“Yes, we would have taken care of you.” Ruby added.
“Mother!” Dirk cut in. “Don’t say such things. He turned out fine. Tell them what you did next.”
Everyone looked on as we finished with our dinner and our parents seemed eager to hear what he had to say. “Well, after spending months sleeping through the weather, I found my safe haven in an abandoned building just south of the palace where my life got just a little better.”
“And?” Dirk wondered. “Tell them why it got better.”
“Is that really necessary?” Rory whispered.
Dirk had an angry look on his face as his eyes flashed red again and Rory then looked over to Seth for help. He just put up his hands and shrugged his shoulders.
I laughed as I watched his reaction and took a bite. “Just do it.”
Rory had a worried look on his face and swallowed the bubble in his throat. “I—ah—then started a little excavation project to help the time pass as I generated an underground passage from my current position of living to another.”
“And where was that?” Dirk smiled as he took a drink.
Rory clearly didn’t want to say it based on who he was talking to.
“Well? Out with it, boy.” Darius said.
Seth looked across the table at Rory and gave him an encouraging nod.
“It came up under the palace.” Rory said slowly. I laughed to myself as I watched our parents’ reactions. “I know. I know. It’s completely unlawful and I know it was wrong but I did what I had to do to survive.”
“How often did you do this?” Mother asked.
Rory shrugged. “Not entirely sure. I’ve been in there so many times I bet I know the place better than the stuck up people living there—ah—no offense, my lady.”
She smiled. “Of course not. I’ve never been there myself but I hear their halls are indeed something to look at.”
“They’re all right, not like this. A little more excessive in the structural aspect of the place and it always seems to be dark no matter what time of day it was like they never heard of windows.” Our parents laughed and Rory was now completely at ease in their presence so he went on. “I’ve always wanted to ask them about that but that would have turned out bad for me. So, no guesses as why I didn’t but if you want to know anything, I’m the one to ask. I know everything there is to know about them just from observing like their strengths, weaknesses, flaws, fetishes, likes, dislikes, hobbies, secrets. I know their schedules, shift changes of all the guards and servants and I even know what they do when they think their alone. Very intense.”
“Well, it seems you’ve done well on your own. I’ll be sure to consult you if I ever get the urge to retaliate on his past deeds, perhaps soon.” Zayden said, making a quick glance over at Seth before looking back at Rory. “So, tell us, what dark secrets is Wyatt hiding within his dark walls? Anything of interest to me?”
Rory thought about. “Well, there is one thing that I’ve found to be quite interesting, your majesty and perhaps you might as well. It’s his biggest fear and also his biggest secret.” Everyone paid close attention at this point, even us. “It’s almost funny all the things you can learn about someone just by watching and as I watched, I noticed something very strange about the King that would dash his well established reputation as foul and merciless. He fears metal.”
“Metal?” Father wondered. “What kind of metal?”
“All kinds, my lord. I have not once seen him come in ten feet of anything with metal on it. He doesn’t carry a weapon, you won’t find any metal on his clothing, not even a single button or clasp and even his crown isn’t made of metal, it’s more of a polished stone.”
“That sounds too ridiculous to be true.” Adele said in almost a laugh.
“But it is, your majesty, I’ve seen it and it gets better. Look around you, everything you see before you that is made of metal would not be found at his table. He eats with utensils that are either carved from stone or wood and you wouldn’t find a single knife presented to him ever. He has his food precut before it’s served and would never even see when it’s done.”
Zayden had a laugh to himself. “That is funny. What about his sons? Anything to say about them?”
“Worth knowing? Well, his oldest, Gavyn is never really there anymore. He spends most of his time at the military base.”
“Why is that?”
“I think it’s about his trained skill in fighting. He shares it with the soldiers, teaches them. I even heard that he abandoned rights to the throne because he would rather be General.”
“Is that so? Then what of Blake?”
“Blake is—well, he’s more eager about getting the throne but it makes sense since he is the more potent of the two. Wyatt is actually quite proud. He’s the ideal image of a Hintin man which really tells the rest of the world that he’s psycho. He takes a personal interest in seeing a prisoner’s sentence carried out as he’s the one that controls what happens. I’ve actually been down there one time to see what it was like and I got to see how he does it, very interesting. It’s all about conflicting as much pain as possible before you die, like with his specialty whip.” The muscles in my back twitched. “Ah, you’ve got to see this thing. Twelve feet of cold steel—”
“Rory.” Seth said quietly.
“—with a tripled spiked tip—”
“Rory.” Seth said again.
“—just waiting to grab a hold of you and rip away at the—”
Everything he was saying was just making it come back to me. It was going to take more than saying his name to stop him.
“Rory!” Dirk threw a roll at him and it bounced off his head and went back into his hand.
“Whoa! How did you do that?”
“That’s enough.”
“Bet you couldn’t do that again.”
Dirk glared over at him with red eyes and picked up a knife to his right. “How about I try with this?”
“Dirk!” Ruby shouted.
Rory froze and got wide-eyes as Dirk let go of the knife. Seth quickly brought up his hand and stopped it before it reached Rory and he sighed in relief. “You just tried to kill me.”
“You need to learn when enough is enough.”
“What’d I say?”
“Just forget it.”
“That’s not very good advice. I won’t learn that way.”
Dirk’s eyes flashed red as he pointed at him again. “You won’t learn at all if you keep it up.”
Seth looked across the table at me and knew what I was thinking through all of this. It was like I was feeling it all again. “Bryce, are you—”
“I’m finished.” I stood up and put my napkin on my plate. “Everyone, I bid you goodnight.”
I couldn’t stay to hear anything else. No one else could have known what that felt like. I could still feel it even now. I don’t think that kind of pain is ever going to go away.
Chapter 32
Seth
Bryce walked out. I tried to stop it but Rory hasn’t quite exactly learned yet.
He was even about to say something else when he left the room but Dirk stopped him. “No.”
“But I—”
“I said no.”
“You are such a—”
“Rory.” I interrupted. “Do you remember what you were told about picking your fights?”
“Yeah.”
“Then think before you talk. Or next time I’ll let him kill you.”
“Please do.” Dirk muttered.
“And what exactly would that be teaching me?”
Dirk laughed. “Not to do it again.”
“Oh, how humorous.”
“That’s enough, Rory.” I demanded.
“What? I’m sorry.”
“No. It’s time for you to go upstairs.”
“But I―”
“No. Go.”
Rory sighed and got up from his chair. “Fine.” He turned to our parents and bowed. “Thanks again for din
ner, your majesties but it looks like I’m done for the night.”
“Of course, Rory.” Mother said with a smile. “Goodnight.” Rory smiled back and nodded as he turned to leave.
“Sweet dreams.” Dirk smiled. Rory turned back around and returned the smile.
“Don’t you even reply to that.” I said. “Go.”
Rory turned back around and walked out of the dining hall.
“Well, I’d say that went well.” Father said. “He’s coming along.”
“We still have a lot of work to do.” I replied.
“Unbelievably.” Dirk added.
“Well, you know, it would go a whole lot smoother if you were nice to him.” Mother said.
“It’s not our job to be nice. Once he learns that, it will get better.”
“You better hope if you only have four weeks.” Ruby added.
“It’ll be fine.” Dirk replied. “He’ll get there even if we have to beat him into shape.”
“Dirk!”
“What? It’s true. It’s the only way he’s learned so far.”
I sighed. “That is true. He was much worse when we met him and had to take him all the way back to Dorlin against his will.”
“You mean, you took him as your prisoner?” Jaylyn wondered.
Dirk laughed. “Yeah but he brought that on himself. Trever tells us to do whatever it takes to get him where he needs to be and we’re going to do just that. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got one last lesson for him before he goes to sleep.” He got up and started walking to the door.
“Dirk, don’t get rough!” I shouted.
Dirk turned around and walked backwards as he laughed. “I won’t too bad but don’t worry about it if you hear someone scream like a little girl, it’s just the kid and that means he failed!”
I sighed and put my head down on the table. “This is going to be the longest four weeks of my life.”
“The first week is almost over.” My father said. “But perhaps you should go assist him.”
I nodded and stood up. “I probably should.” I walked around to my mother and leaned down to her. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.” We kissed each other’s cheek. “Be sure to let us know his progress.”
“I will.”
I walked to the door. I would have liked to stay longer and talk about the possibility of Darius being Cadence’s father because of how Wyatt has been these days but I didn’t know if it was a good idea that everyone knew that I knew. It was still something I thought about, especially since I knew this thing with Wyatt wasn’t over because I struck him. Something was going to happen next. I just didn’t know what but we would be prepare for anything.
Chapter 33
Zayden
“Well, I’d say that was quite interesting to watch.” Troy said, breaking the silence after Seth departed.
Darius laughed. “Which part?”
“All of it probably.” Adele replied. “Like father, like son.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Darius wondered, sounding angrier now.
“Our son’s behavior towards Rory.” Ruby answered. “It’s almost familiar.”
“That’s not fair. I never put it on Dirk to hate him.”
“Maybe not.” I said. “But he gets that spitefulness from you. You can’t deny that.”
“Perhaps but he’s not the only one doing it. There’s just something else about that kid that’s been getting to all of them.”
“Well, whatever it is, it’ll pass.” Jaylyn added. “His future depends on it and they know that.”
“Speaking of the future.” I said. “The girls should be returning sometime within the next week and Jaylyn, I need you to be prepared and get to Naomi before Bryce does.”
She sighed and nodded. “I know but let us hope she’s not.”
“And if she is?” Troy asked. “What then? You know what this will do to him if he finds out.”
“Then we rid her of it.” Adele said. “He never has to know.”
“How do you plan on doing that?” Darius asked.
“With me.” Ruby answered. “I can take it from her.”
“You can really do that?” I wondered, hoping for some good news.
“Simply but it’s going to take time.”
“How much time?” Troy asked.
“Enough that someone has to keep Bryce distracted so he doesn’t know she’s returned. We wouldn’t want him to do something else he’ll regret.”
“Okay.” I said. “We can do that too. We just have to make sure he’s distracted with Rory when she gets here.”
“You better be absolutely sure you can do it.” Troy continued. He sounded a little demanding but we understood how things would be if it couldn’t be taken care of.
“Relax.” Ruby said. “I can. He’ll never have to know.”
It sounded good but we could only really hope at this point.
Chapter 34
Rory
I stayed up a little later after Dirk had finally left me alone. It was like he wanted to see what I had for dinner and he’s the one that watched it all go in. I guess I shouldn’t have minded it. Negative attention is better than getting no attention but I was determined to change all of that. I wanted them to be proud of me; I wanted my father to be proud of me. I deserved his acceptance, didn’t I? I’m back after all. Well—sort of back but I’m still not home. When I would be is the opportunity I had to prove it. I would have everything, their respect and my sword.
My sword.
I still wanted to see it and I honestly couldn’t help myself. It was kind of keeping me awake. I snuck out of my room and listened for Seth’s thoughts so I would know where his room was. It wasn’t far in fact. He was thinking of that Cadence girl so it was easy to find him.
I slowly opened the door and it creaked while being gently pushed open. I hoped I wouldn’t wake him or else I would have to make up some excuse for why I’m in here. I looked around with just the light from the moon lighting my way and saw the rolled up bundle of cloth sitting on the desk. I smiled to myself then took a step forward but heard Seth move in his sleep.
I paused for a moment and looked over at the bed to make sure he wasn’t waking up. He wasn’t. He just moved. I walked over to the desk and unraveled the sword. It was incredible and everything I imagined it would be but when I touched it, the eyes on the lion head began to glow. It frightened me. I quickly pulled my hand away and watched the eyes fade. I didn’t know what this meant. Was this sword cursed or something? I didn’t care at the moment. I quickly covered it up as fast as I could and got out of there.
Once out in the hall, I stood against the wall and was taking deep breaths. I’ve never seen anything like that before. It had to be cursed to do something like that. It was like the lion was looking right at me.
I was still shaking about it as I made my way back to my room to go to bed. I tried to forget about what I just saw and sought to tell no one. I didn’t want anyone to see me as afraid.
Chapter 35
Dirk
A week has passed and we had been gaining progress on teaching the young Prince the ways of proper behavior and formality as he embarked on his last two weeks before he would be announced as a man.
It was early morning and Seth, Bryce and I started the day with a warm-up training session before we would return to mentor Rory. We haven’t gotten much of this in since he’s been here but we all felt like we needed to.
We were each equipped with a wooden stick just to go light and were positioned outside of the palace on the grass. Bryce and I were facing each other and Seth started the match between us. “Begin.”
At that moment, Bryce immediately swung his stick towards me and I put up mine to block. I then spun around and swung at Bryce as Bryce ducked out of the way and swung low at my feet. I jumped over it and swung high towards him.
“Are you going to let me try this time?”
Rory had ran out to us with an extreme
measure of excitement and Bryce and I stopped.
“Do you think you’re ready?” Seth asked.
“Yeah, I’m ready but do you think I am?”
Seth smiled as he looked back at us.
“Why not?” I answered. “I’ll admit you’ve done well this last week. Maybe we should give you a break with some fun every now and then.”
“Really? You mean it?”
“Yeah.” Bryce said as he held out his stick to Rory. “Unless, you’ve changed your mind.”
He slowly started to pull the stick back and Rory grabbed it. “You don’t have to ask me twice.”
“All right, then get over there.” Seth said as he waved his hand away from us. “As always, we’ll start with the basics.” Rory took a few steps away with me and we faced each other. “You’re main goal is to not let your opponent strike you, this being Dirk. One strike in real life and you’d be dead so let’s practice your blocking first. Dirk, go easy on him.”
“I’ve got it. Hope you’re ready?”
Rory held tightly to his stick and smiled. “Ready when you are.”
“One double strike first then move to a triple.” Seth explained. “Remember, Rory, you are blocking only. Ready? Begin.”
I swung one end of my stick at Rory but he quickly blocked and I swung the other end toward him and he blocked again.
I smiled. “Not bad. You’ve been watching us.” Rory didn’t reply, just smiled. “Let’s see how you handle this.” I swung really quickly at him again.
Rory blocked and I immediately swung two more times but Rory blocked both times as well. I knew his confidence was up and this easily became a way to bring him down. I swung at him several more times so he was getting distracted by blocking and then I spun around and swung low, taking out Rory’s feet. He fell to the ground.
I stood over him and put the stick in his face. “You showed too much self-assurance that time. Best if you keep that to yourself.” I moved the stick away and put down my hand to help him up.
Despairing Tides (Fate's Intent Book 12) Page 17
