Chapter 16

It all makes sense. Why no one would talk about him. Why everyone appeared to shun him. Why father had him cooked every time he visited and why mother was so upset. I can’t believe Tobias, my uncle, could do something like this. Something so cold blooded for something that was a myth to begin with. But why? Why would he do that? I just don’t understand. He showed no sign of psychotic behavior or thoughts when we met with him. He supposedly helped my father spy on other kingdoms. But he did something so horrible.

“Immyria!” Tiberius called and jumped me out of my thoughts. “What do you think we should do? We can’t just let him back in with open arms. You saw how cold hearted and empty he was in this.” He finished. My mind went on a thinking out loud autopilot, “I already have guards watching him. Should he do anything or try to be suspicious in any way they will alert me directly. But we can’t let our guard down around him even for a second. We have to watch Rose too. I know mother will have her guarded but we can’t take the risk. She’s the youngest and Tobias went after the youngest when he was banished.” I thought for a moment and watched my brother and Celia. Then continued, “I’m going to tell mother the plan. She can help us prevent anything from happening with Tobias and keeping close tabs on him.” They looked at me and nodded. Celia chimed in, “But for now, we should pretend like we don’t know this information unless we need to use it.” I nodded in agreement and we left the library room.

We walked along the hallways, Celia and Tiberius broke off and headed towards the training grounds, Tiberius needed to work on his training a lot more with everything going on. I continued walked through the palace until I got to my mother’s room and knocked. “I’m not in the mood to speak to you Victor!” My mother yelled on the other side of the door. “Momma, it’s me, Immyria.” I yelled back. I waited a moment and she unlocked the door and opened to pull me through the doorway, then she slammed the door shut and locked it again. The room was a mess! It’s like she was throwing a tantrum, I’ve never seen my mom so mad before. “Mom, why are you so upset?” I asked her sitting on the edge of her bed. She sat on her chair by the window where rose was sitting, she looked uncomfortable and bored. I asked again, “mom? I need to know why you’re so upset.” She looked at me and sighed, after a few minutes she finally opened up, “Immyria you must understand, he was banished and erased for a reason. When I was 13 your father and I were betrothed. My family wasn’t exactly the best around but they were royals. When I was sent to live with your father and his family here, they became more my family than my own. Especially his mother. She was so kind and compassionate towards people that everyone couldn’t help but love her. Me especially. I know you and your brother too well to think you haven’t found answers of your own yet, when Tobias killed his mother, he also killed the only mother I’d really ever known. He tried to kill your father who I already loved in my own way. I couldn’t accept it. I still can’t. He was like a brother to me too… it was an impossible situation. And with what he did he should have been executed, but here we are letting your father let him back into the palace with arms wide open just because he’s been spying for him on the other kingdoms!” She was out of breath but starting to calm down.

I walked over and took my mom’s hands, “Mother, I already have a plan in action with Tiberius. We have guards watching Tobias and if they see or sense anything suspicious they will come directly to me immediately and we will put an end to him.” I told her with a serious voice and expression. “Immyria you must be very careful with him. Please? I can’t loose anyone else to him.” She said letting a tear drop from the side of her face. I nodded and started to walk out of the room. I turned around at the door and called to rose, “You need to be careful around him rose. Try not to be around him if you can.” I told her and walked out of the room. I started to walk to my own room when my father and Tobias caught me. “Immyria, my dear girl! Did you just come from my room?” He asked. I looked at him with a serious face and my arms crossed, then he asked “How mad is she at me?” He let out a sigh and I responded, “She’s throwing a royal tantrum like I haven’t seen before. None of us are very pleased with you right now after this morning.” I watched him and kept looking between him and Tobias. I smelt that rotten smell again. What was this awful smell from? I couldn’t figure it out. “Look,” my dad pulled me out of my thoughts, “I didn’t mean for it to be hard for you all to accept. I didn’t mean to upset any of you with this.” He looked down and at after to play with his hands. I walked over to him and the smell got stronger the closer I got, “Father, this was very unexpected on every account. For us kids we just found out we have a family member we’ve never known show up out of the blue and forced into our life. Mother has her own reasons but we do understand he’s your brother. Your family too. I hope he enjoys his stay as long as he stays out of trouble.” I was trying to make my father feel better without letting him know what we knew about him. He nodded and smiled then gave me a hug and I nodded my head towards my uncle and continued to walk to my room.

After everything that’s happened today I could really use a hot bath, some tea, and a witch.