Page 100 of Enchanted Kingdom
Warrick skipped back over to the game and sat down next to Prince Krewan. “That’s okay. You can stay and play too if you would like.”
And that was when I saw it. I looked from one to the other and it was as if time itself stopped ticking. While Warrick’s skin tone was two shades darker than Krew’s, their almost-gray eyes were identical. And their cheekbones. The jaw. The nose. It was all the same.
Warrick wasn’t just any orphan.
He was a royal.
More than that, seeing that Prince Krewan was here visiting, it could even be that Warrick was actually an heir to the throne.
“Jorah,” Prince Krewan warned.
“Yes, Your Grace?” I was just sure my eyes were wide with recognition while my head went spinning. Was Warrick actually Prince Krewan’s son?
“Whatever you are thinking in that cunning head of yours, stop it.”
It wasn’t a mere suggestion. It was a demand.
I gave Warrick a smile and told him I would see him in a bit and fled back down the stairs where Owen was waiting at the bottom, leaning against the doorway.
“Did you find Warrick?”
“Yes,” I said. “Let’s go outside with the others.”
Owen gestured with an open arm as if I should go first and I wasted no time getting farther away from Prince Krewan. I knew in my soul Warrick was a Valanova, the heir to the Wylan throne. The fact that he washere, that sweet boy who was far too mature for his age, and stuck here when he should’ve been raised in a castle, was an outrage I felt stirring deep within me.
How dare they?
The fresh air hit, and I took in deep pulls of oxygen.
“You okay, dear?” my mother asked from where she was chatting with Hattie while they observed the children playing.
I looked to Owen’s eyes as I said. “Yes. Fine.”
Owen just looked back at me before turning to position himself to guard the area.
Did Owen know what I now knew? He had to have.
Alani pulled on my skirts. “Joraaaaah.”
I picked her little body up and gave it a hug. I was a dead woman. I had just figured out a piece of information I never should have known. I wasn’t sure I’d be allowed back to see this orphanage ever again. If I was even allowed to keep breathing beyond today.
The children wanted to play a game where we kicked a ball around. I happily threw myself into it for the distraction. Mentally, I was a wreck. But I had to carry on as if I did not just figure out the greatest secret in the entire kingdom.
As we were finishing up the game and laughing, all of a sudden Warrick was there, running for me again.
“I’m so glad you were able to visit!” he said as he hugged me.
“Me too, buddy. Me too.”
And that was when I saw Prince Krewan standing by the door, saying something to Owen.
I didn’t want to leave yet, or possibly ever, so I stood talking to some of the older children with Alani on my hip when Owen approached.
“We need to leave for the castle now,” he said calmly. Like everything wasn’t about to explode.
“May I say goodbye to my mother at least?”
He gave me a look as if I had asked the silliest question he had ever heard. “Yeah. Of course.”
