Chapter 44: Chapter 44

44 Chapter 44 : Adam and Jillian are the same person

Beric, Zander, Ivan, Roland, Ozias and Odran were all sitting in the lounge of the little inn they had rented out, an awkward silence filing the room as they waited for prince Adam to wake up.

“I think you hit him too hard Zander,” Beric spoke to his friend, “what if he doesn’t wake up, then what?”

“Oh come on it was just a little tap,” Zander responded casually.

“A tap that rendered him unconscious,” Ivan commented with a chuckle.

“He’s not going to be happy when he wakes up,” Odran added on

“It was for his own good!” Zander protested, “he would have blown his cover and then all of us would have been fucked.”

Silence filled the room once more as all their eyes gazed upon the prince who was passed out on a lounge chair. Ivan stood up and walked over to where the prince was laying down and poked him with his index finger.

“Ivan!”

“What? I want to make sure you didn’t kill him” Ivan responded.

.....

“I didn’t,” Zander responded with his arms crossed over his chest, he looked at prince Adam and creased his brows in thought, his thoughts trailed back to when he had briefly watched Adam transform, if Zander’s instincts were right, a being like Adam couldn’t be killed by a mere smack upside the head. Could it be that prince Adam was actually-

“Your grace you’re awake!”

Beric rushed to Adam’s side and helped him sit up in the chair.

Adamn groaned and rubbed the back of his head, “What happened? Were we attacked?”

“Actually your grace-”

“Yes!” Zander interrupted Beric and elbowed him to shut up, “after the scene you caused in the town square, a knight had to put you to sleep for a little bit.”

“Scene?” Adam kept rubbing his sore head as he tried to recollect his memories, he remembered that him, Beric and Zander were scouting the surroundings of the royal palace that afternoon, but then what happened? “Guinevere,” Adam spoke, “I saw her.”

“Yeah, you lost your mind for a bit when you did your grace,” Beric commented, remembering how Adam had jumped off a moving wagon and rushed through the crowed screaming her name like a lunatic.

“I almost blew our cover,” Adam spoke as he cupped his forehead in his hand, what was wrong with him? He was always so calm and collected, why had he acted the way he did when he saw Guinevere? “I’m so sorry, I don’t know what came over me.”

“You were thinking with the head between your legs your grace,” Ivan responded.

“Ivan! Watch your mouth!” Ozias reprimanded his friend.

Ivan never had a filter, he just blurted out what ever came to his mind all the time without thinking, he meant well of course, but sometime they wished they could get a muzzle for him.

“Ivan’s right,” Adam responded, his tone sounding a bit lighter than before, “I wasn’t thinking, I’m sorry I’ll be more headstrong in the future.”

“A man in love is a stupid man,” Beric spoke with a chuckle, “I’m talking from experience.”

“Oh don’t be modest Beric, you’ve been stupid all your life,” Odran responded with a taunting smile

The group all burst into laughter, even prince Adam.

“Take heart your grace,” Odran added on, “you’ll be reunited with her soon enough, as long as we stick to the plan.”

The group nodded in unison.

“Yes, it’s just a matter of time,” Adam responded.

“And what of lady Julia?” Beric asked the group. They had discovered that she too was in the Merian capital in disguise, lodging at an inn just across the street, most likely sent here to find prince Adam. “She may be a problem, she could jeopardize our whole plan.”

“leave Julia to me,” Adam responded, “unlike her, we know her location, we’re already one step ahead of her, the rest of you just stay out of her site.”

“Yes your grace.”

“I’ve gotta ask,” Ivan spoke as he poured himself a cup of ale and settle down on a chair, “this woman that has our uptight, by the book prince running for his money, what does she look like? What’s so special about her anyway?”

“She’s enchantingly beautiful,” Zander responded without a second thought, earning glares from everyone in the room. “What? It’s true, we saw her with our own eyes, ask Beric.”

“Well he’s not lying,” Beric responded sheepishly, he could vividly remember Ella’s features even though he’d only glanced at her for a minute, “She’s the only woman I’ve ever seen with red hair and blue eyes, she looks like a beautiful nymph.”

“That beautiful huh?” Ivan responded with a sly smile.

“Ivan I will not hesitate to gouge your eyes out,” Adam jockingly threatened the sly knight.

The men chuckled. They spent the rest of the day sharing ale and talking about women and their sexual exploits, mostly Ivan’s since he was the cassanova of the group. The talks made Adam long for Guine even more, there was so much he hadn’t done with her that he couldn’t wait to try, but he was patient enough to wait till he’d rescued her from Nathan and they could finally be together.

*

Maria hopped out of the carriage and told the coachman and knights that she was going to take a walk to pass the time while she waited for lady Ella. In truth, she needed some time alone to analyze the things she had experienced with lady Ella Morrell, first it was how her wounds on her neck magically healed, and then today, her reaction to touching the silver necklaces.

“Could she be the one?” Maria mattered to herself as she stroked the locket that hang around the neck. “I’ll have to observe her a bit longer, to see if everything checks out.”

*

Meanwhile, inside the Morrell residence, in the beautiful gardens, the four men were eagerly waiting for their sister’s response to their question. William had already told them that Ella admitted to not being in love with prince Nathan and to top it all off, William had reason to believe that Nathan had tricking their little sister all along.

“I don’t understand why you’d ask me that,” Ella responded, “I’m marrying Nathan because he’s the right man for me, he’s loving and kind and honest-”

“Horse shit Ella, Nathan is anything but honest.” William interrupted her.

“How are you so sure?” Ella fired back, “stop beating around the bush and just tell me what you know William.”

“Were you aware that the man you met back in Gavaria was not prince Adam?” Willam responded.

Ella sighed and looked to the side, again with this, she was very much aware, he didn’t have to rub it in, “I know that William, Nathan let me meet him a second time and I confirmed that he wasn’t Jillian, what’s your point?”

“Jillian?” Bahram looked at the other siblings confused, there was a Jillian now?

“No Ella you didn’t hear me,” William replied, “I said the man you met wasn’t prince Adam, I didn’t say he wasn’t Jillian.”

Ella batted her lashed and studied her brother’s face, “What do you mean?”

William pulled out a parchment with the painting of a young good looking man with short brown hair and hooded eyes, “Is this the man you met?”

“Yes,” Ella responded, “Isn’t that the prince of Gavaria?”

William shook his head, “No Ella, this is Louis Vandros, a night from Guria.” William then flipped the paper and showed Ella a picture of a man who made her heart skip several beats, “This is prince Adam Burchard.”

With a shaky hand Ella reached for the parchment and continuously flipped it, carefully looking at the two portraits of the men, the resemblance was there but thy were two entirely different men.

“B- but Nathan, he-”

“I spoke to Louis,” William added on, “He told me that the price payed him a lot of money to pretend to be prince Adam, and made him vow secrecy.”

“But why would prince Nathan do that?” Alexander and Jonathan asked

“That’s something Ella should tell us,” William responded, “what is the connection between all these men, what is linking you to prince Nathan, Prince Adam and this Jillian fellow.”

Ella’s breath hitched, if she told them how the three were related she’d have to tell them about her curse. It was something she had kept to herself all her lives in fear of being shunned and persecuted as a witch, and besides, it was a ridiculous story, who in the world would actually believe rebirth and reincarnation were possible, they would never believe her.

“And don’t even think about lying Ella,” William added on, “we’re your family, we know when you lie.”

“You know you can tell us anything Ella,” Bahram added on as he placed a gentle hand on his sister’s shoulder, “We won’t know how to help you if you keep things to yourself.”

“Be honest with us Ella,” Jonathan and Alexander added on, speaking in unison as usual.

Ella could feel herself getting light headed, her mind was spinning with so many thoughts and questions, on one hand she was thinking of how Nathan had lied about Adam’s identity, did that mean he knew all along that Adam was Jillian and intentionally didn’t want her to meet him? How could he be so selfish? On the other hand, she was trying to think of how she was going to tell her brothers about her relationship with the two princes without sounding like a total whack job.

“Jillian has come up in our conversations more than twice now Ella,” William encouraged her, “and every time he does, your emotions are always all over the place, please talk to us.”

“I..” Ella took a deep breath and looked at her brother’s concerned faces, “well, the thing is, Jillian and prince Adam are the same person.”