The walk back to the viceroy’s room was uneventful for Crow. Since he and William didn’t have anything to talk about, and the knight was focused on keeping him in his sight at all times, neither one said anything until they reached the large wooden doors. It was there that the thief finally turned to his guard with a frown. “I hope you don’t intend on following me inside,” he said with a disturbed look. “I dislike the idea of being watched in my sleep.”

“You can have your privacy,” William shrugged. “But I’m going to stay outside this room to make sure you don’t go anywhere without supervision.”

“Sounds boring,” Crow reached for the handle to open the door. “I’d pity you, but you were the one who decided to inflict this upon yourself.” He tugged on the handle and stepped into the chamber, satisfied that he’d gotten the final word in against the hotheaded knight. Once he was alone, he raised his arms over his head in a long stretch and wandered to the window that overlooked the courtyard below, watching the knights and nobles mill about in the midday sunlight. Despite telling Penelope that he was going to take a nap, he was too wound up with intrigue to sleep. There was so much to see and so many things to think about. He couldn’t bring himself to waste his time by napping.

After a short while, he turned away from the window to look over the viceroy’s room again, pacing along the edge of the chamber as his eyes wandered over the walls and furniture in search of anything he had missed on his first day seeing it. The first thing he noticed was that someone had cleaned up the place while he’d been out with Penelope. The dishes from breakfast had been cleared away, and the bed had been remade from the haphazard state he had left it in that morning. He supposed his father had instructed the palace servants to make sure that his room was always in pristine condition.

As he made his way a little further along the wall, he also noticed there was a dresser with a large mirror on top on the left side of the room. He supposed he must have missed it before, since it was set up near the table where the food had been laid out before. Curious, he approached the mirror and studied the reflection of himself that appeared in its glassy surface. Having grown up with only the reflection of still water available to him, he found that he was strangely transfixed by the sight that was presented in the mirror, as clear as if there was a second Crow staring back at him from the other side.

[i]Interesting,[/i] he mused, tracing his fingers gingerly over the cold surface as he studied his own undistorted face for the first time. Captivated by the mirror, he probably would have stood there longer if he wasn’t interrupted by the sound of voices outside the bed chamber. He turned away from his reflection and stalked a little closer to the door, hoping to hear what was being said. If someone was talking about him, he intended to find out about it.

Once he was close enough to eavesdrop, the thief closed his eyes and leaned towards the door as the voices became clearer.

[i]“…the room where he put Lockton, right?”[/i]

The first voice was masculine, and one that Crow didn’t recognize.

[i]“Yes it is, but what could you possibly want with him, My Liege?”[/i]

He knitted his brow, surprised to hear a slight tremor in William’s voice. Whoever he was speaking to had to have high authority for the stoic knight to act so nervously. He leaned a little closer to the door.

[i]“None of your business.”[/i] This time, a feminine voice spoke up. [i]“We want what we want. Now, run along and let us speak to him alone. If I catch you eavesdropping, I’ll make sure the king finds out about it.”[/i]

[i]“O-Of course. Take all the time you need.”[/i]

As the sound of shuffling ensued, Crow’s eyes widened at the realization that the strangers were about to come inside. He hurried away from the door, backtracking to stand with his back against the bottom left bedpost. With some distance between himself and the door, he crossed his arms over his chest and set his jaw, intending to meet these people, whoever they were, with more confidence than William had shown.

In the next moment, the handle turned and the door opened, admitting three figures into the chamber. There was one man and two women, all well-dressed in expensive-looking clothes and jewelry. However, what caught Crow off guard was their ages. All three seemed to be a few years apart, but every one was clearly younger than him. He wondered how any of them could hold a position in the castle that would make William grovel like he had.

Whatever the case, he wasn’t going to do the same.

“Can I help you?” Crow narrowed his eyes at them challengingly. He was well aware that there were nobles in the palace who likely wanted him dead, so he wasn’t about to roll over if they were here to threaten him.

Instead of answering, the three just gawked at him in silence. Their wide eyes set the thief on edge, and he shifted his weight uncomfortably. However, the tense moment was quickly ended when the older of the two girls brought a hand to her mouth to suppress a snort. “Oh my gods,” she snickered. “I get it now.” She nudged the boy next to her with a snide look. “Looks like father had a secret, huh?”

The boy just grumbled something under his breath and looked away.

“What are you going on about?” Crow eyed them warily, even more baffled by the girl’s words.

“I’d bet you anything I’m right about this,” the girl went on, ignoring him as she elbowed the boy again. “Come on, Braden, you like to gamble. Want to put some money down?”

“Not when it’s a losing bet, Naida,” the boy, Braden, grumbled irritably.

“Ah!” Naida’s grin widened as she clapped her hands together. “So, you think he is too?”

Braden casted the thief a sidelong glance and wrinkled his nose, “I wish I didn’t.”

At this point, Crow’s confusion gave way to annoyance as the others continued to talk about him like he wasn’t there. “Alright,” he growled. “If one of you doesn’t tell me what’s going on, I’m leaving.”

“No, no, wait,” Naida hurriedly held up her hands as she turned to address him at last. “Sorry, it’s just… we weren’t expecting… y’know.” She performed a sweeping gesture over the thief.

“No, I don’t know,” Crow stated dryly, as her gesture did nothing to clear up his confusion. “Please explain.”

Naida exchanged a glance with Braden and the other girl before turning back to him again. “Maybe this will help,” she said, fidgeting slightly in her eagerness. “I’m Naida, and this is Braden and Willow… We’re King Mannering’s heirs.

Crow froze at that. He hadn’t known Albin had had other children after himself, although now that he thought about it, he supposed he should have known better than to assume his father wouldn’t sire his own family. After all, it was common knowledge that the king was married. Of course his wife would have born him other heirs. [i]I have half-siblings,[/i] he thought, dumbfounded as he looked the three over with new interest.

His reaction seemed to encourage Naida, who brightened considerably. “I knew it!” she chirped. “You’re our brother, aren’t you?”

“Naida!” Braden hissed at her disapprovingly, giving her a small shove. “Idiot, you can’t say something like that.”

Crow looked between them as the pieces fell into place in his mind. It seemed that they were just as clueless to his existence as he had been to theirs. In fact, they had probably only guessed that they were related based on his appearance alone. He lightly bit the tip of his tongue, toying with the idea of telling them the truth. If his father hadn’t informed them already, he clearing didn’t want them to know. However, it felt wrong to lie to them when they were family—gods, that was a strange thought.

“No, she’s right,” Crow admitted after a moment, averting his gaze uncomfortably. “Albin is my father.”

A brief silence hung in the air before Naida interrupted it again. “You’re our brother,” she beamed, moving to come closer to him. However, before she could get very far, Braden caught her by the arm.

“He’s also a wanted thief, remember?” he growled, turning to Crow with a cautious gaze. “Father has grown too nostalgic… asking a known criminal to be our next ambassador. It’s absurd!”

“You should be grateful that Father didn’t make him a prince,” Naida snickered. “He’s older than you, so you’d be pushed down the line for the throne!”

Braden cringed at that, but before he could rebuttal, Crow intervened. “Look, I don’t know why he asked me either,” he shrugged. “And to be honest, I don’t even know if I’m going to take the offer.”

“What?” Naida whirled on him with wide eyes. “You have to take it! You’re the king’s firstborn son. You deserve to have at least some sort of title.”

“I don’t care about that,” Crow frowned. “I know this may sound crazy to a bunch of nobles, but I [i]like[/i] my life as a peasant. I don’t know if I want to give it up just because my father asked me to.”

“Great,” Braden said curtly. “Then go back to it. We don’t need you anyway.”

“Braden!” Naida groaned. Roughly yanking her arm out of her brother’s grasp, she stepped over to Crow’s side. “Don’t listen to him. He’s probably just upset because he’s no longer our father’s firstborn.” She shot Braden a glare before turning back to the thief with a friendly smile. “You may like peasant life, but I promise; you’ll like living in the castle so much more. Sure, there’s some boring stuff, like tutoring and traditions, but there’s so much else to do here—Ooh, I can show you around! It’ll be fun!”

Crow felt a faint smile creep over his lips as he held Naida’s excitable gaze. Her enthusiasm was infectious, and even though he hadn’t made up his mind about whether he was going to stay or leave, he couldn’t help but feel drawn to spending time with his newly discovered half-sister. “I’d like that,” he nodded. “If I end up accepting father’s offer, I’ll be sure to take you up on it.”

“This is ridiculous,” Braden muttered foully. He turned to head back to the door. “I need to speak with father about this.”

“You do that,” Naida waved a hand at him. “I’m going to stay here and get to know our new brother. What about you, Willow?” She turned to the younger girl expectantly.

Willow shuffled her feet uncomfortably beneath her sister’s intense gaze. “I think I’ll go with Braden,” she said in a meek voice, turning to follow the boy out of the room.

“Oh,” Naida frowned, seeming disappointed as the other two left. However, the emotion didn’t last long. “Alright then. I guess it’s just you and me,” she said, turning back to the thief and gesturing for him to sit with her on the bed.

“It seems so,” Crow shrugged absently, still feeling a little overwhelmed at the unexpected news that he had siblings. He followed Naida over to the bedside and sat down, letting his legs dangle over the edge as he settled comfortably on the soft mattress.

His sister did the same, though she positioned herself so that her back was resting against the pillows by the headboard and her legs were crossed in front of her. “Tell me about yourself,” she grinned, leaning contentedly into the cushioning. “Your name is Crow, right? That’s pretty unique.”

“Yeah,” the thief nodded with a soft smile. “It’s not my real name though.”

“Really?” Naida quirked a brow. “What’s your real name?”

“Ah ah,” Crow tutted, smirking at her mischievously. “You haven’t earned that yet. How about I tell you the story of where my current name came from…”