Deserter

SIXTEEN

{Chapter Triggers: discussion of betrayal, mention of amnesia, someone is crying, some talk of murder/assassination, warning of a dangerous attack, foreshadowing of a battle (that's not the phrasing I want to use but my brain is not cooperating). Those are all I can think of/figure out from reading through the chapter, I apologize if I missed any and feel free to inform me.}

"You are Prince Virgil?" Roman spluttered.

Virgil got to his feet slowly, meeting his brother's eyes for the first time. Patton darted up the small set of stairs to the throne and helped King Thomas down to the main floor.

The prodigal prince barely reacted when the king pulled him into a tight embrace. After a moment, he hesitantly wrapped his arms around the man.

"Where have you been?" King Thomas demanded once he had let go, holding Virgil at arms length to inspect him. "You look so different."

"Well it has been ten years." Virgil said flatly.

Roman whirled to look at Logan. "Did you know? You notice the most out of all of us."

Logan shook his head. "I had a small suspicion, but I was ignoring it. I believed I was only imagining the prince's characteristics, harboring a delusional hope that he had returned to us."

They both turned to Patton to ask if he had noticed, but he was staring at Virgil, looking upset.

"You told me you killed the prince."

Virgil removed himself from King Thomas' renewed embrace with a sigh. "I apologize. I had to tell you something."

This didn't seem to ease Patton's distress. He crossed his arms defensively, and Logan could see the signs of tears on the way.

"You... you worked for the man who was trying to kill your brother. Your own brother! Why would you do that?"

Virgil dragged a hand across his face. "It's a very long story."

Patton turned away from him. Roman quickly went over to the other man, putting an arm around his shoulders and pulling him close.

"You might as well tell that story now." Logan advised the prince, walking to King Thomas and offering a hand to help him back to his throne. "The quicker we hear it the more time we will have to process it."

Virgil nodded and looked at his hands, collecting his thoughts. He forced himself to block out the sounds of Roman quietly comforting Patton, and Logan answering a question that King Thomas had asked.

Finally the room went quiet. When he looked up, four pairs of eyes were on him.

"I ran away two days after my fourteenth birthday."

King Thomas nodded. Their mother had been distraught upon finding that Virgil had disappeared from the castle. They had held out hope for weeks that he'd just slipped out to go to the nearest town, which was having a festival, but it very quickly became clear that he was not returning.

"My plan was to go to Speira, then take a ship around the coast of Bruba. I knew I didn't want to try and cross the country, their politics are more than an indication of the country's lack of morals."

Virgil shook his head. "I never made it to the coast. There is a gap in my memory, I would guess at least two weeks. The first thing I remember after that is waking up with Lord Deceit standing next to the bed I was in."

He glanced around. Logan and King Thomas were entirely focused on the story, watching him silently. Roman was nodding along, his arm still around Patton as the healer leaned on him.

Virgil did feel bad about lying to Patton, and for making him cry. The healer had been most open to him, and if he thought he would have been able to get away with it, he would have told him the truth immediately.

It just hadn't been possible.

"Deceit told me I had been attacked outside the town where he resides, and that he found me on the side of the road. I have my suspicions now that his men were the ones who attacked me in the first place."

Virgil sighed and shifted from one foot to the other. "He took me in, tended to my injuries. Bonded with me. I suppose it was some strategy of his to gain my trust, and it worked. He offered me a home, a place far from here where I was not the prince, and I took that.

"I didn't realize what he was training me for at first. He would send me after people, little local leaders of no importance. He always had a story to tell me, and I was naive enough to believe most of them. When I finally did realize what he was actually doing, he had already sent me to remove several more important targets."

He paused, looking up at King Thomas. "I believed Father would never forgive me, so I stayed. I enjoyed much more of it than I would like to admit, and I was still eager to train myself further."

"Why did you stay when he started sending you after the king?" Logan asked. "Surely you could have deserted him then?" 

Roman made a growling noise and let his free hand fall to his sword. 

"If I actually wished harm on my brother, I would have inflicted it." Virgil snapped, his anger flaring. "I used my assignments involving this castle as a way to test the guards, the knights. I had hoped that if I could get to Thomas, I could warn him."

He faced Logan fully. "You asked me about a third attack. It already happened. Deceit himself arranged this trio, and paid for the Morydin himself. I managed to switch it for a lower dosage, and gave it to Picani, because I knew that I had to fail and be captured. My fake attempt to poison Thomas was the first attack and I needed to use it to my advantage, and against Deceit."

Logan narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

"He has been gathering followers for months. Trained men, footmen, anyone he can think of and reach. He will be marching on the castle by the end of the season, with the intent to kill everyone who resides here."

"No." The strategist's eyes widened. "It can't be- he isn't. He wouldn't."

Virgil shook his head. "This is his final stand, he intends to wipe the Sanders bloodline from Eaden and take the throne for himself. I told you he was coming."

{I feel bad for making Patton cry. I'm sorry Pat

Also I would just like to say that Remus will not be making an appearance in this because I had the whole thing written out already and I don't really want to go back and rewrite. I might stick a little mention of him in a future chapter but as of now we're going to say in this AU he died a while back}