Each year the Kingdom of Khearia throws a festival in remembrance of one of their most beloved kings who had tragically perished along with his wife and second son. His first son, Prince Fabian, was the only one to survive. Witnesses claimed his cro...
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Alex scratched his cuticles with his thumbnail, dead skin flaking off, his body humming nervously under his stiff exterior. Ino stood next to him, her observant eyes keenly scanning his reaction to the news she'd just imparted.
ㅤAlex swallowed roughly. "You're sure of that? It could be a coincidence." he asked her.
ㅤShe gave a slight shrug and turned her head to watch out at the rain pattering around them as they sheltered uneasily under the pillared overhang.
ㅤ"I mean, he seems fine now," Alex tried.
ㅤIno wordlessly watched the horses as they petulantly sulked below a tree, snorting in envy that her and Alex's shelter was better.
ㅤ"You saw him yourself." she finally stated, pressing a meaningful glance his way. "I planned to keep her away from him for as long as possible once I realised, but I severely underestimated just how frayed his mind would be."
ㅤ"He's been worse than that." Alex grunted, thinking about the incessant mutterings and random bursts of subconscious conversation that James spilled. Thomas and Fletcher probably brushed it off as a part of James' eccentricity and unconventional personality but Alex knew better. Those habits reminded him of his mother and perhaps that's why it concerned him so much.
ㅤIno tilted her head at that remark. "I'm not surprised. I have an inkling of what the king plans to do with him and he will only get worse if I'm right. You better hope Eris keeps doing what she's doing. It's no wonder she bites him so hard considering all the work she has to continuously do. His hands shouldn't be that hurt under normal circumstances."
ㅤ"You know who he is, don't you?" It wasn't a question more than a request for information.
ㅤIno held and admired her hair, ignoring him.
ㅤ"Can you tell me?" he pressed.
ㅤIno looked upward, regarding the cloud-darkened sky, saying nothing. Alex sighed, thinking she was going to give him the silent treatment for asking. James had obviously been from a noble family— one which was now dead, and he had some severe unresolved mental conflict from something, probably relating the scars on his arm, but he didn't know anything more than that.
ㅤ"I can't tell you." she told him, breaking into the insistent shushing imposed by the rain, willing them to be quiet.
ㅤ"Can't or won't?"
ㅤ"Can't." She was firm in her statement.
ㅤAlex's body sagged against the wall in disappointment, he was tired of being kept in the dark. He'd been locked there his whole life— almost his whole life.
ㅤBefore then, he'd been locked somewhere entirely different.
ㅤ"I've said my piece." she declared, pushing off the brick and starting towards the door, parting with one last final warning, pointing her finger for emphasis; "Do not confiscate that sword from him, at any time, for any reason."
