Chapter 10 - BROTHER AND SISTER
The old chapel smelled exactly as Alina remembered.
Cold stone.
Wax.
Dust.
She entered alone.
At midnight, a door opened behind the altar.
Leo stepped out.
For a moment, neither moved.
He looked older.
Not just three years older.
Ten.
A scar ran from his temple to his jaw.
Alina whispered, “Leo.”
He stared at her.
Then crossed the room and hugged her.
Hard.
Alina broke.
She grabbed the back of his coat and cried against his shoulder.
“You idiot.”
“I know.”
“I thought you were dead.”
“I know.”
“I buried an empty coffin.”
“I’m sorry.”
She hit his chest.
He let her.
Again.
Again.
Then he caught her wrists.
“I’m sorry.”
She looked into his eyes.
“Are you with Stefan?”
Leo stepped away.
“It’s complicated.”
“No. That’s what people say when the simple answer makes them look terrible.”
He almost smiled.
“You haven’t changed.”
“You have.”
That hurt him.
Good.
Alina pulled out a small drive.
“We have Project Crownfall.”
Leo’s face drained.
“Where?”
“Safe.”
“You have to destroy it.”
“Why?”
“Because if Stefan knows—”
“He knows.”
Leo stopped.
“What?”
“He knows Vale lost the files.”
Leo paced.
“You shouldn’t have come.”
“You invited me.”
“I needed to see if you were really alive.”
“And now?”
“Now I need you out of Velkria before sunrise.”
Alina stared.
“Tell me who killed our parents.”
Leo looked at the altar.
“Leo.”
“I don’t know.”
“Vale said you do.”
“Vale lies.”
“So do you.”
He turned sharply.
“I didn’t kill them.”
“I didn’t say you did.”
His silence was enough.
Alina’s heart cracked.
“You knew something was going to happen.”
Leo sat on a pew.
“I knew Stefan was planning to force Father to abdicate.”
“And?”
“I helped him.”
She felt physically sick.
“Why?”
“Because the economy was collapsing. Father wouldn’t compromise. People were losing jobs. Stefan promised a temporary council.”
Alina laughed bitterly.
“You trusted him?”
“I was nineteen!”
“And our parents died.”
“I KNOW!”
His shout echoed through the chapel.
Leo’s eyes filled with tears.
“I changed their route that night.”
Alina stopped breathing.
“What?”
“Stefan said he needed them delayed. I changed the motorcade route through the northern pass.”
The northern pass.
Where the bomb exploded.
Leo covered his face.
“I killed them.”
Alina wanted to hate him.
She tried.
But all she saw was her little brother at nine years old, sleeping outside her bedroom because thunderstorms scared him.
She sat beside him.
“Stefan killed them.”
“I gave him the road.”
“Then help me end this.”
Leo shook his head.
“You don’t understand.”
“What?”
“The coronation isn’t about me.”
He looked toward the chapel door.
“It’s about you.”
Footsteps filled the tunnel.
Leo stood.
Alina reached for her gun.
The doors opened.
Regent Stefan entered with ten soldiers.
He smiled.
May you like
“My dear niece.”
Then Leo stepped beside him.
