Cain and I were still hiding behind the secret passage door. None of us thought it was a good idea to rush out in a heroic manner and put the enemy to flight - and unarmed at that.
Admittedly, I owned a sword, but this was more of an accessory with the palace guard uniform. Because the sword was blunt.
It was not proper to carry a sharp weapon inside the palace in the presence of a member of the royal family.
The palace was the safest place in the whole country. Nobody would actually dare to attack like that. Accordingly, no real weapons were needed within the palace walls. The only exceptions were the prison guards, torture masters, and the security guards for the outer palace wall.
In theory, that should suffice. Still, this tactic made us weak for sneaky infiltrations. But that also meant if something like this happened, the enemies would only have blunt weapons with them. For me, this tactic seemed more like a double-edged sword. But I wasn't the chief security officer. My opinion didn't count at all here. I should just carry out the orders.
I was snapped out of my thoughts again when I heard a slightly louder conversation from the throne room in front of me:
"Where are our main guests? Ralph, didn't I order you to send the prince's guard into the courtyard and then have the prince brought here?" I heard a familiar voice say in a persuasive tone.
Because of Cain's broad build, I was denied a direct view of the throne room through the crack in the door. But I could easily assign this familiar voice without the matching face.
"Prince Leopold?!" I said with a small gasp. A cold shiver ran down my spine as I thought back to my encounters with him.
"Why are you so surprised little Chris? Who else would come up with the crazy idea of attacking a great power like our kingdom in such a way?" Cain just murmured.
However, his eyes never left the events in the throne room. And so I continued to listen carefully as well:
"Y-Your Highness! Y-You don't understand...I...I personally sent the young guard away, as you told me..." this supposed Ralph began in a shaky voice, "B-but when I burst into the room shortly afterwards to rush at Prince Cain, he vanished! As if he disappeared from the face of the world! And the guard never arrived at the courtyard either!" Ralph's voice was barely recognizable. Still, I was certain he was the impostor in the fake palace guard uniform from earlier.
"Ugh, I knew I shouldn't have given an idiot like you such an important task!" Leopold exclaimed angrily. I could well imagine that his face had now taken on the same red color as his hair.
"Tch, even if my son is a good-for-nothing, at least he's not stupid." I suddenly heard an older-sounding voice interject. The king's voice. I saw Cain noticeably stiffen.
"You shut the fuck up, old man. I will bring your son here. No matter what. And then I'll kill him in front of your eyes! Just like your pitiful, pathetic wife!" Screamed Leopold in a rage. Shortly thereafter, a loud whining sob from the queen could be heard throughout the throne room.
Knowing what kind of person the queen really was, I felt little to no pity for her. Cain probably felt the same way. I would at most feel sorry for the unborn child that would die with the queen when she'd be killed.
"You never wanted to see me as your son, am I right, 'father'? You always thought of me as an expendable tool, didn't you? As something you could throw away after it's completely used up." Leopold continued suddenly, causing me to freeze in shock for a moment.
What did he just say?
When I realized how serious the whole matter was, almost all the color drained from my face. This was all much more dramatic than I had imagined.
So Leopold was... the king's son? He was Cain's half brother?! Somehow this information didn't really want to get into my head. Or rather … I didn't really want to realize it.
Well... that at least explained why the two of them were so damn good looking.
"I was just the Ildrega bastard you wanted to involve in your disgustingly insidious plan! You know what? My ildreganian father still believes I'm his real son! Hahahaha! Isn't that funny?! But I won't go along with your filthy plan anymore! My family in Ildrega is my true family. My father in Ildrega was more of a father to me than you ever were! And now I'm just going to take advantage of your plan, isn't that awesome? I just turn the tables! I will simply kill you and your family and, as a child of your blood, claim the throne of this country! Then I am not only king of Ildrega, but also of Castril!" Leopold sounded manic in his angry speech. I could feel the panic creeping up on me.
That was too much. Too many intrigues, too many lies, too many secrets. I felt my legs start shaking. Cain, on the other hand, hardly moved. It was almost as if he didn't care much about his own family affairs. Or… did he already know about all that?
"And you think that the king of Ildrega will allow that once he learns that you are not his real child?" The king asked mockingly.
"His alternate heir is a cripple who hasn't spoken a word since his 'tragic' horse riding accident. He has no choice but to accept someone else's bastard."
"He will never allow that, I know Leopold the first too well. He would rather have you and his wife executed and let one of his next of kin rule. But if you join forces with me, then you may rule Ildrega all by yourself in the future." The king tried to negotiate on his behalf. He didn't even sound scared or rushed. It sounded like a serious, well-thought-out offer on his part. As if the two were just conducting business negotiations at eye level.
"Tch, if need be I'll just kill my father as well. Even if that would be a shame. I would definitely shed a tear or two … Im sorry, but your offer is really weak. I'd only get half of what I want. So just shut up and wait for your beloved family to finally get together. No worries. I'm also letting one of your two daughters live. Somebody has to play a sham marriage with me." Leopold said with a dangerous laugh.
"Cain, what should we do?" I whispered harried. But Cain only motioned for me to stay calm.
How could he be so calm now?! The life of his family - his entire existence was at stake! Or did he want-
"Cain, do you really just want to wait until they slaughter your family and watch? You can't seriously consider-" I stopped in mid-sentence when Cain turned to me briefly.
His eyes were scarlet red. The look on his face told me everything I needed to know. He seriously wanted to see his entire family murdered. He already made his decision. Without batting an eyelash.
"This family died to me a long time ago. I do not care. Leopold is actually doing me a favor with it. Then I don't have to do it myself and I won't be branded as a kingslayer and murderer of my own family." He said with a cold, harsh tone in his voice.
A small gasp escaped my throat. I trembled all over. I didn't know if the trembling was from the adrenaline or from this new realization. But Cain hardly seemed to be affected. He just continued to listen to the conversation as if a movie were playing in front of him.
In the meantime, nothing much had really happened in the throne room. Leopold had launched a hate tirade of insults on his hostages and was explaining to them what his future plans were. Somehow that made him look linke a picture book villain. I couldn't help but smile a little. It was typical for the 'bad guys' to tell their hostages all their plans first. I thought this only happened in books, but here we are.
However, the slight smile left my face immediately when I heard Leopold's next words:
"Do you want know what I'm most looking forward to? … When Cain finally gets here and he gets to watch me steal his favorite toy and spoil it. But don't worry about it. I know that you are homophobic, so I will - if you stay nice and put now - change my mind and kill you beforehand so that you don't have to see it." Leopold let the king know with a grin.
His words made my stomach turn. I felt myself staggering a step backwards in a daze. However, I suddenly felt something hard pressing on my back. For a short time I was surprised. But then the terrible realization hit me, when a pair of gloved hands covered my mouth and pressed a sharp little knife to my throat. Looking up at my hostage taker, I saw in the dim light that it was George threatening me.
A thousand questions ran through my mind as I desperately tried to fight back, but his grip on my body was too tight. The blade of the knife continued to dig painfully into the soft skin of my throat, causing me to give up after a moment's gasp. George had had the element of surprise on his side. And he had the upper hand because of the knife. One wrong move and I would bleed to death like cattle for slaughter.
However, Cain had apparently noticed that something was wrong. But maybe it was just the instinct of the monster inside him. He immediately turned to us. When he saw us like that, a nasty grin stole onto his lips.
"So you've been the mole the whole time, George?" Cain said it as if he had somehow guessed it.
George ignored his playfulness and demanded, "Go into the throne room or your beloved Chris dies. And neither of us want that."
"Aw, you really think I would have taken a liking to that stupid boy?"
"Don't play games with me, your 'highness'. I know exactly what he means to you. I have seen that more than often." George said with a certain undertone while he pressed the blade of his dagger a little harder against my carotid artery, making me whimper.
"Hmm? Do you really think so? He was just a little fun. A pastime, if you will. Our little Chris can only be broken with emotional closeness. And I gave it to him. I didn't think you would fall for this too, George. I thought you were smarter." Cain scoffed.
I bit my lower lip hard at his hurtful words. I wasn't sure if he really meant what he said or if he just said it to make George leave me alone. Still, it hurt to hear something like that.
"Go ahead, George. Kill him. Then we'll see how 'important' he is to me." Cain said in a mocking tone while looking down at me with an amused look.
I gulped. Somehow I had the feeling that he was serious. And that scared me.
"Or … could it be that you also took a liking of Chris? I mean...I can't blame you George, our dear Chris is indeed very handsome..." Cain began musing.
"I...I don't like men that way... I... I'm just supposed to bring Chris alive to Prince Leopold..." George said, flustered.
"So you can't really kill Chris. You just wanted to blackmail me with him", Cain grinned from ear to ear, he seemed to enjoy this daring game, "That means that Chris's hostage situation is completely unnecessary right now."
At Cain's conclusion, George lowered the dagger and his grip loosened. I quickly escaped from his hands and tried to keep as much distance as possible. But I didn't really want to flee to Cain either. I stood a bit helpless between the two bulky men.
The first thought that came to my mind at that moment was to save my own skin. The first idea that came to me came from Cain's initial approach that I was worthless to him. I didn't know if he really meant what he said, but somehow I was still incredibly angry about it.
"How could you?!" I said to Cain, "How could you do something like that to me?! So it was all just a game for you? A fun pastime? You know what? You are the biggest asshole I know and I hate, really hate that you took my virginity! Just thinking about it makes me want to puke! I really wanted to get involved with you, you know that? I was ready to maybe even love and accept you as you are! But I can't love a monster! I can't forgive you for playing so lightly with my feelings! I just … can't…"
Then I turned to George, so that he gave a short startled twitch, "And you! I thought we were friends! Good comrades! But you're just a liar too! I'm fed up with you guys!" It felt liberating to finally let my feelings run free. I grasped the heat of the moment and dramatically stormed off down the dark corridor with no light. Far away from the throne room.