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I remember Marco and Hector and how I decided to be brave just before the world was yanked from underneath my feet. And then I start fighting the darkness back.
It’s still hard, but at least I’m no longer drowning.
Hector is being kept home at Asteria, because they haven’t finished interrogating him about the Rotten Royals. I remember the day I asked him if he knew who our other sibling was and he nodded, but I don’t tell anyone. The palace’s legal teams have been scrambling to find who was behind the Rotten Royals posts, but the internet has been wiped clean of every last sign of them, and there isn’t a digital footprint to be found anywhere. Whoever was behind them was very thorough. I don’t even know if it was any sibling of mine; it might have been anyone, right?
Even though the posts felt sincere.
And even though they stopped the minute my life was threatened.
It gives me a headache every time I think about it, so I don’t. Mostly. I apply myself to studying, and on trying to be ready to pass my exams when the time comes. And then, three weeks after New Year’s, Hector calls.
He can’t talk at first, he’s crying so hard.
“Is it Marco?” I ask him, my heart racing. Bianca grabs my hand and squeezes it.
“Yeah,” Hector says and takes a shuddering breath. “He’s awake.”
six months later
/Hector/
{transcript of a phone call conversation}
“Are you ready now?”
“I’m sorry, Hector, I know it hasn’t been easy for you, but you’ve kept my secret for all these months. I’m really speechless. I don’t know how to thank you.”
“You, speechless? That will be the day.”
“The day is now. Seriously, thank you. I don’t deserve you.”
“That’s true, you don’t.”
“You know, it’s weird, I’ve spoken to you almost every day on the phone for the past eight months. And before that, I didn’t even know you existed. But now, there isn’t another human being on the planet who knows me as well as you do. Well, apart from O.”
“Speaking of Livy, are you ready now? She’s coming home to Asteria tomorrow.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever be ready.”
“I feel you. I, of course, had no choice.”
“I’m so sorry, Hector.”
“It’s ok. This one is not your fault, at least.”
“Oh? And what is my fault?”
“Not telling her. Screw the world, even screw the king, if you don’t want him to know.”
“Ew.”
“But she should know she is your sister.”
“She’ll hate me for keeping it a secret for so long.”
“Probably.”
“She’ll hit me.”
