32 I HAVE NO BROTHER

HALE'S POV

"Hey! Hey, you? Who is this fool hiding behind the tree trunk?"

Fuck!

I knew I shouldn't have had the last half of that liquor.

Regretting my entire life and the decisions I had taken, I walked out of the shadows of the tree.

"Hale?"

Gabe shockingly whispered

The guard kicked him in his abdomen when he spoke.

"Aargh!" He groaned.

"Underwood? Is that you?"

I scoffed at the lack of my title.

"I would prefer Majesty, or highness, guard."

He visibly gripped his gun tightly and looked at me again.

"You are not my Queen. You are not my ruler. I carry no ounce of respect for any Mortale authority. Therefore I do not follow your orders."

He said with distaste lacing his words.

"Well then, guard. Release the Mortale peasant, at once."

He looked down at Gabe and then back at me.

I had to keep my conscious clear. I didn't know what power that Lormeian possessed, but I had to be careful.

"This trespasser? He shall be executed or severely punished by our Queen."

I tightened my grip on my sword.

He was a stubborn one.

We were standing on a common territory shared by both the kingdoms.

Gabriel sure was an idiotic fool to have climbed onto the Lormeian land rather than the common ground.

"I assure you that he will be passed in the Mortale court with just as much brutality as he would be trialed at yours. It's been a long night here, and I am sure you had one too."

He smirked and pointed the gun at Gabe's head.

"Well I have other plans right now. It has indeed been a long day for me. I would like to have some sort of release. Killing this simpleton would be very pleasing for me. Entertaining even."

Bribe.

That's what I had to do.

I had to bribe him.

I looked over at Gabe.

His white face was sweating even in the cold air.

Fuck!

I had nothing precious enough on me, that I could bribe the dirty guard for.

However, for a dirty guard he seemed really loyal to his ruler.

I checked my pockets, and almost cried in relief when I felt the container of the diamond necklace I had bought for Davina.

It was more of an apology for getting angry the last night. But I wasn't in the right mind to talk to anyone. Let alone her.

It was an expensive one. Had one of the most precious rubies found in the land.

I believed it would do.

It would be equivalent to at least a year of his monthly paychecks.

"Well, what if I hand you something precious. Would you be willing to hand me over the Mortale peasant?"

He tilted his head.

His lips pursued as he clearly gave the exchange a thought.

Gabe looked up at me, still clutching his abdomen tightly. His eyes were filled with hope, and a little fear.

"How much is this, said article, worth?"

"Enough to pay for a year of your expenses.", I retorted.

This was not how I had pictured my night to go on.

I sighed internally, just wanting to get Gabe and go back to the palace.

That caught his interest.

"Alright then. I am willing to make the exchange."

He extended his hand forward.

I clicked my tongue.

"Gabe first."

He sighed and pushed Gabriel to my side after letting go of his hold on his collar.

Gabriel immediately got up and tried to straighten his shirt. It didn't look like he was injured severely anywhere.

I took the necklace out of my pocket and handed it to him.

His eyes sparkled at the piece of jewellery.

"Well?"

He nodded shortly after.

"This would work."

I smirked. I knew it would.

The guard was back to his post near the river like nothing even happened.

Such greedy men.

I shook my head at his tactics and looked at Gabriel.

"What the fuck man?"

I yelled at him, tightly gripping his shoulder.

He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly

I smacked him slightly, when he failed to reply. He was older than me, but he still acted like a young teenager sometimes.

"I wanted to visit you before the ball. Plus, I wanted to make it a surprise. If I would have come through the common borders, then you would have known. So I took this route. I forgot how dark it got in the forest, and ended up tripping into the river. And you saw the rest."

I shook my head in disappointment as we made our way back to the palace.

We walked in silence for a while.

For some reason, my heart felt a little lighter after seeing him here.

Gabriel and I had been good friends since childhood. He was father's younger brother's oldest son.

Since my own brother was too busy training to become the best heir for the Mortale crown, I rarely got to spend any time with him.

Gabriel became more of a brother to me than he was.

I know, I wouldn't ever admit it aloud, but I resented my brother for that.

I always did.

I hated how he fulfilled all his responsibilities, except those of being my brother.

I shook my head and almost reprimanded myself for saying that. I was repeatedly reminded how great of a man he was during my training.

How he had sacrificed himself for his people.

Yet, a part of me carried this resent for him.

"So, how's life been?"

I looked up and saw that Gabe was looking at me intently.

"Just cut to the chase will you? Tell me why you're truly here."

I wasn't a fool.

I knew why he had come.

After that incident on the television, he must have been worried about me.

He wanted to check up on me.

He rubbed his palms together, hoping to stall his answer by warming up his palms.

"What? Can't I visit my own brother?", the old baby was feigning innocence.

"You can, but I know you aren't here to simply visit me. Also, cousin. I have no brother."

He flinched slightly at my answer, but he should have known.

My brother was a sensitive topic for me.

"Alright then, If you really want to know why I am here, Hale, then it's because I am worried about the Mortales and how the kingdom is doing. I am worried about the ball coming up in a few days. I am worried about whether you are able to cope up with all of this. But most importantly, I have come to check up on you. Your last interview really scared me. And I need to be there for my brother."

We stopped right in front of the gates of the castle.

I sighed and looked away.

I hated the look on his face. It was the same look that was on Davina's yesterday.

Desperate yet pitiful.

"Alright then. If you've come all this way to just check up on me, then do it. Check up on me. Keep an eye on me. Alright? You don't need to be worried about me, Gabriel. I am not a sixteen year old boy anymore."

He chuckled and placed his hand on my shoulder.

"Well, you will always be my sixteen year old best friend."

I didn't want to.

I really didn't.

I tried to resist it so hard, but the corners of my lips just lifted into a smile.

"Now that I have your smile back, can we get into the palace? I am freezing, Your Majesty."

Now he uses my title.

Fucking idiot.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

"So, how's that sassy colonel of yours?"

"Davina?"

I sip on the coffee while trying to sign the documents from today's meeting.

It was four in the morning and none of us wanted to sleep yet. I had him checked up by the royal healer.

Apart from a broken rib, everything else was alright. He provided him with a few pain soothers and asked him to rest.

So now as I worked, he relaxed on the couch in front of me, like a king, ironically.

And his definition of resting was not letting me do my work?

I pushed my glasses higher, and swiftly signed the treaty with Poland.

"Yes, of course. Who else? There is no other woman in your life, right now."

"She is alright. I actually appointed a co-colonel to help her with her duties. With the new recruits and all, her health was suffering."

He hooted loudly and I glared at him for making unnecessary noises.

"oooo, She would not have liked that."

I nodded and sipped some more of the dark coffee.

"She didn't at first. We had a whole thing where she didn't talk to me for a few weeks. But then, it got alright."

I looked at the bill explaining about the people's welfare. I only had the second part of it.

I remember leaving the first half of it in my chamber.

"Wait here. I need a document from my chamber, alright?"

He looked up from the book he was reading. He had picked some classic from my shelf.

"Mhm, sure. I am not a kid, you know? I can be left alone."

I snickered and turned to leave.

"Hey! What was that supposed to mean?"

"HEY!"

"WHY DID YOU LAUGH?"

"WHY'D YOU LAUGH?"

I shook my head, while walking away from the study. It had been a while since I had a good laugh.

Gabriel and I were as close as any siblings could be. We went to the same school. Even though we there was a stark difference in our ages, we always related to each other.

Maybe it was how my maturity and his childishness made the middle ground.

I reached my chamber in almost no time.

I couldn't find that annoying guard anywhere around. It was weird enough that there was only one guard outside my chamber.

He looked unfamiliar.

Maybe one of the new recruits.

He didn't look one of the neat ones because of how his shirt was crumpled and his hair were completely out of place.

I made a mental note to get him removed from this post later.

"Welcome! Your Majesty!"

My eye caught a dark red stain on his back but it seemed pointless.

Must have gotten injured in the training.

Almost sighing in relief, I entered the room.

I thought of changing my dirty shirt into something more wearable and decent.

I would kill myself if I some minister saw me looking this out of place.

I found the document lying on my bedside table. I grabbed it, almost cursing myself mentally for leaving such crucial papers around.

I walked into my basement, and found another white shirt.

White shirts were probably my most abundant color.

But what I saw was nowhere near white.

A pool of red.

A body drenched in red

Just red.

I breathed in and moved away the hair from the face of the woman, and found one of my regular maids.

Aleena, I think.

From the deep wound in her chest, it was clear that she had been repeatedly stabbed.

There were so many signs of struggle.

The cuts on her face, the trail of blood everywhere in the closet, that I had failed to notice.

The rug on the floor was crumpled, and so was her dress.

All of this made it clear how much she struggled to escape.

I tried to ignore the dark red handprints all over the walls of the closet.

Just as I was about leave, I found a piece of note near her.

It was covered in drops of blood that fell from her body, but the writings were still readable.

"We are coming."

What was this?

A joke?

An invitation to a war?

I have no idea, but I only had one culprit in my mind.

The Lormeians, sending useless threats to emphasize their dominance.

I did the same with the previous king too.

But no one was killed.

At least no one innocent.

They had taken it too far this time.

They took an innocent life.

And I plan on taking many more.

I crumbled the paper in my hand through it away.

I looked at her face one last time, and walked out of the closet after putting on the same white shirt.

Ironic how I came into to change the dirty shirt and get into a new one, and I only ended up tainting my hands even more.

"Guard!"

I called out, as I walked through the chamber.

When I got no reply, I walked out of the chamber to fine the hallway empty.

The guard was gone.

My mind tried to connect the dots. Why would a guard leave in between is shift?

Ruffled hair.

Bloody uniform.

The guard. He killed her.

The killer had been standing here all along.