"Has Rose not come by yet?" Keir asked, patting the bed next to him until he found Lucas's arm. Shaking his head, stopping himself half way through the motion, Lucas quietly said that she hadn't. Keir bit his lip at the prince's answer, concerned.

"She did faint when she saw you before," Lucas said, Keir leaning against his shoulder as he stared into nothingness. "She is probably still trying to build up her spirits to see you. She is delicate in that way."

"I suppose so," Keir sighed, before turning to Lucas. "Should you not go see her?" Lucas froze, Keir feeling it. "Lucas, as much as I wish for you to stay, you have been here looking after me all day. Rose is probably wondering where you are."

"But you need me to help you with your meal," Lucas started, Keir shutting down his excuse with a kiss, his lips hitting the corner of Lucas's mouth, slightly off the mark he was aiming for, though the desired effect was still completed.

"I don't have eyes, Lucas, but last time I checked I still have my hands," Keir said, grinning as he wiggled his fingers in the air. Lucas couldn't bring himself to laugh as he stared at Keir's covered eyes, worried. Not feeling Lucas moving, Keir sighed, giving Lucas's cheek a squeeze. "Lucas, I'm fine. Go to Rose."

"I don't want to," Lucas admitted, Keir squeezing his cheek. 

"She's your wife." The words were bitter on his tongue, but Keir remained firm. "Go to her, Lucas." Pushing Lucas's shoulder lightly, Keir smiled when he felt Lucas's weight lift off the bed. 

"I'll be back later tonight," Lucas said, Keir nodding. 

"I'll be right here."

~~~

The clock struck six in the evening when Lucas left Keir's room, a pair of servants bowing past him carrying Keir's evening meal right on time. Lucas itched to be the one to feed it to him, as he had done for both his lover's breakfast and lunch, but he could see Keir throwing the bowl of hot soup on him if he returned without finding out what is keeping Rose away from her brother.

Stomach growling, Lucas stepped into the dining hall, his father raising a surprised brow as he entered. 

"Lucas! We did not expect you to join us, we thought you would still be resting in your room," his father said, quickly calling for a servant to set another place at the table beside Rose and to inform the chef to prepare another serving. Rose did not look at him as she swirled a glass of sweet wine in her hand, Lucas frowning. 

"Yes, well, sitting in my room was boring me to pieces, so I decided to come down for dinner." Rose scoffed under her breath, only Lucas being close enough to hear the noise, his frown deepening. 

Rose had never acted like this before, so... cold. Her distance from him made him grow cold, though he knew that he deserved this sort of treatment a long time ago when he began to neglect her, in both body and soul.

"How is Keir faring? He has been awake for two days, but I'm sure with his... condition, it has taken some time to adjust," Lucas's mother asked Rose as they chewed on their first course. Lucas glanced at his wife, who cleared her throat as she gently dabbed at the edge of her mouth with the serviette that rested on her lap.

"I would not know, I have yet to visit him," Rose said, turning to Lucas with a sharp look in her eye. "Lucas has been spending a lot of time with him, however. It is probably better to ask him." Lucas felt himself grow cold. Lucas's parents glanced at him, confused, as they had thought he had spent most of his time in his room recovering. 

"Lucas?" his father asked, brow raised, Rose's eyes afire as he floundered. 

She knows.

Lucas felt his appetite disappear as Rose suddenly laughed, exclaiming that the cured fish in front of them was absolutely delectable, his parents turning to her to chime in with their thoughts on the dish. Lucas was on edge for the rest of the dinner, waiting for Rose to mention something damning, to reveal the cursed affair that had been going on long before Keir and Lucas confirmed their feelings, their attraction for each other betraying Rose prior to their time in the north.

"We need to talk," Lucas said under his breath as a servant lifted his nearly untouched dessert from in front of him, Rose laughing quietly.

"What is there to say?" Rose asked, getting up from her seat, excusing herself politely before walking out of the dining hall. Chasing after her, Lucas grabbed onto her elbow, Rose wrenching her arm away from him, whirling around with tears in her eyes. Blue eyes stared back at her, Lucas aching. 

"Rose," Lucas started, his wife rolling her eyes. His eyes.

"I thought you had forgotten my name, husband," Rose said, smiling dryly at her name on his tongue. "You know, at first I thought you couldn't bare to touch me because of your guilt over not being able to stop the witch from taking my brother. Or maybe because you were self conscious over your hand. I did not expect it to be because you weren't in love with me. My brother, Lucas? Really? Of all the people, my brother?" Rose's voice rose, Lucas's eyes widening as a few servants stopped in their tracks, eyes turning to the couple as they watched on curiously. 

"Rose, come here," Lucas said, gripping Rose's wrist tightly, the smaller woman resisting with futile effort. 

"Lucas, unhand me," Rose said roughly, tugging her hand away from Lucas, whose fingers only tightened around her slender arm. "Where are we going?"

"To your brother," Lucas said simply, Rose struggling harder as they grew closer to her brother's chambers. 

Keir heard the scuffle outside the door before it spilled into his room, his head turning towards the muffled, angry cries in concern. Keir jumped as something slammed on the door, the voices that were obscured by the heavy door barging into his room. 

"Lucas, I do not want to!" Rose yelled, Keir frowning. 

"Rose?"

Lucas said nothing as he closed the door behind them, locking it tightly. When he made sure that the door was indeed locked, and that Rose was not in a position to rush past him and escape, Lucas spoke. 

"She knows, Keir."

Rose stood there quietly, eyes not looking at her brother, whose head turned around the room, trying to find her. 

"I don't understand," Keir said, patting the bed around him, thinking that Rose may be sitting beside him. Stepping towards his lover, Lucas gently pulled Keir's head in Rose's direction, the young woman still standing there with her head down, beautiful face pulled down in a scowl. 

"She knows," Lucas repeated, taking Keir's hand in his, the man's mouth popping open as he slapped Lucas's hand away, wondering why he was doing something like that in front of Rose. "Keir, she knows. About this, about us." Taking Keir's hand in his again, fingers linking together tightly, Keir stopped breathing. 

"How?" Keir breathed, the bandages in front of his eyes growing damp. At her brother's ashamed voice, Rose looked up, her face twisted in anger. She was angry, and she wanted to yell at him, at both of the men standing before her. Her mouth opened, harsh words about to spill, until she saw her brother sitting there, and all of her words just left her. 

Her brother, big, tall and strong, suddenly looked so small, as if they had returned to when they were younger, before he was exiled and when she was taller and stronger than he was, truly an older sister in age and in stature. He did not look like the Keir that she had grown to know after his return from his exile, his hand shaking as it held tightly onto her husband's, as if he would lose himself if he let go. Rose felt sick again when she saw his bandages, knowing that the eyes that had always matched hers since they were born were no longer there. Keir's unseeing eyes stared at her, and Rose felt herself stepping forward, tears streaming. 

"Brother..." Rose said, voice cracking as she climbed onto the bed, Keir feeling the shift in the mattress as she crawled next to him. Patting the bed next to him, Keir's lip quivered as he felt his sister's hand grab his, her body soon pressing against his side, face buried in his neck. 

"I'm sorry," Keir said, bringing an arm around his sister, kissing her on the head, making Rose only cry harder into his shoulder. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." Lucas gave Keir's hand a tight squeeze before pulling back, walking out the door as he left the twins alone, wiping away his own tears as their sobs disappeared behind the door. 

Walking back to his chambers to enter the empty room alone, Lucas imagined that this was how Rose felt every night, lying in their bed without him next to her.

Lonely.