Chapter 14

“You have a brother? Since when?” Tiberius asked bluntly. My father looked down at his desk, “I’ve always had an older brother Tiberius. Why don’t you two get to know him?” My father said. “Apologies father I have training and promised to help train the new recruits as well. Tiberius was going to sit in today and see if he could learn something.” I told him. He nodded and my brother and I walked out of the room. “Thanks for including me,” my brother said. “No problem. Did you know dad had a brother?” I asked. I looked at tibs but he shook his head. We walked to the training ground and found Celia just finishing with the first rounds of the day for training. She ran up to us, hugged me and gave my brother a kiss.

“So what’s the news?” She eagerly asked. I looked around but lowered my voice so only she and my brother would hear. “Well apparently we have an uncle who is coming back to live with us.” Was all I could say. She looked puzzled. “The king has a brother? I never knew that.” She said. “Neither did we until today.” Tiberius said to her. Trey came up behind Celia. “And what are we whispering about?” He said mockingly. Celia turned around to look at her uncle, she looked back at us and we shrugged our shoulders. Trey was good at keeping secrets. “Did you know the king had a brother?” Celia asked him. He looked puzzled for a moment but said, “How do you know about that?” I exchanged a look with Tiberius and I could tell he agreed with what I was thinking.

“Dear uncle Tobias is coming back to live with us in the palace. We just met him today. Do you know about him?” I asked Trey directly. He paused for a moment and it was quiet, then he had a dark look on his face. “Let’s just say there’s a reason he was banished in the first place, although, I recommended something different for what he did. Something more permanent. Please excuse me your majesties. I need to talk to your father about this.” Was all he said then walked away. “So we’re in agreement he definitely did something very bad?” Tiberius asked me and Celia. “Absolutely,” I said without thinking then continued, “But what could he have done?”

We continued with training for the day and decided to split up and ask around the castle to get any information about our uncle and why he was banished. My mother locked herself in her room refusing to come out. I’d seen rose walking with Tobias talking, but I thought it was harmless for now. After all he was family and she was probably just trying to get to know her uncle. I found a group of guards by a staircase talking. They didn’t see me approach, when I got to them I cleared my throat and they all made an opening for me after bowing. “Princess we didn’t see you there, please forgive us.” One of them said. I held my hand up and shook my head, “We’ve been training together for more than a year now. You don’t have to be so formal. But I do have a question for all of you and I need a completely honest answer.” I told them. They looked at me with curious faces.

“Do any of you know Tobias dragonheart?” I asked without hesitation. Dragonheart is my family’s name. They looked at me a couple were confused but one of the older guards hesitantly shifted in place. “Tell me.” I said directly to him. “Princess, those of us who knew him were swore to secrecy.” He was starting to sweat. I decided to just tell him the truth, so I dismissed the other guards and had this one follow me to a garden where we were alone. “What’s your name?” I asked him. “Hunter, princess.” He responded. “Hunter, I’m going to be completely honest with you. I just met him today. My mother obviously doesn’t like him. No ones seems to have heard of him. And my father just invited him to live here again. I need to know about him if he’s going to be here with us. I need to know if he’s a danger.” I had to be as honest as I could. He was quiet for a bit and kept shifting nervously in place. After a while he finally let out a long sigh and began his story. “Well Tobias was born before your father, he was the heir at the time as you know. However unlike your father, Tobias would be caught almost nightly sneaking out or back into the palace. He was obsessed with the stories regarding your heritage and why abilities seemed to have died out. But at some point along the way he met a dark wizard, no one knew where he snuck out to or what he was doing or how he was sneaking out. And one night he brought your father with him. One of the guards at the time noticed your father trying to talk to your brother in a hallway in the middle of the night. He grabbed a few guards along the way but followed your father. He sent one guard to alert your grandparents, the king and queen at the time. And they caught up with the guards…” he took a moment to pause then continued, “Tobias was 17 at the time, they followed the boys until they got to a small clearing that had a fire in the middle. The king and guards tried to get as close as they could without giving away their position. The guards say that when the wizard appeared, he called Tobias by his name and asked if he was ready. When Tobias agreed he grabbed your father’s arm and dragged him towards the fire. When the wizard began doing some chanting that’s when the king and guards sprung into action. The king went for your father, the guards went for the wizard, and the queen tried to get Tobias. The guards managed to kill the wizard, but when they looked around they found Tobias with a bloody knife, the queen was on the ground… she died from a stab wound to the heart from Tobias. The king was devastated. His first son, his heir killed his mother, the queen. Because he was a high royal they didn’t execute him for his crime. Instead they banished him.”

The guard finished and looked pale. “Don’t worry” I said, “my father may have forgiven him and let him come back, but one mistake and my mother and I will make sure he doesn’t live to see the next sunrise. I want the guards on a higher alert. You will not tell my father, but if anyone sees or hears of him doing something suspicious, I want to know immediately.” He looked at me and seemed to be reassured. He nodded and walked off. I decided to head to the library and wait for the others to come back so that I could explain everything to them and do a little bit of research on my own. Maybe the room will help me.