Free Web NovelChapter 154: Chapter 154 The Aunt and Her Story
Blaze’s POV
We dismissed the nobles and commoners who had gathered for the trial. Then we ask the other Royals to join us for a talk with the Dragon Sage. They agree, and Oron is especially interested in what he has to say. He has been staring at my Queen a lot since she visited him this morning after breakfast. I don’t like his stare. It’s adoring, almost loving.
"Do we have to take the other Royals? Why can’t we handle this ourselves?" I ask as we sit down to dinner in our private room. We are only Chase, Amber, our daughters, and Amber’s parents.
"Yes, we need to keep them in the loop, and we need their help with Callus and Gia escaping yet again. We have to be open." Amber answers before Chase can open his mouth.
"What she said." He says with a smirk, giving her a side look. Amber rolls her eyes.
"But that Oron guy. I don’t like him. He keeps looking at Amber like she is the goddess incarnated."
"Awe, are you jealous my fierce water beast?"
"No! But I am annoyed as hell."
"He keeps staring because he has never experienced magic like mine. They do not have mages or dragon witches in the East due to a past King’s paranoia."
"That’s what he thinks... They have plenty of magical people in the East, but they are underground in fear for their lives." A voice from the door says. Our aunt is leaning on the doorframe, and Amber’s eyebrows knit together.
’Little moon, what is the matter?’
’She worked with Callus, although she told me it was a guise, I do not trust her.’
’What do you mean she worked with Callus?’
’She was there when I was a prisoner, and she was the one who freed me, but the point is - she knew of his plans and she told no one.’ Chase takes in a sharp breath, having eavesdropped on the conversation.
"Excuse me, I need to tuck on our children. They are very tired." Amber says with a cold voice, standing and holding out a hand to Melody and Elina. They have been half asleep since we started dinner, and I think the day’s events wore them out.
"We will wait for you in the living space of our room, baby," Chase replies, and she nods once. We exchanged looks. I have never seen Amber act so cold toward another person, not even towards Chase, Callus, or the two bitches. This is very uncharacteristic of her. Abigail’s eyes cloud over, as does Matthew’s, and then their faces darken. Guess she told them the same she told us.
After Amber has gone with the girls, Chase leads us to our room and gestures for everyone to sit down. I get some drinks from the fridge in the breakfast nook, and sit down beside Chase.
"What can we do for you aunt?" He asks, folding his hands on his lap.
"I need to talk to you, all of you."
"Well, then you’ll have to wait until our mate has put the kids to bed." freewebnσvel.cѳm
"Surely you could have asked the staff to do that? That’s what they are here for anyway."
"If you haven’t noticed - we don’t have that much staff in the private wing these days. I have made some structural changes after taking over as King, and one of them is that we have a chef and two young girls in training to serve at dinner time in our private dining room. Breakfast we make ourselves here, and lunch is in the public dining hall to be with our people." Our aunt lifts an eyebrow.
"You are very different from your father, Chase."
"And is that a bad thing?"
"Not bad per se, but..."
"But he is not his father, your brother and you should count your lucky stars, that’s the reality. Callus is rotten to the core, and you did nothing. Nothing to stop him, or warn us. Nothing but acting when it was almost too late." An angelic voice says from the door to the girl’s room.
"That’s not the whole story, Amber."
"That’s either my Queen or Your Majesty, Princess Rose. And if that is not the whole story, then tell us." She walks to us, and Chase tucks her into his lap. I grab her feet, massaging them. Amber smiles. It’s small, but it’s there. Good! We need her calm, so she doesn’t kill our aunt if she says the wrong thing.
Rose sighs.
"This is not a happy story, but for you to understand the truth, you need to hear it. Back when Callus and I were kids, our father made sure to know he was very disappointed I had been born first and Callus after. He raised us to compete with each other for his love and recognition. We were never close, and the older we got the more Callus competed with me. He had an ambition to be King, and I didn’t want to be Queen, so I let him think he won all the time. Our father was again disappointed in me. He wanted us both to be fierce, but I held back. Callus was my little brother." A stray tear slides down her cheek.
"When I turned 18 our father announced he would let the crown pass to his precious son, who was the only of his children to have the ability to lead with a fierce heart. I was a sad little soft girl. So, when Callus turned 18 the year after me, he expected our father to give him the crown, but he only laughed. ’Silly boy.’ he would say, ’you are not equipped to be King yet.’ And then he went on with his day. A week after Callus’s birthday our father was found dead in his chambers. No one knew how or why. The King wasn’t ill. Our mother was devastated and took her own life that evening. I lost them both in a day." More tears stream down her cheeks, but Amber tenses. She knows something. I look at her, but she shakes her head no. Whatever it is, she is not willing to tell us right now.
"Callus made it clear that I was not welcome anymore. He didn’t want competition with the true heir to the throne. He made me sign a paper stating I renounced the throne forever, and then sent me away. I didn’t even attend our parents’ funeral. He had his mate that our father had chosen for him, and not long after I heard she had fallen pregnant. I moved to the outskirts of the West Dragon Kingdom, not wanting him to feel threatened, but I did keep in contact with his Queen. She was a sweet woman, and would have been a great Queen if he had let her. But she wasn’t her mate, and as rumors and news reached me, I knew he was evil. Evil through and through. I started the rebellion in secret. Recruiting loyal people, and making a spy network within the castle." She looks at Amber. "I reached out to Callus a few years back, making him think I was truly a believer in his course, but what I really wanted was to see my son, who he stole at birth, and my nephew. My son was out of reach, brainwashed by his uncle. But my nephew? He was a sweet boy. He had inherited his mother’s disposition, and I knew he would be a valuable ally." She looks at Chase, who nods.
"You knew?" Amber asks, her eyes wide with surprise.
"I did. I knew she was there, and she was delivering news, plans, and maps over troops and allies to my father."
"Why didn’t you tell me?"
"Amber, I need you safe. And if you knew, you would have been far from safe. You weren’t safe as it is."
"But... I could have helped." Chase kisses her hands.
"I know, baby. But at the time I was so jealous of Blaze, not knowing he was my brother, and I was sure I was losing you! I didn’t want to lay this on you on top of everything else I did to you. Would you have believed me?" Amber sighs.
"Probably not." Rose clears her throat.
"This is all nice, but.." A knock on the door interrupts her. Tristan opens the door on a ’come in’ from me, and bows his head. He tells us they are all waiting on us, and Berion is ready to tell us everything. This is going to be a long night.
"Tell Berion and the others we are sorry, but it will have to wait until morning. We have a family issue to handle." Chase says, and Tristan bows again, backing out. His eyes sweep to Rose, and they are unreadable, but something is going on here, and I’ll be damned if I don’t figure out what it is!
