Al and I exchanged a look and a troubled expression crossed his face. He knew what he had to do but didn't want to do it.
"I'm sorry, Ayana. We were under house arrest for a while because of all the chaos with the royals and couldn't even send word to you because of how closely we were being watched," he said regretfully.
Nyla, who was standing nearby, furrowed her brow. "Why would you be under such intense scrutiny because of what's happening with the royals?"
His shoulders slumped and he looked like he would rather do anything in the world than explain himself. I squeezed his hand in a show of support as he began to speak, not eting anyone's eyes.
"because I'm one of them. I was raised as the third prince. Please forgive for not telling you. I swear I never thought of them as family because they treated terribly ever since I was young but I'll understand if you hate by association."
Al shuffled his feet and fiddled with a button on his sleeve miserably as he waited for 'guilty by association' verdict that didn't co. Ayana's eyes filled with compassion and she reached out to touch his face.
"Sweet boy, it isn't your fault that you were taken by such terrible people. You did the best you could considering your circumstances and ca out all the stronger for it."
Nyla didn't judge him either. She laughed slightly. "So you've been known as Alpheus all this ti? I did wonder what other na you would have that the shortened version would be Al since it works for your birth na too."
The first sign of a smile since coming here appeared on his face. "Yes, it is rather ironic." I nearly snorted at his comnt. Doubly ironic since we both had the sa situation with our two nas.
Ayana frowned slightly. "We've been calling you Al all this tiwould you prefer Alpheus?"
He shuddered. "Please no. I have never liked that na, which is part of why I introduced myself to Katie as Al in the first place. Al works fine but if you want to call Alamar I won't mind. It might take a bit of getting used to but I'll adjust eventually."
It made sense that he wouldn't like it. Even before knowing his identity, he had resented the royal family deeply and had to live with the fact that he had been nad after a long-ago king.
He had always wanted to be close enough to soone to go by a nickna so he took a chance when introducing himself to since it would also successfully hide who he was. I had a feeling he would co to like his birth na once he was used to responding to it because it was a symbol of his parents' love.
Alamar or Alpheus, he would always be Al to .
Ayana nodded gesturing for us to co say hi to everyone else. So of her children were at work but all of the kids Rhea were nearby and equally excited to see us.
"Look, it's Al and Katie!"
"Al and Katie are back!"
"Yay! I thought they died."
Nyla chastised her son for being so flippant but Jasper's comnt made laugh. It was such a little kid thing to say. They could be so blunt at tis.
I enjoyed the ti we spent with Al's relatives because they reminded a bit of the way my aunts, uncles, and cousins had been back ho even though I didn't see them often. They helped fill a void in my heart slightly.
I would never get my family back but at very least I could form a new one here. The prospect was far better than being alone.
Eventually the kids lost interest in us and ran off to play so we talked to the adults while helping them work in the back garden. They were quite curious what was going to happen now that the old king was dead.
"I assu the connection you spoke of who might be able to help get our lands back was King Franz," Nyla said with a raised eyebrow. "How is that coming along?"
Al gave her an apologetic look. "It isn't yet. He already promised he would but we haven't gotten around to that. He has been very busy since the coronation but we also have a potential problem we need to take care of first."
Ayana frowned. "What kind of problem? How long will it take? If we want to do anything to rebuild this year it will have to start soon because winters are long and brutal in the mountains."
"I'm thinking we'll have to wait until next year. I'm sorry. It will give us more ti to find people. At the very least we can send word out to other countries within the next few months so people can begin preparing to co back if they want to."
I was from the desert so I didn't know much about snow but if I had to guess, I'd say we would need to get started on rebuilding in the spring in order to have enough proper shelters for everyone by the ti winter hit.
Spring. That gave us roughly nine months to figure out what to do about Sigmund. I wanted to say we could make that happen but at this point I was going in blind. Ever since the novel completely derailed from its original ending I had been at a loss for what to do.
It had been my compass from the very beginning, even after I decided to ditch the romantic part of the plot and keep Al for myself. I honestly didn't know what to do in a situation where Franz was king but Sigmund was still alive.
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