

Sitting in a spare chair in Jimin's room, Taehyung repeatedly flipped a fake coin in the air and caught it. Arguments sounded somewhere in the far background of his conscience, but like in his younger years, he drowned them out with his treasure hunt.

Find a coin, and I will grant you whatever you want.

He had thrown and caught the coin over fifty times. For all fifty of his wishes, he wished to silence everyone. But what he couldn't do then, he couldn't do now. And like his parents' arguments, the fight between Jimin, Namjoon, and Two couldn't be quelled.

"We refuse to send you anywhere by yourself, whether to buy supplies or stab us in the back," Namjoon said, his arms crossed over his chest. The linen clothes the innkeeper had given them did little for warmth and let the manacles around their wrists gleam under the haze of the morning sun. Namjoon drew invisible shapes with his gestures, unbothered by the rattling of his severed chains. "Any one of us could go collect supplies. Why do you need to go?"

"I do not know why you think we are here for rest, Prince Namjoon. We are here to find Nero as fast as we can before they find us," Two replied. Who they were didn't need an explanation, and if anyone had any comment on the matter, they kept their mouths shut in fear of cursing their meager fortune. "If this matter means so much to you, you should wake the other princes from their slumber. Since you like voting, perhaps a majority's favor will change your mind."