I say that at the exact same time a flame sparks from the hearth, illuminating the room in warm tones.
“I can handle it myself, thanks.” Rafe starts randomly tapping and pulling on each brick in the fireplace. I’m confused until Rafe tugs a loose brick free, places his hand inside, and pulls out a flask.
“Smuggler house, remember?” He explains, wiggling the flask at me.
Rafe pulls a chair back and takes a seat, throwing his legs up on the table top, crossing one over the other. He takes a long swig from the flask, before closing the top. He doesn’t offer it to me, not that I’m surprised.
I stay standing, leaning against the counter that is furthest away from where he is sitting.
The chirping of crickets and the sound of the wind through the trees fills the tension in the room.
Rafe tilts his head back and closes his eyes, as if he is perfectly content to take a short nap until Elia and Ginna return.
“So, that’s it?” I break the silence with a frustrated growl. “You’re not going to say anything to me after five years?”
A beat passes, then another, before Rafe opens his eyes. “And what is it that you want me to say, exactly?”
Rafe can’t be serious right now. “I don’t know, how about let’s start with why you left?” I snap, exasperated by his coolness in all this.
“You know why I left.” Rafe responds dully.
“You were helping Adrienne. I get that.”
“Mhmm.”
“But why didn’t you come back?” I leave the silent‘to me’out of the question, but the wavering in my voice tells him enough.
“Fine, you want to get into this?” Rafe takes another shot from the flask, voice hardened. “Let’s get into it.”
“Good. Fine! Maybe I’ll finally have some answers! Why didn’t you come back?” I ask again.
Rafe’s next words stop me cold on my feet.
“Why didn’t you tell me that the King madeyouhis heir? Over his own son?”
The floor threatens to collapse underneath me at the weight of Rafe’s words.
“How do you know that?” I ask slowly. The King hadn’t made an official announcement yet, and as far as I know, I am the only person outside of the King who knows.
Rafe laughs cruelly. “How doI knowthat? I’m his fucking son, that’s why. He disowned me the night I left. He said that if I left to help Adrienne, the crown was no longer mine. It was a setup.”
He shakes his head. “Why didn’t you tell me that? I never wanted the crown, and you knew that. It wouldn’t have made a difference to me.”
“I didn’t know,” I swallow. When Rafe snorts, I continue. “No, I mean, he only told me about his plan to name me his heir long after you’d left. When he realized you weren’t coming back, he decided he needed a backup plan. Nothing is even official yet.”
“Right. Sure. A backup plan. Don’t stand there and tell me this wasn’t planned from the beginning. You were always the King’s favorite - his golden boy,” Rafe sneers.
“Rafe, I - it wasn’t. I would have told you if I knew.”
“Because you were always so honest with me, right Callum.” That wasn’t posed as a question, because Rafe already knows the answer.
I had lied to him over the years, but it was always for his safety and protection.
“Anything I may have lied about was always for your safety,” I explain carefully. “I was trying to look out for you.”
“I didn’t ask you to do that! All I wanted was you - the real, uninhibited,honest you.” Rafe’s voice quivers, and I can see his dam breaking, emotions flooding to the surface. “I never got that.”
“Why didn’t you talk to me about it? You gave up a lifetime of friendship and years of what I thought was love for a…a miscommunication? You could have written to me, Rafe! I would have traveled the world to find you and explain everything.”
