Aery was terribly confused. And then she realized it too. "I'm such an idiot. They didn't want to kill the kings. Well, they did, but they just wanted to get us on the thrones, they wanted to... to make us... They wanted to have half-royal children so that a blood test can prove that they in fact are the parents, and thus they can become the kings of our realms." She started to cry. "At least my boys won't have to deal with the cloak-and-dagger business. As far as everyone except me, Ame, and Silly know, the boys were found on the street and I brought them in to work in the kitchen. They'll be happy servants for the rest of their lives." Her tears came harder as she tried to sort through the rush of emotions. Should she have kept the boys and raised them as princes? As her cousins or something?
But no. She couldn't have borne that reminder for the rest of her life.