Kings Eldest

"KNOCK" "KNOCK"

"Father?" Leo asked as he gently tapped on the door before opening it to see his father sitting in a chair at the bed of his youngest brother while holding Emery's hand.

Choking back his emotional pain he slowly walked towards his father. He could see his father looked fatigued. The fatigue, however, he could not tell if it was from lack of sleep or lack of eating. It looked like the man had spent the entire night without a bit of rest at all. Understanding his father's grief, however, he did not complain.

The king slowly turned his head to see his eldest son standing there. For a moment a glint of joy was there as he felt happy to see his son come home. The next moment the glint was gone as he remembered how dangerous it was within the palace right now and he had the urge to throw him right back out the door for his own safety. He knew his son was smart about the outside world and could handle being on his own out in the world to survive if he had to. Simply choking down every strange feeling he felt he sighed.

"I knew you'd make it home for your brother's sake, Leo." He studied his son carefully. There was many things about his son that almost made him unrecognizable, but as his father he felt there would never be a day when he could not recognize his own child no matter how much they changed in front of him.

"Of course I would come! I wasn't sure who had fallen, but family is family and I had to come no matter who it was!" Leo detested how everyone always assumed the worst about him. It was like everyone assumed just because he enjoyed his freedom in the world that he would abandon the palace to ruins if it came to it.

Leo never felt that way about his family or home. He loved the freedom he had in the world, because when he was young he had met a man who had taught him about how wondrous the world could be. It made him dream of days and experiences he wanted to see for himself. Even though he loved all those things he dreamed about it never meant he liked the palace any less. He just saw things from a different view then those around him.

"Father, how could this happen in the palace? In history there has never been a betrayal so close to home like this..." Leo glanced over at Emery laying on the bed.

"I don't think this is a simple betrayal, Leo. Things in the palace are messy right now due to this. I'm sure you've even sensed things by now after coming home. It's not that hard to notice how nervous the staff is around the palace. It runs deeper then Emery..." The king choked back his emotions in front of Leo so that his son wouldn't notice how weak he felt.

Stretching out his hand to gently run his hand against Emery's forehead for a moment the king closed his eyes and huffed out a deep breath of air. He felt exhausted and weak. One glance at him was enough to see his body was quivering as if he could collapse at any moment from the fatigue.

"Father, you should get some rest. The elders will want to move things along. Emery can't just lay around like this forever... I hate to say it, but the palace needs it's king right now. If you stand on the sideline in his room like this much longer and word got around..."

"Yes, I know. I just needed a bit of time last night. I will go hold the meeting with the elders to have Emery taken care of. I may be full of grief, but I still know how to be a king. As king I got to be cautious and careful of every situation." The king rambled out his words as he stood up to head towards the door to leave the room.

"I will be staying here for a few days while things are taken care of." Leo said as he watched his father's back.

"Leo..." The king started to speak but stopped himself as he thought for a moment.

"Yes, father?" Leo could sense something was off with his father and squinted as he tried to decipher what was going on.

"You should leave."

The three words his father said caused Leo to feel like glass was shattered among his soul. He could not tell what his father was thinking, but his father had just spoke three words that felt like he was being tossed out the door of his own lively hood. The palace was his home. He was born in the palace and raised in the palace. Leo was even the crown prince of the kingdom! Now his father was telling him to leave!

"Father-!" Leo tried to speak but found himself cut off by his father.

"Do not misunderstand me, Leo!" His father turned to glare at him as if to drive his words deeper into his very soul.

There was a look in his father's eyes that he had never seen before. It was like a burning passion to keep Leo alive at the cost of everything around him. This side of his father was something he had never seen before in his life! He could not understand what his father was saying to him.

"What are you talking about? The palace is my home!" Leo tried to refute him.

"Leo! You should leave the palace!" The king walked over and gripped hold of his son by his shoulders and glared deep into his eyes.

The man that looked like a god among all those who followed him was acting desperate in front of his eldest for him to listen to his words to leave their own home in the palace.

"Father-!"

"The palace is not safe, Leo! You have been and always will be in my eyes the hope for our kingdom to prosper one day, but the day you gain the throne wont be able to happen if you are here in the palace and are snuffed out like Emery! I won't loose you too!"

"Father, but even Curtis is here in the palace!" Leo protested

"Curtis can handle himself here." King Hamelot stated bluntly

"I can't?!"

"Do not fight me over this, Leo. Listen to me and just leave the palace! Do not let yourself fall in the palace right now because you're stubborn and misunderstanding some things here. I know you can handle yourself out there and the outside world is safer for you right now."

"Fine..." Leo looked down to the side at the dagger on the bed beside Emery and sighed heavily.

Who would do such a thing to someone as young as Emery? He thought to himself as he shook his head.