Henry. Just. Henry.

Chapter 13|The Present Past

"You're still weak, you shouldn't."

"Then take Henry and go." I furrowed my brows, still baffled that she'd ask such a thing of me. "Please. I need both of you to live. I might as well be dead if I have to live on without you two by my side."

Just then dad hollered in pain, his writhing, aching voice tensed my muscles and hurt my heart.

"Promise me I'll see you and dad again."
Mom just looked away. Even in the midst of that moment, I knew I wouldn't get to see them after tonight. But if there was a sliver of hope...

"Promise me, mom!" I held her shoulder, the absolute hurt etched into my face when she said...

"I promise you'll see us..." She moved my hand. "Just in another world. Guards, take him please."

"No, mom!" I fought and pushed against the guards.

"I love you and Henry, Cedric!"

"I love you too!" My words leaving automatically as the guards forced me out the back door of the room.

I heard dad enter, fighting with the Chakrams, his strained voice shouting their names. The further I jogged down the swirling steps, purple fluorescent lights showing the way, the faster his voice died.

The black car outside was camouflaged perfectly in the night. I rested you in the basket on the seat and attached a name tag: 'Henry Lucius'.

Instead of sitting in the car with you, I shut the door in front of me. The guards in the front seat peered through the windows, confused.
"Uhhh, your highness, the Queen said..."

"Well this is what I will say..." I cut him off. "Take my baby brother to Sorden, leave him at the steps of a good-looking house hold then wrap on the door and leave. Do not turn back. If you do, you're both fired."

The car sped down the road. I ran back up the stairs, hearing the clash of the chakrams with a sword. Then one of the most dreadful, heart sinking sounds.

A sword piercing through the bones and flesh of a body.

"I'm sorry, Aristide. If you had just given me what I wanted... this wouldn't have happened."

Whoever it was pulled the sword out, the painful grunt leaving our father, and I never heard him again. Pushing the door in absolute fury, I looked around the room.

No wonder I didn't hear mom screaming when dad was killed. She was already...

I scowled at the murderer, then gaped when I recognized his face: a disheveled teenager, nineteen maybe. The same one I'd always see alone in the City's garden. Blood trailed his honey brown arms and was caught like droplets in his curling black hair.

"Erasmus..."

"Prince Cedric. What an honour." He bowed.

A bone ticked in my jaw. "Why?"

"All I want is the Rion."

All nine kingdoms were named after the magical stone situated belong them. And meters below the prison, was the Rion stone: the only thing keeping the kingdom from utter catastrophic destruction.

"But no, your mother and father didn't want to oblige. And if you don't either..."

He kicked my father's body over to make me look in horror at the blood oozing from his chest. Under the bright lights of the chandelier, I saw the muscles of his heart.

"I'll do this to you too."

Being a crowned prince, I picked up the Chakrams like they belonged to me and fought with every agonizing hurt and seething pain in my heart. I bet my bones even trembled as I struck him each time, tears streaming my face.

But all that heartless bastard did was watch me with those stoic maroon eyes, as if this were another regular day.

As the fight drew to a close, I laid on the floor panting, weak and pathetic as he walked to me and stabbed my arm.

"All I wanted was the fucking stone." He said.

And without hesitation, he stabbed my stomach. I laid there bleeding my guts out, my vision fading as I was about to die.

But with whatever strength I could muster, I clenched the water chakram in my hand and threw it at his neck. It didn't slice his head off, but I knew he would die when I saw blood spitting out the side of his neck like a geyser. And he fell to the ground.

I couldn't say a word or move a muscle, the pain so sharp I wish I could die instantly. But I hoped in my spirit, heart, and soul that you were at least safe with a loving family... just like ours.

✧✧✧

Henry sniffled as the story came to a close. He blew into a tissue and took out another one from the box beside him, the bed a flood of snotty balls.

"I... didn't know I had such a loving family. Two of them!"

"Yeah, you did, and I'm happy you still have one. The guards chose the right house."

"Where are they now?"

"Probably with mom and dad."
"Did you get to see them?"

"I did. I balled like the biggest baby on earth. And I felt so many things that day... well, that's if you want to call it a day in the ghost realm."

"Oh," Henry got off the bed to clean up the tissues. "What does it look like over-"

"Your highness!" Someone called, banging on the door.

"When will these people just call me Henry?"

"Never. Now answer the door." Cedric said, vanishing.

Henry pulled the door open, and two sweltering guards tried to catch their breaths.

"We must..." The Hispanic's accent was thick. "get you to safety."

"What?" Henry raised a brow. "Why?"

Cedric materialized at the back of the door, eavesdropping.

"Two strange individuals broke into the palace's underground chambers." The other guard said, and the Hispanic took over.

"They want to take the Rion stone!"

Cedric's face lost whatever colour it had, his eyes huge and horrific. Being a ghost, he was lighter than wind... but the words replaying in his head chained a boulder to his feet, dragging him to the pits of the ocean's abyss.

He looked down, now noticing his body sinking into the floor when he stopped moving. After eighteen years, no one has ever tried to take the stone since the war.

Who else could want it? And why?

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(⁠◠⁠‿⁠◕⁠)Hope you enjoyed.

Unravel the mysteries in the next chapter.

Questy: if you were a movie's or series' main character, what song would be playing in the background?