Note: This is a story that co-exists with a story I have posted on Sparkatale called On Wings of a Dragon. However, this can be read independently from it.
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
"Alexander?" I implore my brother.
He refuses to meet my gaze, his blue eyes as clear and bright as the summer sky look at everything in his quarters but me. He looks so lost with the way his eyes are rimmed with red, his blonde hair unkempt and the look of betrayal written all over his face.
"Alexander!" I demand, my voice sounding far more harsh than I had intended.
Alex jerks his face up and stares straight at me. His eyes narrow as his lip curls in disgust. "Why would you do such a thing to us? To the Guild? To Victor?"
I open my mouth to say something but no words come to me. How could I explain what I have done? How could I make him understand why I left and hid the truth from him?
"I had to," I croak. "I have made some very powerful enemies Alex and I couldn't let you know where I was lest they find you. I had to cut off all ties from you and the DragonRiders don't you understand?"
Alex's hands which were gripping the edge of the table moments before slammed down onto its wooden surface, curled into tight fists, the knuckles turning white. "No! I don't understand!"
The pain I see in his face kills a part of me. "I couldn't risk you following me, that's why I gave you no indication of where I was going."
He stares at his fists and relaxes his hands after a moment. "I could have helped you if I had known before you left." He growls. "Then you wouldn't have had to kill all those people Renee. I could have helped you find a better solution. I could have kept you home where you belong."
I laugh. "What solution Alex? There was no other to be had."
"There must have been." He insists.
I close my eyes for a moment. I was already regretting my decision to tell my younger sibling the truth of why I had abandoned our people and way or life for all those months.
We both remain silent for what feels like hours until Alex dares to peak at my face with tears in his eyes. "How are you going to tell Victor?"
I shake my head. "I don't know. I'm afraid to tell him."
How could I tell our foster father about the people I killed? How could I tell him I willingly worked alongside the filth and scum of society although it went against everything he taught me as a DragonRider?
"I wish he didn't have to know." I whisper. I feel tears run down my cheeks as I begin to realize the consequences I must face.
"If the Officials catch wind of your presence here they'll have you locked in the stockades and push for the death penalty." My brother warns.
For the love of the Goddess I didn't want to think of that. I didn't want to come face to face with my own mortality; my inevitable death which hung over me like a black cloud.
"I don't want you to die Renee." Alex's voice sounds so small that I almost forget that his is nearly in his twenty third year of life. He sounds the same way he did when the last of our family died and we had nowhere to go. He had implored in the same broken voice where we were to go next.
I reach my hand out across the table to touch his but he recoils from my touch. I shrink back feeling stung. Dearest brother, I thought. How I have hurt you so....
I was back in the Guild but I was unwelcome here. The other DragonRiders no longer greeted me with kindness but with angry words of hatred and loathing. The dragons themselves couldn't stand to be in my presence, leaving my own dragon, Aries, alone and forgotten.
Alex was the one who had brought me home. By sheer luck he had found me and taken me home. He saw what slum I was living in so he only had an inkling of what I had been doing during my absence from the Guild until I explained everything to him. Victor was the only one who remained completely ignorant now. No doubt he questioned why I had gone but I think his joy of seeing me again outweighed the suspicion, for which I could be grateful.
I look at my brother and study his face as he stares at his hands again. I watch several emotions flint across. There's anger, hatred, sorrow, despair, loneliness, and the most jarring of them all; hopelessness.
Alexander's eyes meet mine again and he smirks but there is no joy in it. In fact there is nothing. His face becomes emotionless, a mask for him to hide behind. "Dear sister is there anything more cruel than the truth?" He asks in a wistful tone.
I don't say anything. I don't know how to answer him.
Then he asks me: "What will you do now?"
"I will remain here and face the consequences." I answer in a shaky voice. "I'm afraid to but I must."
"You're afraid?" Alex stares at me in astonishment.
I begin to cry more then ever before. "Yes!"
Alex doesn't move to comfort me, instead he waits until I have run out of tears and wipe my eyes with my sleeve. "I best go see Victor." I say.
I stand up and head for the door. I rest my hand on the doorknob and look back at my brother. He simply stares back and says nothing yet I feel the weight of a thousand words not yet spoken settle between us.
"I'll see you later dear brother."729Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZFvDUJaPjj
He nods.
As I leave the room I feel like I have lost my brother, like he has died or has vanished without a trace. But he is not dead or missing; he is here, alive and well but I am dead to him now.
And that is what hurts. It hurts because it is the truth. Alex hates me and wishes me gone and I must live with it.
So to answer Alex's question: Is there anything more cruel then the truth?
My reply would be no.
ns 15.158.61.13da2
