The Lies that Made Us

Brynn stared at his brother as Gareth jumped down off his horse, two guards doing the same to walk to his side. Gareth walked up to Brynn and grinned at him. “It is good to see you are still in one piece.”

“What are you doing here?” asked Brynn.

“One of my guards wrote of your troubles on the road. He said you encountered shadow warriors in the kingdom and that Amelia was injured. I feared for your life and hers so much that I found I could not stay in the palace no matter what my advisors said.”

“You came all the way here looking for me?” asked Brynn in disbelief. “You sent Amelia and me out on this mission knowing death was a real threat. Why the change of heart?”

Gareth looked around before moving closer to Brynn. “This is a conversation we should have under quieter and more private circumstances. I don’t think you will like some of it, but I will tell you the truth.”

“I have no time for any conversations with you. I was just leaving for Achillia with Princes Melwa.”

“Princess Melwa?” asked Gareth. He looked around Brynn. “Princess Melwa of Erialla, or its Tildia now, isn’t it?” Brynn glanced at Melwa as she nodded. “How did you happen up on the princess?”

Melwa walked to them. “I was on my way back to home, your majesty, when my ship needed repairing. It was chance and good luck I found your brother.”

Gareth looked around at the fallen dwellers and guards. “I can see you had quite a fight here. Perhaps, it was Brynn’s good luck he came up on you, your highness.” Gareth’s eyes went back to Brynn. “Now, where is Amelia?”

Brynn folded his arms against his chest. “Taken.”

“Taken? What do you mean Taken?” asked Gareth.

“Your trusted guard Dugan turned out to be a dweller, and he disappeared to Achillia with Amelia in tow.”

“Dugan, a dweller?” Gareth took a few steps back. “You aren’t serious.”

“Prince Brynwynn is telling the truth,” said Melwa. “I saw his power myself. He tricked Amelia and took her off to Achillia. We found out from one of the dwellers here that they had planned to come to take her to give her power to their goddess for some festival in two days.”

Gareth looked agitated as he slightly paced in front of Brynn. “Amelia has been taken? They dared to touch her?”

The concern and fear in Gareth’s voice infuriated Brynn. “You are going to act like you care? After the way you have treated her the past three years, you are going to stand there and pretend to have concern for Amelia?”

“This is not the time or place for this, Brynn,” hissed Gareth. “We have to find a way to get to Achillia as soon as possible.”

“I have offered the use of my ship. I will gladly take whoever wishes to go help Lady Amelia,” said Melwa. “I offer my assistance as well.”

“That is very kind, your highness,” said Gareth. “When can we sail?”

“You think you will be going?” Brynn uncrossed his arms and moved so close to Gareth they were almost touching. “You will not set foot on Melwa’s ship, and you certainly will have nothing to do with rescuing Amelia. If I can manage it, she will never have to endure your presence again.”

“I should remind you that I am your king, and you cannot tell me what to do, but I will only say we are wasting time. If you want to rescue Amelia before it is too late, we will have to hurry.”

Brynn looked at Gareth’s many guards before turning to Owain and then Melwa. Owain looked as angry as Brynn, and Melwa gave him a slight nod. “Fine, but if you come, we do this as I planned, quietly. If you show up with your bevy of guards, we will be spotted a mile away, and both Amelia and the young prince will be killed.”

Gareth looked back at his guards. “I will take only the two at my side then.”

“Go get some different clothes as well, ones that aren’t as showy as the usual ostentatious things you wear. You do not need to look like a puffed-up king where we are going.”

“I will see to it immediately, and then we will sail if your ship is ready, Princess Melwa.”

“I am sure it is done by now. I will go directly back and make sure we can leave as soon as all are on board.”

Melwa turned and walked away as Gareth spoke quietly with his guards. Owian walked up the Brynn. “Your highness, I am not sure this is the best course of action. I hope you will excuse me for speaking ill of your brother and our king, but I have seen what he has done to Lady Amelia. I can’t imagine what he thinks in riding all this way and going to a dangerous kingdom.”

“You can speak as ill as you like about him to me, Owain. I don’t trust him, but if I keep arguing with him, we will miss our chance to save Amelia, or he will throw me aside altogether to get her himself. We will both have to watch him. Once the young prince and Amelia are safe, I will find a way to get her far away from Gareth for good.”

In less than an hour, they were pulling away from the docks and out to sea. Brynn stood close to the front of the ship by the railing, next to a miserable Owain.

“You do not like sea travel, I take it,” said Brynn.

“I haven’t done much of it, but I don’t think it agrees with me. All this moving up and down makes me sick.” He took a deep breath before leaning on the railing.

“Are you already ill?” asked Melwa as she walked up to them. “We have some medicines for it, but you will need to lie down after taking it. They will make you drowsy.”

Owain turned to look at Gareth, who stood on the other side of the ship with his two guards. “I should not leave the prince alone. Lady Amelia would not like it.”

“He is not alone. I am here with him, and I have many guards who have been given very specific instructions. Go see my maid below deck. Tell her I said to give you some medicine and a place to lie down. You need to rest before we row to shore tomorrow if you want to save your lady.”

Owain finally acquiesced, going downstairs. Melwa turned to Brynn. “So, what is your plan?”

“I’m still working it out, but we know there is a festival of some sort tomorrow evening. I am sure the palace will be full of people. We need to find a way to get some appropriate clothing for the kingdom and sneak in. Once there, we can locate Amelia and Prince Aayden.”

“And then we just walk out with them? What comes next?”

“I am not sure. Hopefully, we can get them both out and back to the ship without much trouble.” He smiled a little. “It would be even better if we can manage it while leaving Gareth behind.”

“You would abandon your brother in the dark kingdom with no way out?” asked Melwa.

“He is resourceful and has always been lucky. I regret to say, he will find his own way out.”

“Brynn, I know you are angry about your brother lying to you and keeping Lady Amelia captive, but if he really thought she killed your father, can you blame him?”

“I doubt he thought any such thing.” Brynn looked over his shoulder to see Gareth still far away with his guards. “I happened across a journal Amelia kept while I was tending to her wounds. It was filled with letters to me. I probably shouldn’t have, but I read them all. As you can probably imagine, many of them broke my heart.”

“I am sure she wrote many of them in very low moments, Brynn. Whatever she may have said about you, it does not mean she actually believed it.”

“I wish they only contained anger at me. A few of them did, but she closed everyone declaring she would always be mine. Even after believing I abandoned her and blamed her for a crime she could never commit, she never stopped loving me.” He swallowed hard and looked at Melwa. “He had her beaten until she was forced to give herself to him. She blamed herself for being weak and wicked, but what choice did she have?

“She has always been frightened of Gareth, and for the past three years, she has had to bear him coming to her constantly. Now, she feels as if she has betrayed her love for me and destroyed her worth.”

Melwa moved closer to him. “You are saying your brother-“ She stopped as they heard footsteps behind them.

“Princess Melwa, would you excuse us for a moment? I need a word with my brother.”

Melwa looked at Brynn, and he nodded. She stared at Gareth for a moment before walking away.

“You seem close to the princess, Brynn,” said Gareth as he leaned on the railing.

“I lived in the same palace as her for almost four years. I trained with her and her brother. I became friends with them both.”

Gareth turned to look at Melwa as she spoke with one of her guards. “She is rather pretty. A little tall and severe looking, but I cannot deny she has a certain allure. Perhaps you should have stolen her away from her husband before he married her. It would have been a good alliance.”

“I never had any desire to be more than friends with Melwa. There is only one woman I have ever wanted as a wife, and you know it.”

“You were young when you left for Erialla. You changed while you were away, and so did Amelia. The same desires you both had are very different now.”

“My desires never changed. Even when I thought she was dead, I never wanted anyone else, not really. I may have acted on certain urges, but it was only to try to deaden the pain, and it never worked.”

“You don’t even know her now. She isn’t the girl you left behind.”

“In some ways, she is not. She has been damaged, and it is because of you.” Brynn lowered his voice. “I know everything you did to her.”

Gareth sighed and leaned up from the railing. “I was too harsh at first. I was angry father died, and I took it out on her. I know now even if she did it, it was an accident.”

“She didn’t do it at all,” said Brynn adamantly. “She never could.”

“You weren’t there, Brynn. No one else was around, and we searched the palace. Master Elgan looked through her and found her guilt.”

“I don’t believe him. You don’t know Amelia like I do. She would never have hurt anyone, least of all father, accident or no accident.”

“It will do no good to quarrel. I have long since forgiven her,” said Gareth.

“Then why did you keep her locked up?”

“For her protection. Most think she is a killer, and many influential lords wanted me to put her to death.”

“Then you should have sent her to a far away kingdom where she could be free.”

“You are probably right, but I couldn’t bear to part from her. I am selfish, as you know, and the thought of sending her away was not appealing to me. I thought it had to do with control and some misplaced need for revenge, but the moment she left with you, I knew it was more. When I heard you were attacked and she was injured, it only confirmed my suspicions. I love her, Brynn. I think I have for a while.”

Brynn moved away from his brother. He knew his disgust was evident on his face. “Love her? You claim to love her after all you have done?”

“Perhaps I do not act as you think I should, but I am capable of the same things as you, love and mistakes. You claim to love Amelia, yet you never once wrote me to confirm she died. You never came to check for yourself. If I had any clue you cared at all, I would have told you.”

Brynn shook his head, not believing anything Gareth was saying to him. How could he love Amelia? He doubted his brother ever loved anyone other than himself. “So, you came all this way to do what? When you realized you loved Amelia, you traveled here. What did you plan to do when you saw her?”

“I wanted to tell her and stop her from this mission if I could or at least go with her. Once Prince Aayden was safe, I hoped to convince her to stay in the kingdom, perhaps in the palace.”

“Stay in the palace? As what, Gareth? You are already married.”

“My wife despises me, and I have no feelings for her. I never should have married her. It was done when I was blinded by grief and confusion. My advisors pushed me into it. I regret everything about it, and so does Julianne. She will be happy to never see me again. Perhaps I can convince the priestesses to dissolve our union.”

“You think Amelia would ever agree to marry you, Gareth? She despises you.”

“Are you so sure of that? I can tell you that she has shown me otherwise over the past three years. You don’t know what we shared in the tower.”

“I know enough about what happened to her in that tower. Nothing she did with you was willingly.”

Gareth laughed. “I can assure you, she looked forward to our times as much as me. I know when a woman truly experiences pleasure, Brynn, and I have never met one as passionate as Amelia. I don’t wish to go into details and cause you pain.”

“You are lying. I know you are.”

Gareth shrugged. “Believe that if you want. Once we save Amelia, we will see what her choice is.”