Chapter 104 - The Third Prince (1/2)

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 meeting anyone's eyes.

”…because I'm one of them. I was raised as the third prince. Please forgive me for not telling you. I swear I never thought of them as family because they treated me terribly ever since I was young but I'll understand if you hate me 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 come. 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 circ.u.mstances and came out all the stronger for it.”

Nyla didn't judge him either. She laughed slightly. ”So you've been known as Alpheus all this time? I did wonder what other name you would have that the shortened version would be Al since it works for your birth name too.”

The first sign of a smile since coming here appeared on his face. ”Yes, it is rather ironic.” I nearly snorted at his comment. Doubly ironic since we both had the same situation with our two names.

Ayana frowned slightly. ”We've been calling you Al all this time…would you prefer Alpheus?”

He shuddered. ”Please no. I have never liked that name, 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 me 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 named after a long-ago king.

He had always wanted to be close enough to someone to go by a nickname so he took a chance when introducing himself to me since it would also successfully hide who he was. I had a feeling he would come to like his birth name 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 me.

Ayana nodded gesturing for us to come say hi to everyone else. Some of her children were at work but all of the kids Rhea were nearby and equally excited to see us.