Gaz
As soon as we’re in my office, I close the door and turn to Rex.
“Explain.”
“I…”
Suddenly, he doesn’t look like the badass he was pretending to be in front of the police.
Suddenly, Rex looks the way he did when we were just rug rats on Orchid, trying to have fun together beneath our nanny’s nose.
“Brother,” I step forward, placing my hands on his shoulders. “Tell me. Tell me the truth. Please,” I add, although I don’t think I should resort to begging.
Hayden quietly takes a seat in my office, but says nothing. She just watches, and I’m glad she’s here. My heart is still tied in knots after she defended me to Rex. She doesn’t know anything about my past or my life on Orchid, yet she stood up for me completely.
She’s loyal, and I love that about her.
Rex sighs and shakes his head a few times, but then he, too, sits down.
“I just wanted you back,” he says. “I saw you on the news, figured out you were here. The police were on their way to add charges to Trevor’s file and I saw the photograph of his lawyer. I knew it was you, Gaz. You may have changed your appearance, but I’m your brother. I knew it was you.”
“The police obviously know I’m here, too, now. Do I need to run again, Rex? Will you at least tell me that much? Will Mother be sending troops to capture me and bring me back to Orchid?”
“Mother is dying,” Rex blurts out.
“What?”
“She’s dying,” Rex says quietly.
“That’s why you wanted me back. You’re about to be king.”
“I can’t do it without you,” Rex says.
“You’ve always wanted this, Rex. You love power, or have you forgotten? Ever since we were kids, you were always the one who wanted to be King. That was never the life for me, brother, but you were made for it.”
“I need help,” Rex insists. “The people…they’ll know I’m new. They’ll try to take advantage of that.”
“Not if you don’t let them,” I say, looking at my brother. He’s changed in the years I’ve been gone. He still looks young and youthful, but there is a sadness in his eyes now. He’s different, jaded, and now I know the real reason he came for me.
He’s afraid.
When we were boys, I always protected Rex. No matter what happened, no matter what trouble we faced, I protected him. I guarded him and cared for him. Whether he was scared of the dark or there was a threat of invasion, I would watch out for him.
I guarded Rex with my life.
And now he’s asking me to do it again.
Only, this time, I can’t help Rex. Not like that. I have a new life on Sapphira and soon, I will have a wife, a family. I can’t go back to Orchid. Not only do I hate the planet, not only am I unwanted there, but I simply do not want to return. I have responsibilities on Sapphira I cannot set aside, even for my mother.
Even as I think the thoughts, I cringe, but I know my mother does not want me. She never viewed me or Rex as her sons. To her, we were simply heirs, simply people she could trust to pass on her dynasty to.
Well, fuck that.
“You have to be strong,” I tell Rex. “Fierce. I’m not telling you to go crazy with displays of power, but you can’t be scared to stand up to the council. You might be shaking internally, brother, but you cannot let them show it, or they will try to kill you.”
“I know,” Rex says. “They have already tried.” He sighs, and suddenly, Rex doesn’t look so tough. He looks scared, nervous. He looks tired.
He looks young.
“I need you, brother,” he says, but I shake my head.
“You’re stronger than you know, Rex.”
“I do not feel strong.”
“You can stay here,” I tell him, and I see Hayden’s eyes get wide, but she wisely stays quiet. “You can hide with me on Orchid. We’ll kill the police if we have to, or drug them, but you can stay here with me.”
“You’re serious,” Rex says.
“I am serious,” I tell my brother. “You know I love you, Rex. Leaving Orchid never changed my love for you. Although my mother may have turned her back on us, although I may have realized she is a liar and a deceiver, I never stopped loving you.”
“That means the world to me,” Rex says, and I realize how hard these last few years must have been on my brother.
When I discovered how corrupt my home planet was, I chose to step down as heir to the throne. I didn’t want any part in the government that had my father killed. I didn’t want to participate in a community that valued lies over honesty. I didn’t want any part of it.
Maybe that makes me weak.
Perhaps I should have stayed and fought, but at the time, I couldn’t.
I didn’t want that life.
I wanted something new, something fresh.
And then I met Hayden.
She was damaged when I met her, already broken. The world had already gotten to her and cracked her right on open, but she was still so strong. Her strength gave me strength. Her hope gave me hope. When I met her, I felt lost and alone, but she offered me compassion and kindness when I had nothing else.
Does she even know how much she means to me?
She smiles at me, watching me and my brother speak, silently encouraging me, and in this moment, I realize something.
Hayden is proud of me.
She’s proud of the man I am.
She’s proud of the choices I have made.
Sometimes, a situation is too messed up to save. Life isn’t a fairytale, not all the time, and there are moments when you have to be strong enough to walk away.
I made that choice.
I walked away from my family, from my life, from my planet.
Some would say I walked away from my responsibilities.
I made a choice.
Now Rex has to make that choice.
Will he stay and fight for the future of Orchid?
Or will he follow me?
“A lot has happened in your absence,” Rex tells me. “There’s a growing revolution, brother. The world is different now, albeit still corrupt. You would be a good king, Gaz. You would be a far better, far braver king than I ever would.”
“That is not my life anymore,” I tell him.
He looks at Hayden and then back at me.
“You love her,” he says simply. “You’re going to marry her.”
“I’m going to marry her,” I repeat. “If she’ll have me.”