"I can't believe you did that," I whispered, scowling.

He shrugged, and with a wave of his hand, two soldiers clad in blue dragged a bleeding Lloyd into the room, his blond hair stained red. My chest heaved with every breath as I watched him toss the giant gemstone into the air as if it was just a plaything and not the Emerald. His dark eyes gleamed as he watched it fall back into his palm before turning back to face me.

"You don't understand, Kai. The Emerald Kingdom's prosperity has always been based on a lie," the former Guardian sighed, indifferently looking on as one of the soldiers pressed a blade so hard into Lloyd's neck that it drew blood.

"I thought you were loyal," I hissed.

"Haven't been in months, people just tend to trust me," Cole replied coolly, his smile looking more like a grimace, "But given a chance to take down two birds with one stone, of course I'm taking it. I'm not gonna skip over the opportunity of capturing the Amber Princess, as well as imprisoning their best troops."

Skylor, who was gagged and tied up beside me, gave him a look that could kill.

"So... so you've been working for Sapphire all this time?"

"Tell me, Kai, haven't you ever wondered why the Emerald Kingdom has the Ruby? They were supposed to be separate. Your father was actually a prince in his own right before Emerald took over, of course. Nya knows this too, she just never got a chance to tell you since you were always so busy with your missions."

My heart plummeted at the mention of my sister's name. "She... so... she..."

"She's on our side, and so is Jay," he said, "If you're interested, we can consider offering you a spot, but your loyalty to the Garmadons may hinder the process."

I met Lloyd's terrified gaze as the feeling in my legs drained away. My sister... she'd betrayed us. And so had Jay... and Cole... who else?

Lightheaded, I watched blood trickle down Lloyd's face and neck as he stared at me, his green eyes wide. Growing up, he'd been like a brother to me, despite the fact that he was one of the highest nobles and I was nothing but a village blacksmith. But Emerald couldn't be tyrannical. We didn't even have a king. And weren't the Garmadons merely nobles? Why did they seem so important all of a sudden?

And that was crazy, there was no way my father was secretly royalty. All this just suddenly came out of the blue and didn't make sense no matter which way you looked at it.

"I'm not joining, are you insane?" I snapped.

"You were always too loyal for your own good," Cole said, shaking his head. "Well then, have fun in the Sanctuary."

Before I could ask what he meant by that, he spun on his heel and left the room, the two soldiers yanking Lloyd after him. The door slammed, leaving Skylor and me alone in the small room. 

A/N: Yeah I have no idea what I wrote either

Check out squidneyxd's entry, it probably makes more sense than this does.

Thanks for reading/voting/commenting as always, and have a great day!