SGE His Broken Heart (Sequel to His Darkened Heart)

Chapter 11 Sinful Thoughts

"Evil wears masks all the time because they're afraid of looking in the mirror and seeing how dark their souls really are. What do you see when you look in that mirror, Japeth? How dark is your soul when you take off that mask of yours?"
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~ JAPETH'S POV ~

"What did I say about those lights!" A woman screeched. She was the supposed ball planner and was ushering the workers to finish up their tasks. Finally, the final touches for the ball were being set into place. In just a few minutes, the rulers from various kingdoms would arrive to Camelot to partake in the celebration.

Japeth could feel the excitement and the urgency buzzing in the atmosphere, and he couldn't help but scowl. Why did Rhian think it was a good idea to throw a stupid dance when he was meant to be focusing on gaining the leaders' trust? Those rings weren't gonna burn themselves for crying out loud.

"There! That's it!" The party planner cried as a worker stood on a ladder and nailed a string of fairy lights on the wall. The woman smiled and hopped up and down like an excited child. "Oh, they're perfect! The King is gonna love them."

Japeth rolled his eyes. In all honesty, the party planner looked more like a train wreck than somebody who planned big events for a living. Her cherry red braided hair was frazzled and she'd smeared so much light foundation over her wrinkled face that she looked like a ghost.

Japeth was leant against a pillar, just hanging around. The ball was gonna commence any minute now as soon as all the rulers arrived. Japeth knew his brother was in the throne room by now, greeting all of the incoming guests.

Japeth was sure Rhian would want him there, in the throne room, by his side. He was Rhian's liege after all. But Japeth was perfectly content staying away. That and Japeth was also sorta still reeling from the revelation he'd learned yesterday.

Rhian wanting to make amends with Tedros. Ugh. How preposterous. Of course, Rhian thought Tedros was their half-brother, and he had turned over a new leaf since Arbed. No longer did Rhian push Japeth away, but rather he perused Japeth's affection like a pesky shadow.

Rhian wanted to be a brother to Japeth again. And perhaps, he wanted to be a brother to Tedros too.

The fact of the matter was that Rhian couldn't be a brother to Japeth if Japeth continued to pull away from him just like he'd once pulled away from Japeth back in Arbed House. But unlike Rhian, Japeth wasn't trying to distance himself because he blamed Rhian for their mother's abandonment. No. Japeth was trying to distance himself from Rhian because he couldn't allow Rhian to get whiff of the truth he was keeping from him.

The truth of who their father really was. The truth of who Japeth truly wanted back.

It wasn't like it was hard to distance himself from Rhian, however. In fact, Japeth found that Rhian made it quite easy to push him away. Japeth was still a little sore about everything Rhian had made him do in their plans to take over Camelot; Forcing Japeth to get beat up by Tedros and having Japeth attack the heroes in Nottingham despite knowing Japeth's scims were tired. It was the little incidents like those that made Japeth feel anger towards Rhian, and so long as he remained angry towards Rhian, his secrets would be kept.

The circumstances weren't ideal of course. Not by a long shot. Japeth would much rather spend time with his brother without having to worry constantly about Rhian learning the truth. But alas, Japeth had to keep secrets from his own twin because if Rhian learned the truth, Japeth feared Aric would be gone forever.

"Welcome all!" Speak of the devil. Rhian's voice rang from the throne room, so loud and clear it was bound to have been magically amplified by a spell. "I thank you all for arriving here today to celebrate Princess Sophie and I's upcoming wedding..."