Page 62 of Royal Lies

The boy, was he Eli?

"Ugh, Everetta! How many times must I tell you-" The blond-haired boy began as the girl rolled her eyes.

"Ya, ya, ya, you told me once and you told me a thousand times. And.I. Told.You. You're an uptight prick, but doyoulisten? No. Tell me when you stop being a prick and I'll stop being an embarrassment to you. Besides we're in Flynny's laboratory~" The girl sang as she swung an arm around the displeased blond-haired boy's shoulders once more. They were of similar height with the boy being slightly taller than her but with her heels, they were about evenly matched.

"She does have a point brother- you can be a bit of a rule follower, you're kind of like a grumpy old man." The blue-haired boy agreed supporting the girl's claims as they began to both burst into laughter at the boy's flaming enraged face.

I turned as the memory faded out and the room began to sink back into the unkempt state it was in.

There across the room laid another photo of me and the prince, or not the prince. It was the boy from my dreams. He had the same face but something about his stance and behavior was yelling at me that the Flynn I knew now was not the one in this photo. This Flynn sure as shadows wasn't as confident as the one I just saw. No, the Flynn in the photo wouldn't hesitate to stand up against Eli, this new Flynn would rather eat a bucket of nails than argue with Eli.

Stepping across the room I gently splayed my fingers against the dust-covered smiling faces of the blond-haired girl and blue-haired boy. This time she was holding her puffed-up face in her hands trying to make a funny face as the boy beside her waslaughing at her antics, and there a few steps to my right was another photo. It laid against two bookshelves, it was as if all the shelves were carved into the wall so the pictures wouldn't be covered. Suddenly it was as if they were all glowing.

All across the room hung pictures upon pictures of me and... and that Flynn from my memories. Each in a separate pose but all was of us, of-

Ugh!

I clenched my head as another memory surged hitting me like a lightning bolt jolting me to death.

"I told you not to see her again-" The boy Eli was telling someone something. No- no he was angry, he was-

Suddenly another voice spoke, the girl, me, I was fuming as I stormed out of the small nook below the stairs I had been hiding in.

"Excuse me?!Youwere not just going to tell him what I think you were right? Eli! What Flynn and I get up to is none ofyourdamn business." I was shoving a finger in Eli's face, my own face clouding over in a storm as I made my claims.

But like always Eli only scowled back, "Everetta this a family matter-"

"No- fuck that! This involves me, soIdamn well am going to give my two shits on this!" I was bellowing back causing Eli's shoulder to tense up.

"Everetta! This is no place for such crass language!" Eli was back looking around as if anyone would have been in the dingy narrow tower stairs.

"Oh please, as if anyone else is around, don't worry I made sure of it. Back to the point- you have no right to control who and whatIsee Ellie." I fumed, turning around to the light snow blue-haired boy.

Startled by my sudden ire towards him the boy only raised his brows but his stance stood firm as his eyes lit with amusementand affection? "You, you're coming with me. We have another photo to take today." I had declared dragging Flynn by the hands and pulling him down the stairs.

Gripping his half-brother's arm, Eli scolded down at the pair, "Flynn, you promised me-"

The glare that the girl- the glare that I threw back towards Flynn would have seared any fae to ashes but Flynn sighed and looked over at both fae. "Yes, I did promise you I would keep away from Everettaonlybecause she was still hurting from her break up with that bas- I mean Lucarious, but now she's better. With that said, I have every right to be with her, brother. Now as the lady said, we have a picture to take today."

Yanking his arms free from Eli, Flynn took the lead and dragged me out. I was positively glowing because I won this round. I turned back, sticking out my tongue at an enraged Eli.

The scene faded and memories upon memories of each photo flowed through me, a festival, the Spring Solstice celebration, where Flynn had bought me my first crystallized fruit. Where we had danced with the dragons.

The photo of the day I first tried making my very own potion and succeeded, with Flynn's help of course. He's been teaching me which herbs and animals to use. Since he didn't have his own magic Flynn used potions to make up for it.

The time we both snuck out of some ball and decided to play a prank on Lucarious for how he had broken up with me. We destroyed his entire wine collection and his favorite crowns as well. I remember how enraged he was, magics that were fun.

Oh, and then during that hunting game, I was finally able to slay the three-headed slither snake. Flynn had been the first to congratulate me. He's shown up with a huge bouquet of pork skewers and-

I felt something wet trail down my cheeks as a photo popped up in my mind. Flynn was lying on the ground and I- no.

No.

"No!" A flash and I was back in my room.

Agony coursed through me. A searing torment tore at the very fabric of my soul. In a desperate attempt to stop the torment from racking my mind, I slammed my head against the wall. No! No! No- I don't no- Not this one. I don't want to remember this one.

But it won't stop. Why won't it stop?!

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