I Don't Think We're Related

*Kieran*

I’d seen her rush past while I was sitting in the rose garden, thinking about everything. My first instinct was to shout at her and tell her to get her ass back inside.

But I can’t do that, and I know it.

She has to leave. Not just because she doesn’t really belong here but because it’s the only way either one of us are going to get any answers. It seems certain to me that no one in our family is ever going to tell us the truth, and everyone else is afraid to say anything. Even Taner’s father, who’s provided more info than he realizes, won’t say anything more for fear that my father will kill him.

Still, with my hand wrapped around my sister’s thin arm, I have to admit, I don’t want her to go–not alone.

“Listen, Kieran,” she begins, breathing heavily from the run, “I know you think I shouldn’t be out of my room, but this is what you wanted, remember? You and Nessa?”

I wrinkle my nose and lean away from her at the mention of the woman who wants to be my queen. “Nessa is the o