It was honestly hard to tell what Arrika was feeling, but Emeron kept thinking he shouldn’t have brought it up. The single time he tried denying the offer, though, she shook her head and responded, “I think it’s a story you should know. We should honor her like we honor all others who’ve shared our blood and passed away.”

Once they were all finished, and she made sure they were ready, she led them through the halls of the castle. As they walked, she gave a little more backstory.

“When Merrelle died, Mother entrusted most of her things—the pictures, the notes, some toys—to her family,” she said. “And, when I was given the estate, I was given all of those, too. It took me a year to find them, honestly. They’re kept in one of those dusty old studies, the kind no one’s gone into in years. But once I found them, I always remembered where they were.”

Just as she said that, she stopped at one of the doors. She played with the knob a little—she mentioned she was holding off on replacing it until she could get a proper lock—then pushed the door open. It was exactly like she said: an old study and, though mostly empty, Emeron could almost feel the memories tucked within it.

Arrika immediately went over to the desk, where she gestured them both closer. She pulled out a picture of an infant—a colored sketch. “This was what she looked like. I think it was done shortly before her condition got worse. Unfortunately, it’s… the only picture we have of her. I still remember her, though. Her hair was the same blond as yours, Erryll—just a bit darker than mine and Emeron’s. And of course she had the same blue eyes as the rest of us. She… wasn’t like Emeron when he was that little, not really—you couldn’t even tell she fought with temptation the way she did unless someone told you.”

”I figured she’d been worse,” Erryll remarked with a bit of caution. He was casually looking through some seemingly-random children’s toys. “At least, that’s… what I remember. But everything seems a lot bigger—a lot more defined—when it’s one of the earliest things you remember.”

She shook her head. “From what I remember and what I heard later, it was almost like she didn’t experience temptation at all.”

”Not… until shortly after she died, you mean..?” Emeron asked slowly. Just acknowledging his sister’s death was sobering; it was made completely somber by knowing that he could’ve just as easily been the same.

Another child lost to temptation, and a memory Talaya would’ve locked away to save herself the heartbreak of remembering it.

Arrika gave a grim nod, then paused. “Actually, are you feeling alright? I know this is probably a lot for you.”

“He’ll be fine,” Erryll grumbled. There was, slightly, a sign of care in his tone. “He’s never going to learn anything if you keep babying him. Then you’d be just as good as Mother.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“I’m okay,” Emeron said, to give an actual answer. “It just… puts some stuff in perspective, I guess. Explains a little about how Mom’s like towards me…”

“Mother was upset to see you struggle with temptation the way you did,” Arrika recalled. “But I… can’t help but feel like there’s still more to it.”

“Is that why you’re annoyed at Rayluin?” Erryll asked.

Arrika shrugged. “I suppose that’s a part of it. Aside from generally being, well… Rayluin. It might be a little hard to believe, but I would actually say that he and I were close before Merrelle died. Maybe… it was just because we were young—we were just beginning to acknowledge the roles we had to play. But it really did seem like he cared back then. Now the only thing he wants from any of us is the things we can provide him—and he doesn’t seem to think there’s any problem with that.” She sighed. “I wonder what changed..?”

“I don’t know, and I sure as hell don’t need to,” Erryll remarked. “Rayluin’s just an asshole and dense as all hell. Only the spirits know how the damn idiot got a wife.”

Emeron nervously shuffled. “I—I wouldn’t really go that far…”

“And that’s how he just keeps using you,” Erryll returned matter-of-factly. “Because that’s all we are to him, ultimately: the means to an end. I can tell he’s ready to get rid of me. It’s probably only a matter of time until he sacrifices all three of us for whatever the hell he thinks is the greater good of the kingdom.” He brought his attention to Arrika and continued, “All that to say, if he’s bothering you, ignore him. Hell, you’re probably the most likely to make him take the hint.”

“But I can’t really do that to my older brother, now can I?” Arrika said with a sigh. She shook her head. “Believe me, I’ve tried. Anything more obvious and I’m afraid we’ll have the reporters swarming in for a mysterious murder.”

”I’m not even sure a bullet to the head will get through his thick skull…”

Emeron caught sight of a box and, confronted with an overwhelming curiosity, went over to open it. The other two stopped to watch, as well, as he pulled out a little notebook among a collection of toys. And, slowly, he flipped through it.

”Hey, Arrika?” he began. “When did Merrelle die, again?”

She took a moment to recall it. “Well, her birthday was the fifteenth day under Araneae’s stars, and she died a little bit before her first birthday. So maybe earlier under Araneae, or while Trochilidae shown in the sky. I don’t remember exactly when, only that it was after New Year’s. Now that I think about it, the anniversary of it… might not have been too far off from when Father died…”

”This notebook has dates marked with Sciuridae and Lacertilia,” Emeron explained. “Have you read these?”

She shook her head. “I thought I’ve looked through everything here, and I never thought there were records of her that close to her death. Are you sure that’s what those are?”

He nodded. “I mean, I think so?”

Erryll shrugged. “Well, then, it seems like we’ve got a mysterious notebook on our hands. Are we brave enough to have a look?”

Arrika gave it some deliberation. “It’s late. We need to meet back with Mother and Rayluin tomorrow evening, but we’ll have all morning to look through the notebook. I’ll bring it to the library and we can look through it when we’re all up.”