Serene’s POV

My grandmother’s rosy cheeks turned white at my words. She wasn’t expecting me to ask something like that but I needed to know why they kept this a secret from me and snatched away years of brotherly love I could have.

"How did you find out, Serene?" She asked me quietly maintaining a serious expression.

"So you did know, why did you keep this a secret from me? I had a right to know that I have a brother." My words depicted the pain I felt at their decision and she took a deep breath before stating:

"It was your father’s decision my dear. I wanted to tell you on so many occasions. But he forbade everyone from telling you and I couldn’t go against his wishes."

"Then I guess I will have to ask him, why he wanted to deprive me of my brother for my entire life." I felt sad and angry at the same time, my grandmother patted my hand.

"Your father had a very complicated love life before getting married, try to understand his view when you talk to him. Go easy on him for this subject holds heartaches for him." I never knew my father loved someone besides my mother but I guess I had been blind all my life. He lost both women in his life, no wonder he was so possessive of me and was ready to burn the world down to keep me safe.

"I will, I just want the truth. No more lies grandma."

I told her.

"I agree you deserve the truth." I was relieved that she was now on the same page as me.

Then grandma went on to ask about what had happened when the barrier broke and I gave her all the details. She listened attentively, her expressions changing with every detail I provided. She was feeling overwhelmed by the time I finished.

"Oh! My brave girl," she hugged me, tears brimming in her eyes. We sat there for a while before I asked:

"Where is Zian?"

"He must have been sent to borders since he has healing powers and would be assisting his unit. His powers will come in handy with wounded." My heart sank again. I wished he was here but I knew he had to fulfill his duties.

There was a knock on the door it opened a few seconds later and my father stepped in. He looked tired as if he had been carrying the burdens of the entire Realm on his shoulders.

"Serene, how are you feeling?" He inquired, stepping closer to me.

"Better, Ayara said I can be back to normal in a few days. How is the situation outside?"

"Good, the situation is contained for now and we are handling anything emerging from Dark Realm. We have also fortified the spell around the castle so nothing can barge in that easily. You needn’t worry about that, concentrate on healing yourself." He sat beside me and wrapped his arm around my shoulders as if trying to comfort me and himself.

"I will father," I replied leaning toward him. Grandma got up and said: "I will go make some potions, we will be needing them in the coming days. You two should catch up." My father nodded.

"See you, grandma," I spoke behind her. Once Grandma was gone I cleared my throat and mustered up all the courage I had to finally face my father and ask him the burning questions.

"Father..." I spoke meekly.

"Yes, Serene." He asked looking at me.

"Why didn’t you tell me about Kilamin? Why keep his true identity a secret from me?" There was a pain in my voice and I was sure he felt it for his facial expression changed to a surprised one, he wanted to say something but no sound escaped him for a while as he collected himself from the shock of me knowing and finally said:

"You know? Did Kilamin tell you?" 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"No, the enemy did, the one that resides in the Dark Realm, even she knew the secret which I didn’t." There was so much disappointment that I felt.

"I didn’t want you to be tainted or judged by my past. Enough people had done that already, I didn’t want people to hurt you with the fact that you had a brother who was an illegitimate child. I wasn’t married to Kilamin’s mother when we had him." He placed his hand on my face as if trying to reassure me. I could see his shoulders were slumped and he carried a defeated look.

"And you thought I would care about that. I don’t, I would have welcomed him with open arms. I wanted a sibling more than anything in the world and knowing I had one all along but was kept from me gnaws at my heart." My chest felt burdened for I wanted to understand his reasons.

"Oh! Serene my child I just wanted to protect you from the harsh truths. Hurting you was not my intent and Kilamin agreed with the decision. He just wanted to protect you by remaining in the shadows. Be there for you, I couldn’t have asked for a better son and sometimes I think I don’t deserve him." My father was choking on emotions and I could see lines of worry appearing on his face.

"We don’t deserve him," I added with a sniffle and continued: "Why didn’t you marry Kilamin’s mother? Why you married mom instead?"

He sighed before continuing: "Kilamin’s mother was the love of my life. She came here as a novice during a tournament we held in "Fairy Enchantment Institute" I was a novice myself at that time and your grandfather was the King. We got close and before we knew it we were in love. The fact that our ancestors were best friends, strengthened our love even more. And soon we became inseparable." He had a forlorn look in his eyes as he reminisced and continued:

"I occasionally visited her in Haxum Realm and she would visit me. But her family was not very accepting of me, they wanted her to marry a warlock and keep their bloodline pure. They didn’t want our union and she wasn’t ready to go against her family or lose them. Alexis Drugh had recently become king of the Haxum Realm and he wasn’t very fond of our kind, he was also her second cousin from her mother’s side. So they didn’t want to offend him and refused our marriage. We continued to meet in secret but once she got pregnant with Kilamin and her family discovered what we had done, they put her on house arrest. No matter how much I begged they didn’t let me see or meet her after that."

My heart was breaking listening to my father’s tale, I had never known how much he had suffered. He was almost choking on his words but continued to tell me what happened.

"I never saw her again after that, if she had agreed to be with me, no one would have been able to stop me. But she was afraid of losing her family and I respected her decision. She died soon after giving birth to Kilamin and I wasn’t even informed of his birth or her death. I can’t imagine how heartbroken she must have been, how alone she must have felt. I sensed something snap inside me when she died. It took a lot of persuasions to even allow me to visit Haxum Realm. When I got there she was already gone leaving behind Kilamin. They didn’t let me take him. That was the darkest day of my life."

Father stopped to take a breath and steady himself, for I could feel his deep emotions. I hugged him closer as he rested his chin on top of my head.

"Your grandfather wanted me to get married and ascend as King for his health was failing. Three years after her death I gave in to their wishes and got married, also finally ascended the throne. You were born two years later and your grandfather passed away too. That was the year Marinine’s mother and Kilamin’s grandmother also fell ill, I don’t know what happened but she had a change of heart. She called me and handed Kilamin over. I guess she knew no one would care for him after her death and he will feel abandoned. She died soon after and I brought Kilamin here." He glanced toward me his eyes shimmering with sentiments they held.

"Your mother wasn’t pleased and wanted his identity to be kept secret and made me promise that he would never ascend the throne, you will. I needed to keep Kilamin close and safe and so we agreed and made his identity secret. No one knew who he was except us elders. Kilamin was extremely intelligent and sharp, he understood everything from the beginning. Hardly questioned me and mostly accepted my decisions. He was fond of you, and I could see the love he held for you like an elder brother. Always watching over you from a distance, he understood your mother didn’t fancy him so he kept his distance."

I felt overwhelmed by his words and said: "Mother was wrong, I wish she had accepted him."

"It’s not easy to accept your husband’s illegitimate child but she tried in her own way. She wasn’t mean to him but she also couldn’t bring herself to accept him. I didn’t blame her though she shouldn’t have to go through this heartbreak." His words held anguish and it pained me to think how everyone had suffered because of circumstances beyond their control.