"I WAS JUST A BOY. A BOY WHO FELL IN LOVE WITH A MONSTER. I NEVER THOUGHT I'D BECOME ONE MYSELF."
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When Aric was only six, he was abandoned by his mother in the Woods all alone before finding his way to Arbed House.
Meanwhile, Japeth is a trou...
A/N—Here's a pic I drew. The left side is supposed to be Japeth and the right side is Aric. The building behind Japeth is supposed to be Arbed and the silhouettes fighting in the background on the right side is meant to represent the battle at the end of TLEA where Aric died. Do you guys like it? 🤨
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~Japeth's POV~
Japeth was pretty sure Rhian had lost it. Rhian had become obsessed with fulfilling the prophecy of The One True King ever since Evelyn's dress had shown the twins the magical pen that had written out their supposed destinies.
A week after the mistral sisters' visit, Rhian began to mull over what to do now that the brothers had confirmation that King Arthur was indeed their father.
Apparently, the One True King was basically if a man became the Storian, which was the sacred pen that wrote all the fairytales in the woods. Japeth and Rhian learned that all the leaders of the kingdoms in all the woods wore rings that bound their loyalty to the Storian. But if those rings were to be burned and if those leaders put their faith in a man instead of a pen, that man would attain the powers of the Storian. Thus, man would become pen.
"We take over Camelot," Rhian had told Japeth days after the mistral sisters' visit. "I've been putting a lot of thought into this, and I think I have a plan."
"Oh yeah? And what do you propose we do to take over Camelot?" Japeth grumped at his brother, still struggling to wrap his head around the fact that Rhian had been right all along. Rhian truly was the heir of Camelot, but who would even believe him?
Rhian told Japeth that his plan would take time. And for a whole week, Rhian wouldn't stop bursting with ideas, so seemingly determined to fulfill the dumb prophecy that Japeth had become annoyed.
It was two days ago that Rhian arrived back at the house after a trip to the market. Japeth was fiddling with the tattered blanket that him and Aric had once slept on—the one he had yet to clean because he didn't want Aric's smell to fade away—when Rhian walked through the front door.
"Took you long enough, brother," Japeth groused, throwing his arms over his head to stretch and the scims wrapped around his torso squirmed.
Japeth expected Rhian to pull out the food he was supposed to have purchased at the market out of the bag on his shoulder. But when Rhian reached into the bag, it wasn't food he retrieved, but two books and a sleek mask.
"The tale of the Lion and the Snake," Rhian announced, pride in his tone. "It's an old story originating from Camelot."
Japeth resisted the urge to slap the smile off his brother's face. He stormed up to Rhian and snatched the bag off his arm to scour through it, but it seemed Rhian had forgotten about buying any food.
"So you spent the little money we have on some stupid bedtime stories?" Japeth sneered, enraged. His blue gaze sliced into Rhian, but Rhian's smile didn't waver.
