Chapter 63: A New Name
"That's perfect! You can come live with us! I'm sure Captain Caelan won't care!"
Wait, wait.
Nuri stared at her. Alina... are you out of your mind?
You don't just invite cursed kids into a Knight Order barracks! What about Talia? She'd come tear their heads off!
"Really?" Turman asked.
He squeezed Wan tight, breaking into the widest, brightest smile Nuri had seen on him yet.
"Yeah, absolutely! Right, Nuri?"
Why was she even asking him? She'd already made the whole decision by herself.
Nuri just gave a miserable, stiff nod, crying on the inside.
"Great," Lucien said, standing up from his chair and dusting his lap. "You can get out on your own then. I've got what I came for."
Turman looked up at him. "Is that really all you needed?"
His small face dropped like a disappointed puppy. "You're the reason I'm not dead, after all."
"It was nothing," Lucien said, giving a dismissive flick of his fingers. "Besides. My business here is done."
Before anyone could say another word, Lucien vanished.
The air where he stood twisted in on itself, leaving behind a faint smell of burnt and a few dying sparks of colored light.
Alina whipped back around to Turman, her jaw dropped. "What did he mean, he healed you?!"
"Well, he didn't fix me completely," Turman explained, rubbing his collarbone. "He just suppressed the curse for a bit. He told me you two would bring Truwan back up here, so I'd be fine."
Turman's eyes lit up. "He's amazing. I don't know how he predicted all of that..."
"He's operating on a completely different level than us," Nuri muttered, letting out a long, exhausted breath.
"Though I gotta ask..." Alina crossed her arms, squinting at Turman. "What kind of name is Truwan? Talia must've really hated him."
Turman's cheeks instantly flushed bright red.
The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
"I... I named him," he mumbled, looking down at his knees, mortified. "Talia never gave him one, so I thought I should..."
His face burned hotter.
Alina held her stomach and burst out laughing right in his face.
Even Truwan seemed embarrassed, shifting his weight from foot to foot and trying to hide his deformed face behind his hands.
"Yeah, no, a new name is definitely needed," Alina gasped between laughs. "Yours is... pfft! Haha!"
"I know, I know!" Turman whined. "I've been thinking about it for days! I actually picked a better one!"
Truwan's head snapped up. He bounced on the mattress, making the springs squeak.
"Look at him, he's thrilled!" Alina laughed, stepping over to wrap her arm around Wan's broad, twisted shoulders. "How much were you torturing this poor guy?!"
"Wan..." Turman murmured shyly.
"Wan?" Alina repeated.
"It's close to the old one, but it sounds like a real name," Turman said.
Wan nodded his heavy head frantically, letting out a raspy, happy huff.
The mood shifted a second later as a massive crack of thunder rattled the window panes, shaking dust off the ceiling.
"Great," Alina sighed, looking out at the black sky and sheet rain. "How do we even get out of this place in a storm like that?"
"It's fake," Turman said simply. "An illusion."
"Seriously?!" Nuri and Alina barked together.
"Yeah. Pain in the ass, honestly."
"Then let me at the front door," Alina said, rolling up her sleeves.
Wan scrambled off the bed, landing heavy on the carpet. Turman swung his legs over the side and pushed himself up onto his own feet.
Just being near his twin had brought his color back. They really were two halves of the same thing.
Then Nuri looked at Turman's height.
His mouth went dry.
Why is this kid taller than me?! Why is literally everyone in this room taller than me?!
It wasn't fair.
"How old are you?" Nuri blurted out, unable to stop himself.
"Sixteen."
Damn it.
A whole year younger. Nuri scowled, dragging his boots as he followed them out the door.
"I know a back exit," Turman said, taking the lead down the hall. "The one Talia uses."
Nuri stared at the back of Turman's head. Standing up, the boy looked terrifyingly like his mother. Same sharp jawline, same straight spine. Just without the crazy in his eyes.
"We need to go before she realizes I'm out of bed," Turman whispered, his shoulder muscles tightening.
Wan flinched behind him, dropping his head low.
"Why did she even do all this?" Alina asked, walking right beside Turman. "Locking him up, hiding you away?"
"Talia... cares about her family name more than anything," Turman murmured, eyes fixed on the floorboards ahead. "When we were born... she couldn't handle the sight of—"
He caught himself.
"—of Wan."
He took a steady breath and kept going. "She couldn't let the noble houses know she had a cursed child, so she threw him in the lower cellar. But we found each other anyway."
"Okay, but why pull us into it?" Alina pressed.
"Wan told me... a few days ago, some guy claiming to serve the God of Sacrifice showed up at the estate," Turman said, his voice turning cold. "He told her that if Wan killed enough innocent people, the god would lift the curse and make him normal."
Turman's jaw set tight. "It's garbage, obviously. But she's so far gone she actually believed it."
He clamped his mouth shut, signaling he was done talking about her. Nobody pushed him.
They ducked into a narrow stone servant passage behind a fake wall panel, moving single-file down the chilly hallway.
"Can you really understand what Wan's saying?" Nuri asked, trying to clear the heavy air.
Turman brightened instantly, looking back over his shoulder. "Every word! It's great! We talk all the time."
Nuri glanced back at Wan, who was shuffling along silently in the rear.
I kind of want to hear him too, Nuri thought, keeping his eyes on the dark passage ahead.