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Perhaps that was the real son who should have taken over here. Aspen and Philre didn’t look much alike beyond their hair, but it had been enough to fool others. A boy could change a lot as he turned into a man, and people's memories could grow dull over time.
Oriel took care of the horses outside, checked on Aspen who hadn’t moved, and went to the room's balcony. He stuck his legs through the railing to sit and took a sip from the bottle he’d taken. He hadn’t bothered to look at the label, but the whiskey was quite smooth. It had probably been tucked away for a special time, not that Aspen had cared. It wasn’t like the last lord was around to miss it. Maybe Oriel could numb himself for a little bit too.
He heard Roth come up behind him. “What is that?”
Oriel looked up at him and saw he had taken off his shirt. The burn was a darker patch on his pale skin. “Whiskey.”
Roth crouched and made to snatch the bottle.
Oriel leaned away. “Get off.”
“You’re not starting that.”
“I just want a drink,” snapped Oriel. “I’ve been through shit too, in case you forgot. And I don’t mean you. Everything before.”
Roth’s eyes glinted like shiny coins as the moonlight caught them just so. “Aspen has passed out, so I think we can see what a ‘drink’ does. I’m not letting you go that way, especially after you got this far and are back together.”
“I’m not,” insisted Oriel. “I promise.”
Roth paused. “If you do, I’ll knock a bottle over your head.”
“Okay. Fair enough."
Roth settled next to him and stuck his legs through the railing. “You know what? Give me a sip too. I’ve hardly got anything to complain about, but I wouldn’t mind dulling my brain a bit tonight.”
Oriel handed him the bottle. “You've been through stuff too.”
“You’ve been through worse.”
“It’s not a competition. It’s not…it’s not like only those who have been through what I was get to complain. That’s not how it works. I’m not your Father, and you don’t have to keep up an image around me either.”
Roth took a good gulp and handed the whiskey over. “Complaints weren’t handled well before. What should we do now that you’ve got Aspen?”
“Queen Asara is my cousin,” said Oriel. “She’ll take us in.”
“I know we're going to the Windswept Isles, but what about after that?”
Oriel already knew what he wanted as he took another drink. “I…” It might be impossible and a fool’s dream.
Roth’s arm brushed his. “What?”
“I want my Kingdom back. Father would want me to have it. With three sons, it seemed like the line was set, and our family would branch out more. Now it’s just Oriel Keeper, and Asara doesn’t even have the same name. He’d want me to get West Bay back for us and our people.”
“I don’t think Queen Asara has quite such a large army. She could defend her Kingdom quite well, but invading a country is another matter, right?”
“She doesn’t have that big of an army.” Oriel took another gulp, and the warmth settled in his belly. “She has a pretty good fleet of ships, and she could probably rival King Taven in that, but I don’t know if we could do it. She might not want to risk her army and send them to death even for family. King Leneer was closer to her than us, but…it’d be different if my family was alive and hostage.”
“What if she finds out you’re alive? News will take a bit to reach her.”
“She’d probably try to bargain and pay for me, not that King Taven would agree. I’m not sure if she’d fight for me. Again, I think she’d be outnumbered, and he could threaten to have me executed if she attempted.”
Roth held out his hand for the bottle. “Well, now that you're not trapped, you could get allies.”
“No one may want to help.”
“That’s true, but you don’t know until you try. If she says no, you could ask other royalty.”
“I’m a traitor's son. Queen Asara would believe me, but others might not.”
