ROYAL BLOOD

VOICES

Leo and Lore looked at each other trying to process what they had just heard. Grivald, on the other hand did not care. He just wanted answers for him and whom was he related to.

Lore moved away from Dravite and looked at the second portrait; a beautiful lady with white hair and green eyes was smiling at him.

"Violane Jane Augustin." He read.

Grivald looked at Violane's face thinking of what happened to her. He felt so bad for her that he looked away, trying not to think about it. Lore then faced the final portrait; a handsome young boy stood there with the same ferocious look as his father.

"Jacinth Augustin." Lore read again.

Grivald looked at Jacinth's face and it looked extremely familiar to him. A chill ran down his spine as he looked at Jacinth's face. "Maybe the story left a strong impact on him." he thought to himself.

"I can't believe it." Leo exclaimed.

"Why didn't our parents tell us?" Lore cried.

Rufus replied, "They must have not known too. Maybe your grandparent's never told them to protect them and keep them away."

"This is so crazy!" Leo exclaimed.

Grivald moved to the portraits on the other side. He looked at the first portrait of a middle aged man. Wyot's father he thought and moved on. The second portrait was of Adelaide; a young woman with thick curly hair and brown eyes. He looked at those eyes and the story revolved around his head. He gulped and moved on to the final portrait of Wyot; he was young and handsome. He was wearing a frowned expression. Grivald looked into his eyes and could feel terror and pain.

"Wyot." Lore said, behind him. Grivald had not realized that Lore and Leo were standing there and staring into the picture. But Grivald had not yet found out whom he was related to. He turned towards Rufus and asked him, "Who am I?"

"I don't know." Rufus replied but he knew who Grivald is. It wasn't the right time to let him know.

"Why?" Grivald cried. "You seem to know everything! Please tell me who am I?"

"I said, I don't know!" Rufus replied holding back his tears.

Grivald was furious and he said, "Fine. I will find it myself." He looked towards his right and ran up the carpeted stairs.

Leo and Lore followed him, their feet falling in thuds on the thickly carpeted stairs. Rufus stood there in silence not knowing what to do. Grivald reached the top of the stairs. He looked around him and there was nothing; only empty rooms. Not even a single furniture. He was extremely confused at what was the purpose of the mansion. There was nothing up there. Just empty rooms.

"What!" Grivald exclaimed. He wanted answers and there was no way he could it. The only way he had was Gary but he was scared. He did not want Gary to feel that he was slipping away from his life.

Lore tapped Grivald's shoulders and said, "You will know it someday."

Grivald shook Lore's hands away from his shoulders and walked down. There was something fishy with Rufus, he thought so, he asked him, "And what about you? Aren't you the royal blood?"

Rufus gulped at his sudden question and replied, "I can’t tell you."

Grivald laughed and said," You are hiding something. Well, it doesn't really matter to me but-" he moved closer to him and whispered, "if you're after Lore then let me tell you, he will be ours first."

Rufus looked at Lore and said, "Lore, Leo let us take Grivald with us, shall we?"

Grivald looked at him in and Rufus whispered, "I know who you are. If you want to know how you're related to Lore then you will have to come with us"

"But why should I?" Grivald asked.

Rufus smiled and whispered, "Gary is using you. He's hiding something."

Grivald gulped and said, "You're lying."

"The choice is yours. If you want answers, then come with us else you can go and ask Gary about which, I'm sure that it won't work."

Grivald looked below and thought for a while. He had no other option so, he agreed.

--

Gary was pacing up and down his study room, "Where is Grivald?" he thought. It had already been hours ever since Grivald had gone out. He looked at the dusty books and thought to himself, "should I let him know who he really is? But how can I?" he sighed.

--

"What happened? What did you see?" Jackson asked Lore as he stepped foot on the cliff again.

"Nothing much." Lore replied.

"We must go." Rufus said and he held Grivald's arms tight.

"What are we going to with him?" Wisteria asked.

"You'll know." Rufus replied and they headed out.

On the way, while they were passing the forest, Lore heard a whisper coming from inside the woods. He turned towards the woods and looked at the others.

"Did you hear it?" Lore asked aloud.

"Hear what?" Leo asked back.

Lore thought he must be hearing things but the whisper came back again. It was trying to pull him inside the forest. The whisper was not clear and he didn't understand what the voice was saying. The whisper grew louder and louder as he went away from the forest. He could not control himself and ran inside the forest. He looked around him and saw nothing. He felt that the voice was coming from the trees. It was a woman's voice whispering "Lore" He ran deeper into the woods and each tree he passed; whispered his name. Lore ran deeper and the voice got louder and louder. Suddenly, someone pulled him. He looked back and saw Grivald.

"Why are you here?" Lore asked him.

"Stop running." Grivald replied. He looked at Lore for a while and let his hand go.

"I heard it." Grivald said.

Lore gulped and stated, "I heard my name."

"I heard my name too." Grivald said with confusion.

"Don't fool around, Grivald." Lore stated.

"I'm not! I heard a woman's voice whispering my name."

"But I heard my name."

Grivald gulped and looked around the forest. There was nobody.

"What do you think it is?" Lore asked breathing heavily.

"No Idea." Grivald replied. "I-

"Hey!" Jackson interrupted him and asked Grivald, "What are you doing to him?"

"It is okay, Jackson. I ran off." Lore replied.

"Are you crazy? You ran here without telling us anything. And soon after, he followed you." Jackson eyed Grivald.

"I'm sorry. Let's go back." Lore said and did a double take at the woods as they came out.

Rufus rushed towards Lore and asked him, "Are you alright? Why did you run?"

"I thought I heard something." Lore replied.

"But we didn't hear anything." Wisteria interrupted.

Lore and Grivald looked at each other. Grivald felt strange. Lore was feeling strange too because why were him and Grivald the only ones who heard the voice? For a split second, he thought that both of them might be connected but that was too absurd to be true.

--

Grivald sat down on the sofa and stared at the fireplace. He had to return to Gary soon.