Chapter Four

A woman came by to start a bath and help me get ready. She wouldn't talk to me no matter what I said – I wondered if she would get in trouble for speaking to me?

She passed me off to the guards once I was dressed and gussied up. They escorted me down the stairs to the main floor to what I assumed was the dining room. They told me to sit and stay in the chair at the end of the table so I did. They left the room and shut the doors behind me.

I looked around the room – it was a large, beautiful dining hall. The table was hand carved and adorned with fine china, silver utensils, candlesticks of silver and jewels, with a tablecloth of soft silk that draped over the sides and softly brushed against my hands.

I got up and looked at the rest of the room with expensive furniture, high end curtains, the large floor to ceiling windows, and the scenery through the windows. It was definitely a beautiful property, beautiful enough to be some kind vacation home for prior royalty. I went up to the only other set of doors in the room and tried to open them but they were locked.

I stepped back and let out a sigh then the doors opened in front of me.

"There she is." Aidan said and looked me up and down. He smiled when he saw me and walked towards me. I instinctively stepped back but once I calmed myself down I stopped.

"I don't remember you being timid." He said. It was intimidating so I began stepping back again until my back hit the table. He closed the back and looked down at me.

"You lead a-a vicious rebellion-" I say.

"We went over this earlier Ari." He says and pushes a piece of hair from my face. "I would die before I ever hurt you or let anyone hurt you ever again." His face was serious but affectionate. I believed him but still I was nervous.

"I'm still in an unknown place."

"My home. This place is my home."

"You've seemed to make it so."

He gave me a half cocked smile and put his arm down. "So I have again. This is where I spent my summers as a boy before it and my family was stolen from me by the same people who imprisoned me and beat me mercilessly. The same people you so callously lived with."

"Th-they weren't, they aren't-" I stutter.

"Don't," he says and slams his fist down causing me to jump, "don't defend them!"

"You have so much anger in you Aidan." I say and put my hand over his fist.

"Yes, I'm angry. Even when I thought they had taken everything already it seems they've taken you too."

"N-no ones taken me. They just…they were nice to me when I had no one."

"You think I am terrible but your King has killed hundreds, thousands all in the name of territory expansion. Who do you think is in this resistance?"

"I-I-"

"I'll tell you. It's men like me whose homes were destroyed, families killed, and lives forever ruined because of one mans lust and greed and the willingness of his men to kill for him. So yes, I'm angry Ari."

"How can there be love in your heart when it is filled with hatred already?" I ask as a tear streams down my face. "You are consumed with hatred for a man who is already on deaths door."

He scoffed. "You know nothing-"

"I know everything about loss Aidan. This pointless war took my brother from me – this resistance did that. You are perpetuating the death and violence you proclaim to hate so much. It's an endless cycle of fear and suffering. If that is all life is I…" I say then look away.

"We were happy once. We can be again."

I shake my head. "Not like this." He cupped my chin in his hands and raised my head so I was looking at him.

"It will all change once the monarchy dies."

"That's where you're wrong. It will never die. You may kill the King and his sons but there will always be another greed riddled man to take his place and another after him." I say, it startles him. He steps back and chuckles.

"You may have a point. We may have to rely on the boy Prince after all."

"O-Osamu?" I ask.

"No, the older one – Thebes."

"I didn't…I didn't meet him."

"I don't imagine you would. He's a bit of a hermit." He said with a bitter smile. "Now, I want to take you on a tour of your new home."