Roots and Oxygen

Chapter 49 - Telling Truths

The next morning at breakfast, Sage did his best to sit up straight and eat some food when all he wanted was to curl into a ball and sleep for days. His sickness had worsened, his nose felt swollen, his face felt bruised, his eyes stung, his brain throbbed, his skin was sensitive to the fabric of his clothes, and to the temperature changes around the cold and draughty Palace.

Every time Oxley moved, Sage glanced at him to make sure he wasn't watching him in return. There was an awkward tension between them, one Sage had made by acting guarded. What if he did see, and he's waiting to tell me how he's going to get Taro fired? What if he's waiting to tell our parents? Sage slapped those thoughts back into the shadows. Oxley was his brother, he had to trust that he wouldn't hurt him that way.

Still, Sage fidgeted, offered weak replies to his parent's questions, and pushed food around his plate.

"You look dreadful," his mother finally said, sitting opposite in a vibrant yellow blouse with a silk knot tied loosely around her collarbones. Her hair was pinned back tightly, showing off her high cheekbones and her symmetrical features. "You're pardoned of all your duties today. Have some rest."

What duties? Sage thought bleakly. I had nothing to do anyway. "I'm fine," he mumbled, sitting up straighter.

"You're not fine," his father added sternly. "I knew you'd stress too much about the break in."

Sage, already a little sensitive because of his ill-health, and anxious because of what Oxley saw, allowed his father's words to stir like a bitter fluid in his chest. "I'm fine," he repeated crossly. "I had a right to know what was going on. I will be king one day, so stop treating me like a child." His words were said before he could hold his sharp tongue. Nothing screamed that he was sick more than him losing his composure.

His hazel eyes glanced to Taro who stared back with mild surprise.

"You're definitely not feeling well," Oxley scoffed.

Sage turned to look at him too. "And you can stop-" Sage paused abruptly. -keeping your secrets, he finished in his head. Don't be a hypocrite. "-being so annoying."

"Me? Annoying?" Oxley clasped his hands to his chest dramatically. Sage could only stare as hard-faced as he could manage. Oxley dropped the theatrics quickly. "Alright, sorry," he scoffed, turning away with a prolonged eye-roll.

Sage sank into his chair, avoiding anyone else's gaze, which was difficult when everyone stared at him.

"Well," his father said after a moment of silence, "now that it's quiet, I think we should talk about the Wine and Vine event."

"No," Oxley and Sage said in unison.

"Yes, firstly I want to ask why Lord Coniferous' son arrived uninvited."

Now it was Oxley's turn to avoid his parent's stares. "I didn't really invite him. I just kind of mentioned that there were free spaces."

Haliver could've popped a vein in his neck by how tightly it tensed. "I told you not to invite them!" he yelled, making everyone at the table jump.

Sage's brain jolted in his skull. "Dad, why do you hate them so much? What did they do?"

Haliver ground his jaw and glared at his coffee. "If you must know, he was involved with your Uncle Patrick."

"Involved how?"

"It doesn't matter."

Sage reached the end of his tether. He stood up so abruptly, his chair fell over. Metal clanked against golden tiles, silencing even the birds chirping by the window. "How can you say it doesn't matter?" he hissed. "You say I'm in danger because Patrick was murdered, you tell me to be careful, yet you don't even tell me when a break in happens. You keep me in the dark about everything. Do you know how many times I found stuff out through the tabloids and not from my own family? It's embarrassing! I'm sick of all the secrecy and the lies, it's no wonder I tell you nothing about my own life. You just don't listen to me, nor do you care about what I want."