Page 52 of Royal Lies

In the past, on the very first day, even before my formal introduction to the whole family and court, he greeted me with an overly friendly smile. He waved at me as if we were long-lost friends. Little did I know, he had already schemed to poisonmytea that very night, rendering me unconscious, to draw my blood and confirm our relationship through something or contraption. It was after that procedure he did that he managed to determine that we were indeed brothers. As if he needed to ensure it was true and not just nonsense spouted from our father's lips.

Letting out a frustrated sigh I shook those memories away as I stared out onto the field. There he was the false prince. The boy huddled against the gritty surface of the ground, his back plastered against the sand. A sword loomed threateningly, directed straight at his neck, a slow trickle of blood from the nick of the sword rolled slowly down his ashen face.

Coward.

I scolded as I watched the match before me. Clearing my throat I schooled my features once more approaching the pair in the sand-filled training grounds.

My brother, despite his outward appearance of vulnerability, was never one to shy away from a fight. He embodied the spirit of a Wolf. Battling with not just muscles and swords but also with the intellectual prowess of alchemy and his knowledge obtained from books. He knew how to defend himself, employing strategic positions and subtle techniques like thoseneedleshe often used to sink into opponents' skin. Pushing his new poisonous concoctions into their bloodstream to render them useless on the battlegrounds. At least he did in the past. He was the most underhanded Wolf I had ever had the “delightful” pleasure of meeting.

The urge to command that boy to rise surged within me, for hewasmy brother in this lifetime whether I liked it or not and hewasa Wolf for lords' sake, where is his pride! No Wolf should ever bow to a mere servant. The real Flynn would have known that. While our citizens were undoubtedly the source of our power,we, as leaders, had to exemplify whywedeserved to rule. Show thatwewere far superior to their common minds. Show our people exactly whywerule andtheybare their necks to us, not the other way around!

With every molecule of strength in me, I forced a smile to slit across my face and approached the knight.

"Dear commander," I greeted, announcing my arrival, as the formalities dictated that the commander teach the prince.

To my dismay, this wasn't the case here. To my utter horror, he was nothing but an apprentice to the great commander. Meaning the commander took it upon himself to disregard the king's order and send, not even a proper knight, but an apprentice, a damn apprentice, to tutor the Prince, the damned crown prince, how to use a bloody sword. Does even the commander see this prince, if you could even call him that, a meek little boy unbefitting of his combat expertise? It was he, not the commander but the apprentice, who greeted me with respect, acknowledging my role as theAmbassador of Dracool.As this utter fool of a damned Mother of all Wolves little prince sat here on his bum not making a single sound, no greeting, no proper hellos,nothing. Something a prince should never do in front of guests, especially not ambassadors from other realms, courts, or anywhere really. Yet, here he was.

Breathing in and out slowly through my nostrils I tried my very best to keep my smile. Tonotwring this false prince's bloody neck.

Suppressing my frustration, I decided to test this apprentice, to truly see if perhaps this was just a fluke, and despite being an apprentice he was truly skilled. For I had given up on that waste of space behind me now. I could already tell he was no great swordsman, so if I could prove that this apprentice was truly actually skilled perhaps this false prince might be able to save even the smallest amount of pride. I will show that he didn't simply lose to some fae withnoskill.

Grasping the sword from the ground, abandoned by the cowardly prince, I pointed it at the apprentice's throat. "Might I give it a try?" I bared my teeth in a predatory grin. Or maybe I just want to teach thisapprenticethat he couldn't go shaming the royal family.

I have to restore the name of the Wolves. I can't allow a royal family member to be defeated so easily by a mere apprentice. That and even if he was nothing but a doormat this boy was still my brother in this life. A brother whose honor had been damaged. Blood is all that matters most with only two exceptions, Akasuki and Everetta.

Despite the apprentice's initial bafflement, a few well-placed taunts allowed me to go a round or two with the man. And oh how my blood simmered. As if I needed any more proof after this. I don't think I even need to spar with the prince, seeing as how utterly lacking this fool in front of me was. Howdarethis prince masquerade as Flynn when hecouldn'teven hold his own against a mere apprentice, and a subpar one at that.

I had the little knight pinned on his back, a mirror image of the coward that was now related to me. His gaze beamed with admiration and fright as he stared up at me, a praise at the tips of his tongue no doubt. He didn't even put up a good fight. Ismirked, my eyes gleaming with a hunger for blood, for the head of my victim in honor of my win when a sudden clap echoed like thunder on the sparring field.

Shoulder stiffening I turned facing the cocky figure that had interrupted my bout of fun. My eyes rolled at his audacity. Silently, I instructed the apprentice to leave with a flick of my hands. Sighing out my disappointment and disgust as I spun around to glare at theweaklingof a brother I had as hestillsat flat on his ass on the damned bloody dirt in awe up at me. I rolled my eyes once more, helping the little boy up with a hand. Yes, yes, I do love the admiration but time and place boy, time and place.

I don't want such admiration from someone who can't even defend themselves against an inferior apprentice.

How distasteful. Honestly, does he have no shame?

"You should learn how to do things properly if you're going to pretend," I slammed the little fencing stick of a sword I had in my hands toward his chest. The boy froze eyes wide as if caught.

"Leave," I growled out as I didn't want that bastard king to catch wind of this incident if he hadn't already. Family business should remain in the family. I'll address that little boy's true identity later.

Maybe it was the animosity in my eyes or something else but the boy left. Though I could tell he wanted to say something. What I might never know, or perhaps he might scavenge some courage to confront me about dismissing him.

Narrowing my gaze over at the arrogant bastard making his way towards me, I wondered why in the lords Lucarious never tried to pursue Everetta again, despite his hunger for my other half. Perhaps it was because of my little brother.

In a not-so-subtle way, my dear eerie little brother poisoned the Phoenix King's drinks every day all day with poisons just barely enough to kill, leaving the Blood King in pain and tormentin his dreams for months with no end in sight. That was until one evening during a ball in the Blood King's Lands, where my brother had approached the king and announced he had a cure for all the tired relentless torment of nightmares and unbearable pains he'd felt thus far if he would stay away from his love, his obsession, Everetta.

I didn't know just why, when, or even how my brother fell for Everetta if you could call it love, but he did. At first, Lucarious seemed to be enraged but as time flew by and more and more poisonings occurred to him, that even the witch could not cure, and he was on death's bed, the King of Blood and Fire finally relented and gave up his pursuit. To this day, I haven't a clue how my younger brother snuck the poison into Lucarious's drinks every day all day, all the while performing his duties as deputy advisor to me. This was after I was recognized as the crown prince by my father. So my brother must have fallen for her sometime between me finally getting the recognitionIdeserved and him still having the crown in his future.

I could already feel the cold chill creeping up my spine as I shivered at the memories. It's as if he has eyes on me and Lucarious even now...

I swear he truly scares me at times. That in itself should mean a lot, not many things scare me.

"Well, that was interesting," Lucarious glanced around taking everything in. As I feared it was already too late for me to mask the true identity of my new brother. He already suspects the truth. Still, I mustn't let on to anything. Why I'm still protecting that imposter I haven't a clue. Brother or not, something about that false prince was just wrong and, I've seen wrong, lords my true younger brother was wrong in so many ways.

Showing indifference I cocked a brow, "Oh? I would think the King of Blood and Fire would be immune to the glitz and glamour of swords."

Lucarious chuckled as his pearly white teeth, a sharp contrast to his tanned skin, gleamed against the winter sun. "Oh, of course not. How could I ever find that not beautiful? I'm always ever so captivated. The red of blood just hits differently, don't you think? At last, I wasn't referring to the handling of swords but more so towards that coward that was behind your back a moment ago, Eli." He grinned, staring at his perfectly clean nails. His nonchalant phrasing was not fooling me. He knew.

Bloody hell.

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