“I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.” — Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

  ???

  The rays of the setting sun were already casting long shadows over the Alathian countryside, even as the royal carriage made its slow trek back to the Imperial City, with the two Crownsguards seated up front, steering the horses in silence, whilst also keeping an eye out for bandits.

  Inside the carriage, Lysandra had Luca’s head nestled in her lap, with the Crown Prince currently sleeping, exhausted from the day’s activities. The queen smiled to herself, gently brushing back Luca’s fringe.

  Luca must have the time of his life today, just acting like any normal child, free to be himself without the constant scolding to “act more like a prince”. The first time Lysandra had overheard the etiquette tutor say that to her then three-year-old sons, she’d dismissed the man on the spot, despite his pleas.

  The next tutor they found was thankfully more experienced with children. And more importantly, Luca seems to like her. That’s normally how Lysandra determined if a tutor is worth keeping or not: if Luca trusted them. For all that he was only five years old, Luca was shrewd and a very good judge of character.

  Across Lysandra, Rem is seated on the opposite seat. Unlike his brother, he is still wide-eyed and alert, swinging his little feet back and forth. He is smiling as he clutched at the wooden wolf figurine in his hands, carved with the unmistakable style of Nightray craftsmanship.

  It had originally been Yulia’s. A birthday gift from one of the members of House Nightray.

  But Rem had stared at it all day, and the Nightray heiress had then surprisingly given it to him when Lysandra was about to depart from Evershade with the twins. “You look like you need a protector,” was what Yulia had said. Even Lysandra had never seen Rem look so surprised.

  “Did you have fun?” Lysandra asked Rem gently, even as the young prince clutched at the wolf figurine in his tiny hands like it was a precious treasure.

  Rem blinked at Lysandra with the sudden question, but he nodded shyly, the figurine clutched close to his chest. “It was nice. Everyone was loud. But… I liked it.” He smiled shyly, before his gaze dropped to his sleeping twin, and his face fell slightly. “I’ve…never seen Luca laugh this much.” He admitted quietly. “He only smiles around Yulia. He doesn’t even smile at me the way he does with Yulia.”

  The words had a greater impact on Lysandra than she expected. Rem’s voice wasn’t bitter or jealous. It was just plain truth. An observation. The queen looked down at Luca who still continued sleeping. How much longer could she keep both the boys safe? How long would it be before Edric made his choice? It’s only a matter of time before Edric names his favoured son, Rem, the Crown Prince.

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  And Lysandra fears what Edric will do to remove Luca from the line of succession.

  Lysandra looked at Rem, smiling so innocently, unknowing of the burdens that weighed upon his brother, and even of the knives in the court. “Rem, can I ask you something?” Lysandra asked gently, and Rem blinked at his mother. “Why didn’t you ever speak up for your brother?” Rem flinched. “Like last week, when you accidentally destroyed the Imperial rose bush in the garden after kicking your ball into it. You saw your father blame Luca for it. And yet, you stayed silent. You just stood by and let your father blame Luca for it, when it was you.”

  Rem flinched, his grip tightening over the wolf figurine. He looked ashamed and even guilty. “I was…scared,” he whispered. “I made it up to Luca!” he said immediately, like it would make up for the beating that Luca had received at the king’s hands. “I gave him my pudding that night, and I cleaned his books, and—”

  Lysandra shook her head. “But your brother was still hurt,” she reproached gently, and Rem flushed with shame. “And maybe he wouldn’t have if you had just told the truth.”

  Silence fell in the carriage. Only the rhythmic clatter of hooves and even the soft squeak of the carriage wheels accompanied her words.

  “Staying silent when you know that something is wrong doesn’t make it kind, and it doesn’t make things worse. It’s letting injustice slide.” Lysandra said.

  She tried not to sound too harsh, but Rem needs to learn this lesson sooner rather than later, before he loses Luca completely. Luca did not say a word when Edric had punished him for the rose bush incident, but Lysandra had seen the look that Luca had given Rem. Luca knew who was responsible for the rose bush, but he had still stayed silent to protect Rem.

  And even after Edric learned the truth from the Imperial Gardener later that night, what did he do? Did he apologise to Luca? Lift the punishment? No, of course not. He still let the punishment stand. If not for Eugenia and one of the maids sneaking Luca some food that night, he would likely have gone to bed hungry.

  “It makes you complicit,” Lysandra told Rem gently. “Someday in the future, as a prince, and as a member of the royal family, you need to speak up when you need to. Especially when people need you. Stand up for the common people. You have to be more than just kind. You have to be just. And not let injustice slide.”

  Rem swallowed hard, guilt visible in his expression as he looked at his sleeping brother. “Like Luca? And Yulia?” he whispered.

  Lysandra smiled and nodded. “Yes. Like them,” she said. “But you don’t have to be fearless to be brave. Courage comes in all forms. Sometimes, it’s just doing the right thing, even when you’re scared. That’s a kind of courage in itself.” She leaned forward, brushing a strand of silver hair from Rem’s forehead. “No matter what happens, you’re still Luca’s brother. That won’t change. You won’t lose him. But if you keep ignoring what happens to him just to ‘not cause trouble’, Rem, then you will.”

  Rem said nothing. He merely stared down at the wolf figurine clutched in his tiny hands, thoughtful, Lysandra’s words giving him lots to think about. The queen hoped that it would be enough for Rem to find some courage in himself, and not let others lead him by the nose all the time.

  Even as a normal prince of this kingdom, being too kind will tear him apart. Already, Rem’s hesitation was driving a wedge between him and Luca. Even Yulia had noticed the way Rem stood by, saying nothing, even as Edric blames Luca for everything, even for things obviously not Luca’s fault.

  The Nightray heiress is smart enough not to say anything to the king, only tending to Luca’s bruises on the days when she was over at the Imperial Palace, and had witnessed more than a few of those ‘punishments’. But the looks she’d shot Rem told Lysandra everything that the girl was thinking. And someday, should the king either order Luca’s assassination or his exile, as Lysandra knew was only a matter of time, the older the twins grew, Yulia isn’t going to take it well.

  Either Edric’s cruelty or even Rem’s indecisiveness, Yuliana Nightray would remember.

  She was already getting annoyed with the way Edric seem to constantly try to push Yulia into Rem’s direction, when anyone with eyes can tell that it’s Luca whom Yulia seems to share a connection with and even a bond, duty or not. And Rem’s indecisiveness was doing him no favours.

  And when it all comes to a head someday, as Lysandra knew it would, she wondered what would happen.

  Will this be the end of House Nightray’s centuries of service and bond to the Crown? Or will this destroy the children’s relationship with each other?

  Especially the brotherly bond between Luca and Rem?

  Lysandra shivered as she thought about the implications.

  Whatever would come, Lysandra thought to herself grimly, even as the carriage rattled on through the dirt roads toward the Imperial City, it is going to be up to the Goddess’s will now. She only prayed that Edric had enough sense to overcome his fear of his own child.

  And yet, somehow, something in Lysandra told her that that would never happen.