Chapter 83: The Truth About Al

Nyla's mother Ayana led them into the house and informed them that she had been living with her youngest son since her second husband died but that she bounced back and forth between her children's homes to help with the chores. Settling into a chair by the fire, she gestured for the rest of them to sit down as well.

Nyla looked at the two of us in a new light now that she knew that she and Al were related by blood. Finding long-lost family members had been about the last thing I had expected going into this.

I tried to gauge Al's reaction but he still seemed shell-shocked. Hopefully he would get the answers he was seeking without suffering a complete mental breakdown. Right now things were pretty up in the air.

"Your father's name was Amare," Ayana began fondly. "His name meant 'one who builds' and it fit him well, since all he ever wanted to do was carve things out of wood. But he knew his duties as the future clan leader and focused on learning everything there was to know about taking over from our father.

"He fulfilled his duties with pride but in his free time he made beautiful jewelry, home decorations, and even toys. That was what originally caught your mother's attention. He had given her younger sister an exquisitely carved toy flower because she was crying one day as he did an inspection of the town with our father."

I was reeling from the fact that Al was the son of the leader of the Kanta clan. From what little I knew about them, the Kanta didn't have formal royalty but since the leadership was passed down from generation to generation in the same family it was basically the same thing.

He had been born a prince and was adopted as a prince as well. Did the king know this? What would he want to do with the future leader of the Kanta region?

Ayana continued her story as I tried to mentally work this out. "Her name was Calista and she was the most beautiful woman of her generation in the clan. Originally she was expected to marry a wealthy miner who had prepared a glorious bride price to her parents but she only wanted your father.

"You have to understand, the leader of the clan is well respected because he is the direct descendant of the one honored by the mountain spirits, but it is his duty and honor to serve the people. He has only enough money to live off of. Her parents disagreed at first so she ran to Amare for help.

"He already liked her then but since she was promised to another there was nothing he could do about it. Calista ended up going on a hunger strike for five days until she eventually fainted. Her parents saw how serious she was about Amare and gave their blessing."

Ayana's smile became misty and she wiped at her eyes before continuing.

"They loved each other very much and were married a month later. Seeing them so happy was a beautiful thing for me. Though I was younger, I had already given birth to Nyla a few years before he met your mother. Sometimes I worried he would never find someone because he was so serious all the time.

"Calista got pregnant with you right away. That was around the time the king of Annalaias got greedy and tried to encroach upon our mountains. Your father did his best to negotiate but that horrible man refused. He wanted the mines for himself."

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As she talked, I was pretty sure I had figured out the truth. The king had killed off the majority of the Kanta clan in order to lay claim to the mines and had kidnapped the newborn son of the clan leader in order to prevent any further uprisings.

Everything about Al's upbringing was starting to make sense. As the third prince, he had no claim to the throne. They isolated him and made him so downtrodden that he would never question anything.

Keeping him close and showing him no warmth was their way of trying to kill off the Kanta way of life for good. The Kanta clansmen who had escaped were deeply spiritual and believed that their clan leader was blessed by the mountain spirits. Without their leader, they could never rebuild.

How horrible. I had already loathed Al's supposed family for the way they treated him but this was plain evil.

His life would have been completely different if he had managed to make it out with another member of the clan. At least that way he would have grown up loved and accepted instead of as an outsider.

"Your name, Alamar, means 'gilded' or 'covered with gold' because there was a lot of gold in our mountains in those days. Calista got the idea after Amare dipped a necklace he had carved for her in melted gold and the effect was quite beautiful," Ayana said with a laugh.

Her expression grew hard. "The raids began two weeks after your birth. We had warriors in charge of hunting and protecting the clan but they were no match for Annalaias' military. They began with the Kanta towns further from us since we were the ones closest to the mines. By the time news reached us and we scrambled to protect ourselves it was too late.

"I lost everyone but Nyla. Or so I thought. If I had only known you were alive! I would have moved heaven and earth to get to you, even if it meant my own death. Where have you been all of these years? What do they call you? Please tell me about yourself."

Al spoke for the first time since making his request to hear about his family. His eyes were like steel. He was angry again.

Instinctively, I reached out and placed a hand on his leg in a futile attempt to calm him. He couldn't blow up here in front of these people we had barely met, even if they were related to him by blood.

"Katie calls me Al and she is the only one that matters," he said stiffly. "I do not consider those people my family."

I bit my lip. Did he really have no intention of telling them he had been captured and taken as the unwanted third prince? I supposed it would be devastating to hear that he had been raised by the people who killed everyone she knew.

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