mikrokosmos

18: JADE'S DECISION

Jeremiah's eyes darted back and forth to the supposed siblings inside the room with him. Not a single resemblance. He thought. Besides being sarcastic and stubborn, these two don't look like siblings at all.

Prince Theodore heard Jeremiah's thoughts for the first time. And he must say, he actually agrees. But the Prince found himself smirking at the statement. Siblings? We couldn't be siblings.

"You're smirking." Lyra Jade caught his expression. "Why are you smirking?" Did he remember what I did to him in my dreams? she thought.

I did not. Theodore responded. But thanks for reminding me.

Jade cringed. "You're suspiciously calm knowing I'm your sibling."

"It's not a big deal having you as a sibling." Theodore said. "Do you want me to bring you to the Queen and say I found her long lost daughter?"

"No." Jade quickly replied. "Now that you mentioned that the Queen manipulates your father, I don't want to meet her at all. Screw my parents who abandoned me." She spat, making her two friends worry. "I'm just here to bring back the woman who raised me as her daughter. Also, to be with Reverie and Grandma Remy until this - whatever is happening with us - is over."

"But you're the Queen's daughter!" Haze insisted. "Does that mean you're triplets?" he asked the group.

Lilith and Jeremiah shivered at the thought. The twins were enough to intimidate them, what more that they're actually triplets, the last one being Lyra Jade.

"Wait-" Nazaire approached them, "How old are you?"

Jade furrowed her eyebrows with the sudden question. "19?"

"Theodore's 19 too. They're triplets, Castells." Haze said.

Jeremiah stood up, eyes wide in shock. "But if they're triplets, doesn't that make Ira and Theodore a Valentine too?"

All heads turned to the Prince, who was just silently amused with the flow of conversation.

"I'm not a Valentine." Prince Theodore assured them with a smile. "Neither is Ira."

"But-" Jeremiah started to protest.

"The Queen is not my birth mother." Theodore finally admitted. "I'm a bastard."

Jade immediately looked at Reverie with a big smile as she remembered something. "He's a Snow!"

"Shush, Jade." Reverie tapped her friend's hand. "This isn't the right time for some Game of Thrones reference."

"Game of Thrones?" Haze asked.

"It's a tv series. It's a good show even though there are a lot of nak-" Jade didn't get to finish her sentence because her best friend was fast enough to cover her mouth. Mumbling, Jade tried to remove Rev's hand. Once removed, she gasped for air. "I'll shut up now."

Even though Nazaire noticed that Haze became curious of what Jade said, he dismissed the topic. "Theo, tell me you're bluffing."

Theo shook his head slowly.

"It's true." Justin spoke. "He told me about it years ago."

The group was quiet. Aside from Reverie and Jade, the rest knew that Justin Hastings was once the Prince's best friend. And if he's the best friend, they knew for sure that he'd confide him even that important information.

I understand it now, Jade thought, even wanting the Prince to hear her. You were really hurt when he left, weren't you? And you were scared that he'd spill your secret? She looked at the Prince's expression, trying hard to see if there'd be any change of facial expressions.