SGE His Broken Heart (Sequel to His Darkened Heart)

Chapter 14 Doing Right

"If he could be a good king, why couldn't he be a good husband too? A good brother even?"
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•• RHIAN'S POV ••

Rhian didn't think he would ever get finished with his duties. As Camelot's King, his Schedule was packed and he barely had any time to spend to himself.

The only upside to being so overwhelmed with his kingly duties though was that Rhian had no time to dwell on his personal worries. A day passed since Rhian had chosen to release Tedros from the Camelot dungeons (a decision that Japeth made clear he was against) and only two days had passed since the Blessing.

Last night, Rhian and Japeth had had a sort of falling out due to Tedros's release. Rhian had hoped Japeth would be okay with his decision to release Tedros from the Camelot dungeons to serve as Sophie's steward, but his hopes had been futile. Japeth had been displeased with Rhian, and the two brothers had gotten into an argument.

However, Rhian had found that Japeth's behavior had once again seemed odd. Of course Rhian understood why Japeth would be angry about Tedros's release. But then, for some strange reason after Rhian had tried to reassure him about Sophie, Japeth's mood had changed. Rhian could tell his brother looked strangely sad and doubtful as if Japeth didn't believe that Rhian could turn Sophie's loyalties around. Oddly enough, Rhian could say Japeth even looked scared.

Japeth—his own twin!—scared! But scared of what exactly? Rhian couldn't think Japeth could be scared of anything. Rhian couldn't comprehend why Japeth would be so fearful about Rhian intending to get Sophie on their side. Isn't that what Japeth wanted after all, the same thing as Rhian; to get Sophie on their side?

Rhian didn't ask Japeth why he looked the way he did, and Japeth bid him a hasty goodbye before leaving. It was that action that made Rhian himself fearful, because he feared that Japeth would go on to try to avoid him again. After all, the last reason Japeth had had for avoiding Rhian was that he was trying to restrain himself from hurting Rhian.

But Rhian felt like Japeth had left so quickly last night because he didn't want to continue on with their heated conversation. Rhian had let Japeth walk away because he figured Japeth needed some alone time, even if that time was spent away from him.

Rhian was still thinking hard about his brother when he almost wandered straight into the crowd of onlookers gathered outside the courtyard. Ever since Rhian began his reign as Camelot's king, it seemed a crowd formed in Camelot each day, eager fans hoping to catch a sneak at him, the Lion, the savior of the woods.

Despite Rhian and Japeth's disagreements, the one thing they had seemed to agree on was Lionsmane. When Japeth bid him a goodbye last night, Rhian tried to ask him about Lionsmane. After announcing to the people of Camelot about Lionsmane and its purpose on the day of the Blessing, the people were excepting Rhian to present the pen to them. Of course, Rhian couldn't get his hands on any magical pens, so he resorted to borrowing one of Japeth's scims. Japeth just gave Rhian one of his scims without a fuss before leaving him to go god knows where.

Now, Rhian had a Scim tucked into the folds of his golden jacket. A Scim that no longer looked like a Scim, but a pen. A golden pen with a nib as needle sharp as the Storian's. This pen look alike was Lionsmane, the very Lionsmane Rhian had promised would be greater than the Storian itself.

Rhian had been surprised when Japeth had willingly given up his Scim. But Japeth knew as well as Rhian did that Lionsmane was just yet another object that would secure Rhian's place on the throne and also secure the other rulers' loyalties towards Rhian.

As if Lionsmane could sense Rhian's racing thoughts, Rhian felt it move within the folds of his jacket. He knew Japeth's scims were tied to Japeth. Japeth could control his scims after all, because they were apart of each other just like Rhian and Japeth were apart of each other with them being twins.