Roots and Oxygen

Chapter 75 - Reconciliation

The night was long. Sage slept little and greeted dawn by stuffing more suitcases. He filled six big ones with golden rims. "I have far too many clothes," he grumbled, flinching from the morning sun. He ordered tea and toast to his room and waited until breakfast was over in the dining room to brave the corridor.

Sage successfully arrived at his father's office without bumping into Oxley. For once he was pleased that they lived in such a ginormous building. He knocked and his father ordered him to enter. "Sage," he said, standing by his window in a dark blue suit with silver buttons glistening against the morning sun. "I've just read the papers about you and Oxley."

"What?" Sage glanced around his father's desk. Ten different papers and magazines printed the Greenthenor brothers on the front cover. He grabbed the closest one with an edited crack between them. He read aloud, "A brother's betrayal. Oxley guilty of leaking Sage and his lover's scandal to the press." Sage dropped the magazine onto the desk. "That damned servant."

"Is it true?" Haliver asked.

"Yes." Sage sat down, too pained by the argument to look up from the floor. "Oxley threatened Taro, so I told him I'd abdicate, and he then told me how he sent in that photo of us because he was bored." Sage clenched his jaw. His father said nothing, so he glanced up. He didn't expect to see shock in his cold blue eyes.

"He threatened Taro? How?"

Sage explained what was sad and Haliver slammed the pen he was holding down onto the desk. He glared at Sage, but he wasn't angry with him. "That is a step too far. And he really said he did it because he was bored?"

Sage nodded.

His father rubbed his chin, scowling around his room. "And you're leaving? Where will you go?"

Sage revealed his plans of moving back to the mountains in the north. "I haven't told Taro yet. I'm sure he'll see the papers soon."

"You shouldn't be the one to leave."

"I don't like it here. The staff clearly sell any story they can for some money. I can't even trip up the stairs in my own home without it being all over the news. Oxley can stay here and finally see how it feels. I wouldn't wish it on anyone, but he's turning nasty. He needs to be humbled."

"I agree." Haliver straighter his back. "I bet he thought he could publish the photo, and you'd get rid of Taro because family love meant more. The most foolish thing he has ever done is think that you are that weak. He started the prophecy by trying to end it."

"Dad." Sage felt himself wanting to fidget, so he crossed his arms instead. He no longer wanted to waste another breath on Oxley. "I talked to mum yesterday. She said Gran is half a green and grandad was a human. Can I ask about . . . you?"

Haliver raised a brow. "Your mother mentioned that?"

"Yeah. She said you don't talk about it, and that she didn't find out until years after you married."

"Are you two on better terms now?"

"Yeah. Better terms."

Haliver pursed his lips and sat down next to him. "Your mother's side of the family hate us, for obvious reasons. They think the green should serve us. I'm not sure if your mother would have married me if she knew I was so closely related to greens. But we love each other still, so that's enough for me." Haliver's cold stare moved to the window. "But about how I feel- I don't know how much of the green blood is in me. I don't have tattoos on my forearms, I can't transform, I don't need a strict water routine or plant food. I just- I feel at my best when I'm outside with bare feet on the grass, like I should have roots and oxygen."