Cameron awoke to a warm liquid pooling around his face as the scent of iron filled his nostrils. He winced in pain and confusion as he tried to sit up pressing down on the soft fabric floor underneath him. But wait… the floor hadn’t been made of fabric, nor was it supposed to depress as he applied pressure to it. Then his eyes opened further to realize it wasn’t the floor he was pressing on, but the body of Wervil Darwin. He shot up, wide awake as the sound of horror escaped from his throat. He threw himself back, trying to scramble away from the grizzly scene before him. That was when he heard the scream behind him.

“Cameron!?!”

Miranda’s shrill shriek of a voice cut through his cloudy thoughts like a knife. He turned to see his sister standing there, eyes wide, hands covering her mouth as tears began to form. Cameron looked between her and Darwin's body, realization slowly dawning on him.

“W-Wait, Miranda! I didn’t do this!” He reached out to her and felt a pang of despair as she flinched backward. A lump formed in his throat as he struggled to form coherent words. He sputtered and fumbled, trying to make sense of the situation. He couldn’t have done this. He wouldn’t have. Right? His eyes drifted down to his hands as he became aware he was holding onto something. A knife. It was all he could do to look at the bloodstained blade, trying to force his brain to make the connection.

“I… I didn’t do it.” He said softly, more to himself than to anyone else. Certainly not to the guards who had charged through the door and surrounded him. Each carried a rail revolver which they pointed in his direction, a high pitched priming sound rising in pitch that told Cameron, they wouldn’t hesitate to open fire if he so much as flinched.

“Drop the weapon!” A voice barked at him from behind. Cameron obeyed, dropping the blade as it clattered to the floor. There was a whispering back and forth from the guards behind him, before a rough hand grabbed him by the back of the neck and pushed his face hard to the floor, causing him to wince in pain.

“Don’t hurt him!” He could hear his sister call from the doorway. But it was no use, the guard seemed to either not hear her or not care as Cameron felt a knee jammed into his back. His arms were yanked behind his back and cuffed tightly, the metal digging into his wrists when he was yanked to his feet.

His eyes locked onto Miranda’s again. So many emotions raging just below the surface of her sapphire eyes. Anger, sadness, disbelief…. Fear. Mascara ran down her cheeks as she quietly cried, trying to console herself. It was only as he was forced to walk and got closer to the doorway, that Cameron heard her struggling to contain her heaving sobs. She held up a hand, stopping the guards for just a moment, long enough for her to look into Cameron’s eyes, her voice barely audible as she spoke.

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“Tell me you didn’t do this.”

“I didn’t do this, Mirry. I swear.” Cameron whispered back, emotion welling up inside him, making it hard to keep his own tears from falling as he could see her heart breaking by the second.

“Step aside, Lady Miranda. I’ve strict orders from your father, who is still acting monarch as of this moment.” The guard barked in an authoritative tone.

Miranda could only nod and step to the side, her head sunk down as the Guard pushed Cameron out through the doorway and out into the hall. It was there that he saw Miranda wasn’t the only witness to this event. Marcus was just a few feet down the hallway, standing off to the side, with Sybil and Logan standing next to him. Cameron could see that Marcus was in a similar state as Miranda. A look of shock and disbelief plastered onto his face as he looked on, mouth agape at the sight of his ward being led off in handcuffs.

Logan and Sybil were harder to read. The pair's faces were stone-like, though they did meet Cameron’s eyes. It was as if they were also finding this turn of events difficult to process, but in a different way compared to Marcus and Miranda. Sybil’s fingers reached out, brushing across Cameron’s bloodstained hand leaving several streaks. Logan simply gave a near imperceptible nod. His jaw was tight and a vein by his temples was visually pulsing. He wasn’t shocked, he was angry. And he wasn’t the only one.

“There he is your majesty! There’s the murderer!” Lendrick’s voice stirred something within Cameron as white hot rage seeped out of his pores. He turned and saw the chubby bastard, walking side by side with Augustus, coming to a stop a short ways away. Cameron snarled and instinctively tried to move towards Lendrick, straining at his shackles, but a sharp punch in the liver from one of the guards was enough to calm him down. He doubled forward, feeling the air forced out of his body. Looking up he could see his father’s gaze turn to him. He was angry too, but all hostility was turned on his son.

“Explain yourself.” The king growled. “Now.”

Cameron was desperate. He didn’t know what had happened to Darwin, but he knew that he was innocent. He caught his breath and stood tall again, if a little shaky.

“Dad… I… I don’t know what happened but I promise you. I didn’t do this.”

Cameron could hear the strain of his own voice as the damn holding back his tears was threatening to burst. His eyes stung as tears welled up and he pleaded with all his might.

“Dad I swear! You know me! I'm your son, you know I wouldn't do this!”

"I don't know what you are, Cameron, but you're no son of mine."

The dam burst as tears fell down Cameron’s cheeks. He felt sick to his stomach, his throat ached as the lump grew bigger, making it hard for him to speak. It would have been no use anyway, as Augustus simply turned his head to look away from the son he had disowned, waving a hand to have the guards take him away.

The only sound now, was the sniffling cries of a boy who had lost everything.