How can anyone so young dothat?
What’s wrong with him?
I told you he was to be avoided! You see what he can do! It’s unnatural!
Even when Urian tried to do the right thing, it always turned against him. Somehow he ended up on the wrong side of any matter in the eyes of their people. It never failed. They always judged him the bad guy.
Just like now.
They never saw the truth of him.
Everyone stared at him as if he should be punished, when all he’d been trying to do was help his twin, Davyn, and his sister-in-law.
When will I learn?
He was the Anti-Midas. Everything he touched turned to shit, and the injustice of it burned raw in his belly.
If that weren’t bad enough, he saw Paris among those wanting his head on a spike for the outburst—and Paris was completely fine, and standing with their brother Alkimos.I should have known …
No good deed goes unpunished.
“Urian? What is this?”
He cringed as his father appeared by his side.
Before he had a chance to answer, Theo pushed himself to his feet. “I was doing him a favor, Solren, and this is the thanks I get for it. He assaults me without reason.”
Their father returned his attention to him. “Is this true, Urian?”
Urian glared at Theo. “I had my reasons.”
That answer didn’t sit well with his father, who cast them both a disgusted sneer for having brawled in the street like two common hoodlums and not the princes they were supposed to be. “Then elaborate.”
Holding back his outrage, he gestured toward Theo. “You sired an asshole, Solren. I was trying to cull him down to a mere shit-for-brains.”
“Urian!” his father growled.
He straightened his chalmys over his chiton with a nonchalance he definitely didn’t feel, especially while the others continued to smear his semirespectable name. All Urian wanted was to leave while he could. To be left alone by everyone.
Instead, he forced himself to stand as if it didn’t bother him at all. He’d never give them the satisfaction of knowing how much their condemnation scalded his heart and scarred his soul. “I took issue with the manner in which he spoke to me, and sought to teach him a more respectful tone. I’ve had it with his high-handed tactics and I refuse to be talked down to anymore, by him or anyone else.”
Theo curled his lip. “You see, Solren! He’s a recalcitrant brat. Instead of indulging his disrespect all the time, you need to be spanking his spoiled little ass.”
Their father shook his head. “Nay, Urian’s right. The world and people will treat you how you allow them to. I won’t punish him for having the temerity to stand up to you, Theo. Especially when I know you have the ability to fight back and that you’ve never hesitated to strike him down whenever you think you’ve been slighted by him or anyone else.”
Theo sputtered indignantly. Finally, he curled his lip as he raked a glare over Urian. “One day, Solren, you will regret the fact that you didn’t keep a tighter leash on your favored pup. Mark my words. He’s a rabid little bastard who’s loyal to no one but himself.”
Luckily, their father knew better. He passed a meaningful glance toward Theo’s home. “Careful,m’gios,too often when confronted, we condemn ourselves in our anger. So think twice before you spew venom to taint your brother with the shadows of your own sin. For hate is a boomerang that once it’s cast out has a nasty way of coming back to the one who threw it, and more oft than not, it cripples the hand that first unleashed it.”
A tic started in Theo’s jaw. “Fine. Coddle him. You always have. It’s half of what’s wrong with him.” And with that, he headed home.
Yet the crowd remained. Staring, whispering.
Condemning.
Urian felt their judgment as if it were a living, breathing beast crawling all over his skin. And he deplored the sensation. Why couldn’t he be more charming like Paris?
Everyone loved and adored his twin.
