Chapter 13 

Knocking on my sister’s door, I anxiously wait for her to let me in. I need to be honest with her; about everything. I didn’t want to hurt her with the truth, but I can’t keep lying to her either.

“Hector!” She says excitedly as soon as she opens the door, pulling me into a hug. Squeezing her gently, I pull back from the hug. “There’s some things I need to tell you. Can we sit?” 

Lisette nods, perching on the edge of her bed after inviting me to sit in the wicker chair. I want to ask her about those six years that we were apart, but first I have to get all the nasty stuff over and done with.

“This is going to sound a little unbelievable, but please bear with me?” I start, holding her hands gently. Lisette nods, looking confused. Taking a deep breath, I just go for it. “The Hector that you grew up with died when he was fifteen. Or at least, his soul did, but his body survived. I have his body, but my soul is from a whole other world entirely. I’m not- I’m not the brother you grew up with, but I am the brother you spent the last decade with- well. Part of a decade, considering how we were separated for those six years, but-“ 

“You’re lying,” Lisette cuts me off, pressing her hands to her mouth as a tear slips from her eye. Chewing on my lips, I shake my head. “I’m not. I’m sorry for not telling you sooner, I know that I should have. But you’re still my sister, Lisette. And I still love you so much,” I choke out, emotion clogging up my windpipe. Why is this so hard?

She shakes her head, covering her face. “No. No. You’re lying. You’re- you’re not- you’re not my brother,” she suddenly spits out, removing her hands from her face only to reveal the anger in her eyes. Flinching backwards, I grip my hands together tightly.

I knew that this wasn’t going to be easy, but I didn’t think that Lisette would react so badly.

I thought she would be upset, not angry.

“You’re not my brother; you were never my brother. You’re just an imposter, and intruder into my family’s life! I hate you!” She shouts, tears streaming down her face. My eyes feel hot as I wipe away a few stray tears, nodding. 

“I know. I’m so sorry,” I whisper, not knowing if I should leave her alone or stay here and take her words head on.

However, I don’t get to make that choice as the door is flung open to reveal Tavatta and the Lord. Tavatta instantly goes to Lisette, trying to console her as my sister clings to the warrior’s shirt, sobbing heart-wrenchingly. The Lord very gently touches my shoulder before taking my arm and leading me out of the room, closing the door behind us. We walk in silence back to his home next door, where as soon as the door shuts he gently embraces me.  

“It’s alright to cry, Tevic. Just let it out,” he whispers as my fingers clutch his jacket. I don’t like crying, but for once I just give in and let myself cry. But I don’t let a sound out, instead crying silently and lightly shaking in Ven’s arms as he strokes my back, holding me firmly but gently. 

I’m glad he’s here.

—————

-Lisette-

It takes me a long time to calm down, and the betrayal and grief I feel will probably take even longer to subside. Tavatta holds me the entire time, pressing gentle kisses to my temple and stroking through my hair.

By the time I finally stop crying, I’m exhausted. And I still can’t quite believe what Hec- he told me. Everyone calls him Tevic here, and I couldn’t work out why he wouldn’t just use his real name, since Tavatta and the Lord know who we are. But Tevic is probably his real name; whoever that soul is in my brother’s body. 

I just don’t understand. Did my brother really die, and Tevic’s soul replaced him? Or did Tevic force him out?

It hurts too much to even think about.

“My dear princess, would you like to talk about what Tevic told you?” Tavatta asks after a while, their fingers still combing through my hair. Shaking my head at first, I then change my mind, wondering if this soul business is what Tevic has been holed away because of, this whole time. He and the Lord frequently seem to have meetings about something, and no one has bothered to fill me in.

“Did you know? Did everyone know that my real brother is dead?” I sob, remembering those questions the Lord asked me, that first day. He asked if my brother died when he was fifteen - how could he have known? The rumours say that the Lord is possessed by a demon; could that be true?

Tavatta reluctantly nods, closing their eyes bitterly. “I’m sorry for keeping this from you. It is a very complicated and long story, but if you’d let me…I’ll tell you what I know. The Lord and Tevic know the most though, obviously. Those two have a lot in common, it seems.”

Sighing, I lean back into Tavatta’s embrace. “Please explain. I don’t even know what to believe.”

“Well, spirits exist,” Tavatta starts, taking my hand in theirs gently. “Four spirits. Life, Death, Nature and Fate. Our Lord is inhabited by the Death spirit - it saved his life long ago, and they are one now. Meanwhile, the Life spirit resides within Tevic. The difference between these two pairings is that the Death sprit cannot leave our Lord without it killing him, whereas the Life spirit can leave Tevic’s body at will. These spirts communicate with them, from what I gather. I cannot hear the spirits’ voice though.”

Spirits exist? I always knew that there was something out there, but I hadn’t imagined this.

“I do not know the full story, but I know that Prince Hector’s soul died when he was fifteen, and the Life spirit brought a new soul to his body. That soul is Tevic, whose own body had just died. Tevic comes from an entirely different world, apparently - a world which our Lord has seen through Tevic’s memories: there’s some very confusing stuff going on with the Fate spirit that Tevic has something to do with - I don’t really know, I just know that a while ago, the Life and Death spirits combined their power to help send the Lord and Tevic into Tevic’s memories to find information about something concerning our world. Tevic’s memories from before he died, that is. Not his memories while in Hector’s body,” Tavatta continues, and my mind is well and truly blown by this point.

“So…Tevic’s body is dead? And since Hector’s soul was dead too, that’s why Life switched them? So that Hector wouldn’t be entirely dead? And therefore…Tevic didn’t push my brother out, did he?” I have to confirm this; I might be able to handle a conversation with Tevic if it turns out that he had nothing to do with my brother’s death.

“That’s correct, Princess. Because of Tevic’s soul entering Hector’s body, you are both still alive.”

Wait. What? “Both of us? How?” I frown, until it occurs to me that Tevic protected me from that guard, last month. 

“Hector was supposed to die when he was fifteen, and the rest of your family was supposed to die in the house fire several years ago. But both you and Hector’s body are still alive, which has changed Fate’s plans - for instance, Tevic would not have been held in the royal castle for those six years and you wouldn’t have been on the run; you both would have been dead,” Tavatta explains, and it begins to sink in what they mean.

My whole family is supposed to be dead. But because of Tevic, there’s two of us remaining.

I should have never spoken to him like I did earlier. He’s still…he’s still my big brother. Isn’t he? But I said such cruel things…

Aren’t I allowed to still be upset though? I just found out that my brother died, and the person I thought was my brother this whole time was in fact someone entirely different.

I don’t know how to feel.

But I do know that I need to talk to Tevic again. And I need to apologise.

And also…I want to know who he is. If he isn’t Hector, then who is Tevic?