Chapter 147: Aragon's Secret II

"There is a secret to my birth?" Wayne asked.

"Indeed, there is. One that your father told me on his sick bed and made me swear to carry it to my grave," Aragon said.

Curiosity suffused him, alongside it was a sense of dread.

Whatever this secret was, for his father to demand secrecy, then it was not pleasant.

"Why are you telling me if my father made you swear to keep it hidden," He inquired.

"He told me I was only allowed to tell you, and only you when I dim it fit or consider it beneficial to you," Aragon calmly said.

What could this secret be? Why had his father not told him by himself?

"Tell me, for I am listening," Wayne urged.

Aragon squared his shoulders as he prepared himself to reveal a deep truth. He began "Warren Wyatt was a very compassionate and a wise king. I served his father, your grandfather, as his Zeta. And I must say that from a young age, your father had always shown empathy and commitment towards family and friends."

Aragon had paused to catch his breath and Wayne felt an impatience like no other.

Speak!

He wanted to yell so loud, but managed to control himself and allowed the elder to resume speaking when he was ready.

"I too was shocked when he first told me. No one would have suspected it, his love was boundless and his affection knew no limits-"

"I am sorry to interrupt, but please can you go straight to the point?" Wayne cut in, he was antsy to hear this big secret that shrouded his birth.

Aragon's hooded eyes lifted and pinned him with a firm stare when he said "The late King Warren was not your father."

Wayne's jaw dropped. Rojan gasped in shock.

Simultaneously, they exchanged glances with each other.

"What do you mean by that?" Rojan asked after recovering from his shock.

"Yes, explain what you mean by my father is not my father," He added.

"He is the father that raised you, nurtured you, and mentored you. But he is not the father that sired you," Aragon explained.

Wayne felt his nerve fray with the weight of his words. Should he even be listening to this? To question the man he had known all his life as his father?

It felt wrong. Every part of him rejected this information.

However, deep within himself, he knew that Aragon would not sit here and lie to him. So he hardened his heart and asked "Who then is my father?"

He saw Aragon's fingers grow still from combing his beards and his beaded eyes darkened with repulsion as he said "The man you have always called uncle, Waylon Wyatt."

Now, this was a joke.

"You do not expect me to believe such a lie, do you?" He muttered, growing irritated by the entire situation.

How would he believe the man who had troubled him his entire life, had plagued him continuously, afflicted his throne, tormented those around him, and was responsible for the countless deaths of his beloved ones, was his father?

His arch-enemy?

Please, this was a lie. It had to be a lie. How could he believe such a lie?

Rojan was clearly overwhelmed with shock because he stood still, frozen in place, unable to say anything.

"When I first heard it, I was mystified. Just as you are now. But Warren was not the type to say careless things, so I know for a fact that it is true. Also, there is a piece of evidence to back up my story," Aragon informed them.

"How is this possible?" He wondered out loud, amazed at the severity of the matter.

"King Warren was not so lucky to find his fated mate, so he settled for a chosen mate, the queen. Whereas Waylon found his fated mate in the daughter of a phantom's chief. They had an affair and she came to inform him of her pregnancy, Waylon told her to get rid of it. That he was not interested in siring a halfbreed and all the king's before him had no half-breeds in their bloodline", he exhaled.

Then went on "At that time, his eyes were already fixed on the throne. He had long coveted to become king, but did not have the opportunity because Warren, his elder brother, sat upon the throne."

Aragon's eyes grew distant as he continued his tale "He had hoped that since his brother had no heir, he would be crowned King upon his demise. So he rejected your mother and you, who was in her womb because she was of a different species. He wanted no hindrance on his way."

Aragon shook his head "When King Warren found out about the situation, he was filled with compassion for the mother and the baby. So he went after your mother, to the land of the phantoms, and pleaded that she bear the child and give it to him. Since he was not able to have an heir, he would make you his son, his heir because despite being a halfbreed, you belonged to his bloodline. You were related by ancestry and family ties. A son he could not have, but will raise to be his."

Wayne felt a chill spread across his skin. He was bewildered and mortified.

He was… a half-breed?

Not a pureblood, but a half-breed?

And his maternal ancestry lay in the land of the phantoms, he was part wolf and part phantom.

He scratched his head, trying to process all the information at once "But if my mother was a chief's daughter, how did they easily give me away to my father? Surely, they ought to have put up a fight to keep me."

"Your mother died of depression immediately after giving birth to you. She took her own life out of deep sorrow. So the Chief, your maternal grandfather, had no real motivation to keep you. However, he made King Warren sign a peace pact between the two planes. Stating that whenever a war broke out on either plane, the other would rise to the defense of that plane, once the pledge was activated." Aragon paused.

Then he shrugged, "A good deal for the phantoms at the time because werewolves are one of the strongest species in the amortal world."

Woah, the phantoms had given him up for a price.

"The Pledge, did my father tell you where it was before he died?" He inquired.

"Indeed, he entrusted it into my care and instructed me to give it to you when it was time and the truth had been revealed," Aragon affirmed.

"Why did you wait this long to tell me? All those years Waylon had besieged me. Why did you not give me the Pledge?" He demanded.

"I could not reveal the truth to you at the time because your throne was being challenged. If you had used the pledge and the truth of your birth had come out, Waylon would have had a legitimate reason to oust you from the throne. The royal house and the people would not rally behind a half-breed king," Aragon notified him.

Then added "Revealing this truth to you even now comes at a great risk. If any of the other elders get a wing of this information. Your crown will be threatened."

He was absolutely right.

If the information got out that he was a half breed, the pureblooded royals would demand that he step down from his throne and relinquish the crown.

Coupled with the current rumors spreading of his madness. He did not stand a chance of keeping his throne.

"What of the queen? Everyone would have known she was not the one that gave birth to me since she was not my father's fated mate," he asked, trying to put together the pieces.

"When the child arrived, all the elders assumed that King Warren had found his fated mate and had a secret affair. And since your mother made no ruckus about it, we all let it go. No one would have suspected you to be a half-breed, the royal blood that runs through your veins is more dominant and prevailing than your other trait," Aragon stated.

Which was obviously true. Even he himself was finding it hard to believe he had any traces of phantom energy in him.

Then it clicked.

His trip to Hade's lair was a telltale sign.

When he had jumped into that inferno to breach the immortal realm, he had been somewhat perplexed about how he had survived that scalding heat. The temperature was high enough to melt him to the bone, no amortal would have been able to survive that trip.

Thinking back, he remembered his physical form had wavered into a spectral form. Making him float like air through the burning heat.

At the time, he had thought it was a normal procedure to breach the realm. Now he knew it was his other side, kicking in to save him from death by fire.

It was all starting to make sense to him.

He was not able to enter the gateway of Hade's lair because of his skills or his bravery. It was because of his nature that gave him access.

Stories were told of the underworld, yet no one ever made it back alive.

Which begged the question; who gave such detailed stories if they hadn't been there to witness it themselves?

It was definitely the phantoms.

Perhaps, they were the direct descendants of Hades. Children born out of his intimate union with a spirit that had transcended beyond into his keep.

Whatever their history was, it would be interesting to unravel. Somehow, he was entangled in such history because he came from a prominent lineage.

However, it was an unwelcome truth, coming at an unwelcome time.