Royal Blood (Boyxboy)

8

Tristan leads us into the castle. It is not at all like I remember it. It's cold and damp now. Not at all like the friendly, lively place from my childhood.
Connor stops and turns to face me.
"I'm sorry you had to find out like this." He says softly.
"I understand you doing what you had to to survive." I say slowly not letting my emotion dictate what I say. His face turns to a look of hope. "But I am not sure I can trust you again." I tell him and his face falls again. I turn to face Austin.
"Austin please prepare the horses. I shall be out back when they are ready." I say before turning on my heels and heading out one of the back doors.
I walk through the overrun gardens to the overrun hedge maze. Ara and I used to walk through this maze time and time again to get away from our guards and our parents.
My mind flashes back to when we were right in this maze.
"Brad." Ara says stopping and turning to look at me.
"What is it?" I ask her curiously.
"I am glad they choose you." She says surprising me. We do not normally talk about our betrothal or other things we can not control.
"Why do you say that?" I ask her.
"I am glad they did not choose some stuck up prince that only thinks about himself or only thinks about power and control. I am glad they choose somebody that I can love." She says smiling sweetly at me.
A rustling noise brings me out of my thoughts. I turn expecting to see Connor coming through the maze after me but it's not. It's Tristan.
"Connor said you'd be here." He says, giving me a small smile.
"What do you want?" I ask a lot harsher than I intended.
"I just wanted to see if you were alright. That's a lot to throw on a person." He says. He nods to a worn out bench. "Can we sit until your horses are ready?" I nod my consent and take a seat myself.
"He never meant to hurt you. He always wanted to tell you the truth but he wasn't allowed to." Tris tells me after he sits down. "Because of that he vowed to tell you the truth on everything else. He should never have told you about Lewie but he did because he didn't want to lie to you." We sit in silence a moment before I speak up.
"Why did you tell me about your families the day you walked me home?" I ask him. "You knew I would be curious about how they all died at the same time but you told me anyway."
"Because I wanted you to see James isn't as mean or rude as he tries to make everyone believe." He tells me looking down at the dirt.
"But why? Why do you care what I think of James?" I ask him, confused. He looks up at me, eyes slightly widened.
"Because I love him." Tris tells me honestly. "When you're with someone as long and as constantly as the three of us were, you either grow to love that person or hate them. I grew to love James."
"How did you know though? That you were in love with him." I ask.
"For years I watched how Connor reacted when you were around or when someone spoke of you. As time progressed I realised I act the same way when I'm around James." He tells me looking me in the eye. "I knew that Connor was in love with and has been since childhood so I knew that I am in love with James."
"He..?" I start to ask but I can't say it. Tris knows what I'm trying to ask though.
"Yes. Since you were about four." He says nodding. "Now I'm not telling you to do anything rash. Just think on it. Okay?" He asks softly. I nod slightly.
After a few moments of silence I speak up again.
"I knew Lady Carolyn. She was an amazing woman. I never realised she had a son though." I tell him honestly.
"Not many people did." He says with a chuckle. "The way the family title worked is it passed through the eldest daughter so the sons were not as important. I only inherited it because my sister died."
"Why did it pass through the daughters?" I question. Very few lineages pass through daughters. My family is one of the very few.
"You don't know the story behind the Lady of Bendon Valley?" He asks, surprised. I shake my head. "It's the same story that makes Connor and I cousins. My great grandmother and his great grandfather were half-siblings." Tris explains. "Connor's great great grandfather, King William, married a widow from a nearby village. The new queen had a young daughter from her first marriage. A year later the queen had her only other child, Prince Henry. As I'm sure you know from experience the king and queen didn't have much time to spend with their son but his half-sister Anna did. Anna practically raised Henry and she meant a lot to him. When Henry became king he gave Anna a special place in his court. As he got older though he knew that when his children took over the throne Anna would no longer be honored as he had done so he gave her an honor that couldn't be taken from her or her descendants. He named her Lady of Bendon Valley, an area of land he had conquered years before at her advice. He deemed that the title would go to her eldest daughter, Mauve, upon her death."
"Wow that's amazing." I say when he completes the story.
"Brad?" I hear Austin calling my name.
"I hope to see you at the coronation." Tristan tells me as I take my leave. I nod unsure if he will or not.