Page 24 of Adding Fuel To The Flames

Wiping a lone tear away, Dain rasped, "It was soon after that, small things started to happen. First it was a fire in our dwelling. I thought it was a spark that hit the rug on the floor. One time you were sick and I had decided to have you stay in my room, and the roof fell in over your bed. Then there was a rock slide; and had we not stopped so I could fix your shoe, we would have been killed. That's when I started really getting suspicious. I went into full swing on creating a new guardian."

"Is this when you put together the Griffions?" Ethan asked.

Dain rasped, "Yes. When I was out, looking for some herbs I needed for the mixture, I noticed a smell. I knew that scent well. I mean, I had slept next to and with the man who carried it."

"My seed father?" Rhys asked softly.

Nodding, Dain replied, "I gathered some of my men and we searched until we came across a small group of pixies. It seems Garlin had sympathizers. They hid him away and now Garlin was in our new home area and he had begun to gather an army. Again, the plan was to take out Destrain and our kingdom. I knew then, that I only had one choice left."

Turning away in shame, Dain rasped, "I had to stop the treasonous pixies before they succeeded in their plan. With Aracus and Casimir's help, we were able in infiltrate their location. It wasn't hard to locate Garlin. He and his men had attacked a small family's home that was tucked away from the rest of us. Marclin had problems being around large groups of people ever since we had been held captive. So, when we had gone to the new realm, he asked to build a bit away from the rest of us. It was him, his mate, and their two children. One boy was your age, Rhys. They killed them all. I killed your seed father, Rhys."

"What!" Rhys yelled out in shock.

“Tell him all of it, Dain," Destrain said in a warning tone.

Rhys sat up straighter, asking, "Tell me what? What's the rest? You killed my seed father. What else could there be to tell?"

"Your seed father was the one behind all theaccidents. His goal was to kill you and your birth father as well as myself, Clove, and Desdain," the king said forcefully.

Dain didn't say anything so Destrain stepped closer to Rhys. "Garlin said there could be no heirs to the throne left, and that included you. Dain's men captured your seed father. He told Dain then and there that no matter what happened to him, his people would not stop until everyone in the royal family was dead. That included you, Rhys. "

"What?" Rhys gasped.

"I couldn't believe what he said. I mean okay, kill me, but you, Rhys, you were his son. His child. I couldn't believe he was willing to kill you to get to the throne. I would die before I let anything happen to you, Rhys," Dain whispered.

Day's disgust came through in his tone. "Did you ask him how he could do that? How he could want his own son dead?"

Dain nodded. "Garlin told me that the plan, from the very beginning, was supposed to be simple. He was to get close to the king and then take us all out."

"That's why he hooked up with you to start with, isn't it?" Ethan asked quietly.

Dain choked on a sob, "He said nowhere in the plan was their supposed to be a kid."

"What did you do?" Rhys asked tearfully.

Straightening his shoulders, Dain looked Rhys in the eyes, saying, "I cut off his head."

Destrain, hissed, "Damn it, Dain! Tell him the fucking rest! Don't just make it sound like an execution and that's it."

Dain snorted, "But it was. He and the others wanted my son dead and I did what I had to do."

"You gave up everything to keep Rhys safe and he needs to know this," Destrain insisted.

Rhys stood up and walked to Dain. "Please, tell me."

Looking up at the ceiling, Dain softly said, "I knew what Garlin told me was the truth. I knew that as long as you were alive they were coming for you and I couldn't be with you twenty-four hours a day. I had duties to our people and not even my son's safety could take center stage to our shimmer. Too many other lives were on the line. So, you had to die."

Rhys gaped but didn't say anything.

Ethan could see the struggle Dain was having as he remembered that time. Ethan saw the raw pain, and hurt he had gone through, not just for the loss of a man he loved betraying him, but also for something else. When Dain started to speak again, his voice sounded hoarse as well as gravely. "I came up with a plan. If the people trying to kill the royal family thought you were dead, then you would be safe."

"Oh, by the Gods!" Rhys gasped.

Swallowing hard, Dain continued, "I took Marclin's son and I laid him next to Garlin. Lit them on fire and then staged your kidnapping."

"Was that when you sent me away to Uncle Destrain and Uncle Clove's? They had Desdain and I in one section of the house for days," Rhys asked.

Nodding, Dain replied, "I had to be the grieving father when I found my son and ex-lover dead. Then we had to make sure that no one could find out you weren't dead. So, I made sure you were kept out of everyone's view. Aracus and Casimir were brought in as your nannies. We thought things were going well, until whispers about a young boy playing with the king’s son, and whose child he was, started. Then there was talk about the traitors possibly starting to work with the fairies and the elves. That's when we knew, you couldn't go to your uncles’ place as often and when you did it had to be in secret. You could not be seen by our shimmer, not with your uncles and Desdain, and definitely not with me."