I run back into the palace, confused of what my reaction should be. Should I feel guilty? I mean, if Garte did find out I could say that he kissed me and I tried to fight back.

But I didn't. I even went for that kiss.

"Lady Ro'Meave, are you hurt? You seem distressed." A dark skinned maid asks me.

"No, I'm okay." I say. "Thank you, though."

"Anytime." She says with a slight nod.

"Let us know if you need anything!" I say.

"Will do, m'lady!" She says as she runs off to go to her next job.

Those maids have been treated terribly with past monarchs. Garte and I made it apparent that we were going to treat them with respect. It's one of the things I liked about him, he was strong but cared for those people. I sigh, remembering that it's all in the past now.

I walk past his office, trying not to get noticed by Garte and disturb his work. I move my feet quietly towards the direction of our bedroom, but I hear two voices talking. Two voices that I don't hear talk quieter that often.

"Who's that?" Garroth's voice asks.

I can automatically tell its Garroth's voice. It's a little deeper and rougher than Zane's. Since he is four, it makes sense. Zane is a little less rambunctious and plays a little less rough than Garroth, too.

"That's your uncle Tobin, bud." Garte says.

"Where is he now?"

I peek into the office to see Garroth holding a small picture, presumably of Tobin. Garte and Tobin were close, and it's especially hard for Garte to talk about him. As he turns back to Garroth, I can see tears in his eyes. He's biting his lip, probably trying not to let those tears fall.

"Are you crying, daddy?" He asks.

Garte picks up Garroth and puts him on his lap. "Nah, little man. I'm okay."

I notice another small picture on his desk. Garte writes something down as Garroth's curious blue eyes trail over to it. He reaches for it and picks it up. Upon staring at it carefully, he turns to Garte and holds it up for him.

"Who's this guy, daddy?" He asks.

Garte puts his pen down and looks over at the picture. His face goes ghostly pale and his eyes grow wide. He quickly snatches the picture from Garroth's hands and puts it in the pocket in his jacket.

"That's... No one, bud." He says.

"Well it must be someone." Garroth says in a pleading tone, basically asking for the picture back or for an answer.

Before Garte gets too angry, I gently knock on the door. They both turn to me. I look at their resemblance. Even though they have different expressions, one smiling and one shocked, they look almost exactly alike. I smile at both of them.

"Hey, Garroth, can you go play with Zane while daddy and I talk for a bit?" I ask.

He jumps off Garte's lap. "Sure."

He runs out of the room. I smile as he runs towards his room and I shut the door. Garte sighs. His hands are slightly shaking. He bites his lip and looks up at me, his navy blue eyes standing out more than anything.

"Are you okay? That was... Not like you." I say.

He does have times where he doesn't give answers to things. But, he doesn't act like the way he's acting now, scared and nervous. He gets up and walks over to the door, opening it slightly and presumably making sure nobody's there. He shuts the door and locks it. As he turns to me, I can tell he's about to say something serious.

"Zianna, I'm about to tell you something very important. You... May want to sit down." His words are quiet and hesitated.

I sit down in a chair across from his. He sits down slowly and folds his hands together and then lets them fall to a more natural position. He looks me straight in the eye.

"I told you about Tobin. Now.. You have the right to know about my other brother." He says.

"Other brother?!" I exclaim.

He has never mentioned any other siblings besides Tobin. And even then, I had only met Tobin a couple of times. He was always doing business or talking to the citizens. He was a nice man, though.

He nods. "His name was Theodore, but we... We called him Theo."

I sit back. Theodore? That can't be. Theodore Reynolds can't be his brother. No, there must be hundreds of men named Theodore in Ru'aun. It's quite a common name.

But I can tell this is hard for Garte to talk about. It seems like it's just as hard for him to talk about Theo as it is to talk about Tobin, maybe worse. He can talk about Tobin to certain extents without getting upset.

"He went missing two months before you and I met, which was a year before Tobin was killed. I've been looking for him since. There's been no trace of him." He says.

"What did he look like?" I ask quickly.

"Nothing like me." He shakes his head as he talks. "No, he... looked more like our father. We had some similar features, like in the jaw line an ear shape. But other than that, there was always something different."

I nod. "I'll... let you get back to work. You calm down, okay?"

He nods. I sigh, unlock the door and step out again. I walk quickly towards the chambers and sit down on the bed. Burying my face in my hands, I take a deep breath.

He said there were only a few features between Theo and him. But when I look at Theo, I see almost none. They don't look the same at all. I take a deep breath.

Does that mean I can see him again? Since they really don't look like siblings at all, I doubt they are. I take my face out of my hands and stare at the wall, words repeating themselves in my head.

That's not his brother.

They aren't in anyway related.

They don't even look alike.

That's not his brother.

••••••••
Ya'll I have ideas for this book that's going to mess with your mind so hard.

Also I'm listening to Hamilton.

Yay!

Thanks for reading! Bye!
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