Chapter 15: Analia

"Because... he killed them."

I stare at Andrew, taking in what he just said. He stares right back at me, his eyes are glossy.

"He- he killed them? W- Why?" I ask him.

If he could kill his parents, he could easily kill me too. After all, who am I to him?

"It was 5 years ago. You see, I'm Drake's older step-brother. Which meant-"

"Hold on. You're his step-brother? No wonder you look nothing like each other."

"Yes. Anyway, that meant that I would take over the throne when I would be 21. King Helkon's first wife, my mom, Queen Rayna, died when I was 7. She was a beautiful lady. Her eyes were brown, and she had long, red hair. Her face always looked fatigued and worn out, but she was the liveliest person I'd ever seen.  

"You see, what our job is to whisper into a human's ear what they should do. We, of course, whisper the bad things. It is the human's choice, whether to listen to us or not. We don't make the choices for them.

"The Woman, for whom my mom was in charge was, rarely listened to the bad advice. Which was fine, because she would still sometimes listen. But then, one day, she was really tired of work, her boss was horrible and her family was breaking apart. This was when she started listening to my mom, the bad advice, fully. The good in her had almost died. This made my mom very powerful.

"Until, one day, the lady met a monk, who consoled her, and told her to not worry, that bad times pass by. That it just matters on how she would take care of the bad situation and move on.

"After this conversation, the lady started to ignore my mom's whispers again. The Good soul started to come back. She was balanced. She'd listen to both the souls. And then, after she retired, she decided to become a monk, and help people.

"She started meditating, started to ignore the bad in her completely, which made my mother terribly sick. My mother tried, to bring in some bad in the woman, so she could stay alive, but, the woman had now the power to ignore the bad fully.

"After two years, the woman had gained something like Nirvana, and all the Bad inside her died, with my..."

"Mother," I completed for him.

He nods and looks down at his feet, his eyes shut closed. We stay quiet for some time, and I don't say anything. Even though my parents are still alive, they're almost like, dead. I know how it feels.

After several minutes, he starts talking again.

"Well, a year later, my father got married to another woman, she became Queen, Queen Naiya, and I used to hate her when she came. She had blue eyes, like Drake's, and black short hair. Her nose was long and her lips sat in a straight line. She could never control her emotions, but everyone loved her. 

"She never tried to replace my mother, she was a very kind and caring lady. And there was obviously Drake. The whole kingdom rejoiced. I was very happy too, to get a sibling. He soon became my everything, we did everything together.

"He used to always talk about all the things he would do once he became king, and I never had the nerve to tell him he couldn't be king. 

"On my sixteenth birthday, the King was practicing a speech he was going to give to the whole kingdom on my birthday. And Drake heard him.

"The King was going to announce me as the King. This made Drake angry, he thought our parents were favoring me, and they loved me more than him because they were going to make me King.

"I tried to explain to him that it wasn't like that, that our parents love both of us equally, that none of what he is thinking is true. He didn't want to listen. And then, he did the stupidest thing possible. He cursed them."

"Cursed them? How exactly?" I ask him.

"He said that if, either of them favors me over him, then, the human that the King and the Queen are in charge of will turn into the best and good human beings possible, and they shall fail to make them bad again."

I gasp and my eyes go wide with realization.

Prince Drake did the exact thing that killed Prince Andrew's mom.

"Did he know what will happen if those humans turned good?" I ask him.

Prince Andrew nodded and my fists clenched. He killed his own parents. How could he? It's not even like they didn't love him and yet...

"One day at dinner, Prince Drake took out the topic of who the throne will go to, and our parents told him that it would go to me. Nothing happened to them. Because they weren't favoring me. It's just how everything works. The oldest one gets the crown. But Drake started arguing with them.

"It got the King and Queen so angry that they said something which would result in their death. I remember the exact words. They said, 'Because Prince Andrew is not as selfish as you and he has better leadership skills!'

"It was almost as if Drake manipulated and got them to say that, even if they didn't want to. The Queen and King fled the room after saying that and then Drake said to me, 'I told you. They favor you over me.' And with that, he left the room too.

"I never wanted to be King and would've given over the throne to him easily, but if only he'd listened to me at that time.

"The next day, both the King and Queen got terribly sick and word got out that it was the prince who'd cursed them. A week later, they both died and as Drake was the person who was responsible for killing them, he would be made king.

"The Kingdom didn't care, as we are the kingdom of the Bad souls so to them, Drake had earned his position as King. It's been three years and yet, the whole thing is clear in my head."

I stare at Prince Andrew and he doesn't look up. This whole kingdom and their king is trash, except for Prince Andrew. None of them care. They are all idiots. I could never kill my parents, even if they'd abandoned me like this. But Prince Drake...

"If he is so powerful, then why did he stop using his powers?" I ask him. He could have the whole kingdom under his control by just cursing them, then why not? After all, what could be worse than killing your own parents?

"A fortune-teller had once come to the palace on his sixteenth birthday. She could see the future and she told him that if he ever used his power again, it would soon destroy himself in the future. She could see it, his destruction caused by his own powers. He took an oath because of that, to never use his powers again, and since then he hasn't for two years now."

" How could you even live with him!? Don't you despise what he did to your loved ones, and yet, you still support him? Why?" I ask him, my voice soft, and scared.

"Because I love him, and he's the only one I love that is left in this world. I won't leave him too. And I'm scared that if I leave him, he'll do worse things and cause destruction. I can't leave him."

I don't answer to that. How could he still love his brother? I would make him a stranger to me, never see him again. But I don't want to argue now. It's his choice.

Right now, I only have one, big goal, get out of here.

Before I could ask Prince Andrew anything, he speaks.

"We should head back now."

"Yeah, sure."

He sorts out a pile of paper and takes a pen and a book with him before leaving.

"What's that for?" I ask.

"Oh, I just need to finish some work before tomorrow or I'll be dead meat," he chuckles.

"Well, don't stay up too late. It's not good for your health," I tell him.

He laughs and says, "I'm not a mortal, don't worry about me."

The guards close the door behind us. There are different guards at night. I did not know that.

We are in front of my room soon and I say Good night to Prince Andrew and remind him to not stay up late, again, even though it won't make a difference.

He nods.

I open the door to my room and just as I'm about to go inside my room, Prince Andrew grabs my hand and stops me.

" I know this may sound insane to you, and you probably think that Drake is a case that can't be fixed, but I- I just have this gut feeling that maybe- just maybe, you can change him."

My eyes go wide and I don't turn around. He releases my hand and says good night to me before walking away.

I go inside my room and close the door. I can't change him, and even if I could, I'd be gone by then. And I don't think you can make a person like prince Drake better.

I walk to the window in my room and look outside. It's started snowing again. I can see a garden with dried trees outside my window, and the place where we were practicing how to sword fight on my left.

Then, out of the corner of my eye, I see a figure running towards the field with a coat in their hand. He's not even wearing any warm clothes and is still outside.

He looks around as if looking for someone and looks up, his eyes closed, apology and sincerity showing in his face.

I stare at him and after several seconds, his eyes open and reach my window, my eyes.

I stare at the body below me, probably shivering from clothes, and yet, he stands as still as a statue, staring back at me.

Was- was that coat for me?

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