"He's not alone," Zeke whispered.

"Hmm..." Yeran hummed, standing straight.

"Sorry for no prior warning," Ruth said.

"We thought you might not be so open to a lone conversation if my presence was indicated." Aki explained.

Yeran raised a brow.

"I'm not alone, you asked for Zeke as well?" He questioned, guards up.

It was very unusual for the two brothers to even be in the same room without being at each other's throats, much less have a conversation.

"You trust him, and we need allies, the more, the better," Ruth said.

Yeran hummed.

"Come, this might be a long conversation, we should get comfortable." Ruth added.

They all followed him through the backdoor of the building they were standing near, almost sneaking upstairs.

The place was brightly lit, grandly decorated, music, giggles, songs and merriment abundant in air.

"This is a music home, are you certain we won't be overheard?" Yeran asked.

"Sometimes the most obvious places are the most overlooked as well," Aki replied.

They entered a private room, the table already heavy with refreshments.

They took seats, ignoring the snacks and drinks.

"Start talking," Zeke ordered.

Aki narrowed his eyes at him, but didn't said anything.

"I hope you are aware that king Dilherra is trying to kill you," Ruth asked.

Yeran's brow twitched.

"Everyone is trying to kill me, it's nothing new, having enemies is part of being a prince." Yeran replied uncaringly.

"Also, why have you two suddenly turned traitor? Aki I get, you hated your father, but what of you Ruth?"

"He is not our father," Aki said, so very casual as if discussing weather.

"Excuse me?"

"King Dilherra, or, Yor Derhan, was never our father, he was the high general of Dilhevia, 20 years ago."

"What, are you speaking or Aki, is this another ploy of yours?" Yeran snapped, unimpressed.

"If I had wanted you dead Prince Yeran, you would have been dead." Aki's humorless voice had no deception.

Yeran furrowed his brows, shooting a glance at Ruth.

"He speaks the truth your highness, you dying was never in the plans," Ruth clarified.

"Hold on, I don't particularly understand what is going on here, what plan, why are you two awfully chummy out of the blue?" Zeke interrupted.

"We never really were enemies Lord Zeke," Ruth admitted.

The two brothers shared a glance. Aki took a breath while Ruth sighed, just as deep.

Yeran narrowed his eyes.

"Start from the beginning, and start making sense!" He ordered.

"The start, would be when we were around fifteen?," Ruth glanced at bis brother from clarification. Aki nodded.

"It was at then we met an old, retired lieutenant of the army. Someone from before we were born.

He took one glance at Aki and almost prostrated on the ground before we stopped him. And then started crying of how he had never suspected the queen of infidelity.

As you know, this would be a bit of a confusion, why would he suspect mother of infidelity, she was married to Yor, whom we called father,"

"And naturally, we asked of the meaning of his worlds." Aki took over from Ruth, so seamlessly, as natural as breathing, as if they had always completed each other's words.

"And he appeared shocked to the core, he said, 'do you not know, who is your father?'. We were confused, but answered. The man was enraged enough to March straight to the king.

It was from him that we found no, Yor was not over father, it was Arun Dilherra, the rightful king who had been murdered by a trusted General in cold blood. The general who not oy stole his name and crown, but family as well"

"At first we thought he was crazy, who would believe such a thing, there never had been even a hint of the existence of another king, much less such a treason," Ruth started.

"Then he had started pointing out how neither of us actually look like Yor and how he seems to hate us the most from his children.

It is true I inherited my looks from mother, but Aki looked nothing like her, nor like Yor, if not for the fact that we are twins and he has mother's eyes, anyone could have said he was adopted.

We still didn't believed him, but he appeared distraught enough we did not completely refused it either. We asked him to return home, to not speak a word of this to anyone and that we would meet him as soon as we can, we said that it was not safe here, that if Yor found of this conversation, there was no saying what he would do."

"He believed us," Aki said.

"And he went back, we debated on confronting Yor but decided against it. We went to find mother, she did not even let us finish a sentence, hashing us with great urgency and changed the subject, it was very suspicious. She asked us of our day, just casual things and made us go after the usual, but, unlike other days, she also gave us a book, small, inconspicuous, with a written warning, 'he's watching', there were tears in her eyes, so much pain in her face, but there was nothing we could do." His hands clenched on his robes.

Ruth put a hand over Aki's fist, tapping it gently and taking over.

Aki's fists loosened, but the rigid line of his spine did not waver, nor did he withdrew his hand from under Ruth's.

The small act did not went unnoticed by the other duo, thought they did not comment on it, yet.

"Our mother had written everything on that book, everything she had wanted to tell us, but did not had the ability to. Hoping that one day, one day she could.

The day king Arun died had been dark, there had been a flood and my father took a troop of 1000 soldiers for the relief mission. We had only been an year old.

Mother did not know of what truly happened, only that father had sacrificed his life to save someone and had gotten caught in the current. Not even his body was found.

The very next day, Yor, who had been nowhere near in the line of ascension had been crowned king and mother was to wed him instantly.

She was a frail woman with a weak constitute, she always had been, with two children only an year old, she hadn't had many options, to run away was to lead her children and herself to certain doom, she agreed."

By now, the brothers were holding each other's hand for dead life, each line of their body stiff, as if a glass under high pressure, about to shatter with a single tap.

...

Hey,

Sorry for cliffhanger, can't finish in same chap, will be too long, don't worry though, next chap will be out before night.

Been a while ah, I'm gonna upload this now as well, will continue both books.

Give a try for my other book as well,

--- "I will remake this world! With, or without you. You can choose to rise with me, or get burned with it!" ---

See you soon,

Arkhane.