Without a King

Adrian frowned when the official nodded at him, and he eyed the man as he left the room. Looking back, he froze when he saw an older Kieran staring at him, and he was much like one of those prey Weres caught in the Vercingetorix's sights. His heart begun to race, and his leg didn't seem strong enough to support him as it begun to shake slightly.
Opening his mouth no words came out. What in Spirits name was he supposed to say? Maybe he wasn't used to Kieran having one eye?
He looked away, fidgeted with his gloves before he pulled them off and stuffed them into a pocket. He frowned, rubbing at his left handed ring finger. That's as good a place as any to start...Clearing his throat, Adrian took a deep breath.
"I remember the letter I had sent the Secret Service, the one with my ring in it . That I would never come back and all....I was young, I was furious, hurt, unstable, I was many things when I wrote that." Adrian frowned, still looking down at his fingers. "I was also broken, scared and disgusted."

"Things happened, many things, and I believed that if I wasn't a Draeyva anymore they'd stop. I'd be free. I wrote the letter. I used a different name."

A snarling flurry of midnight blue scales, and ice. The large snake was frozen where it had been posed to strike.
Dull midnight blue scales speckled with blood. A white dog whined and whimpered. Hunger clawed at him.

"I did horrible things, evil, unforgivable things. " Adrian couldn't look up at Kieran. His throat was threatening to tighten, but all he could do was ramble on, to fill in the silence. The flashing imagery wouldn't let him be. Was he making any sense? Did Kieran say something?
"I refused to hear anything about Cinaed. I refused a lot of things, for a very long time. Then I took what I wanted, threatened when there wasn't resistance."
"You think pretending to be unconscious is going to save you? You think this is funny, McCarthy? Stop pretending!.......McCarthy? This isn't funny!....Patrick? Patrick, wake up!"
"I hurt people that trusted me, and I still don't know why they helped me get better." Adrian's vision grew blurry, his face felt hot. Pulling out a glove from his pocket he wrung it over and over. Too many nerves. Maybe he couldn't handle this. Had he packed any anxiety medication?
He glanced up at Kieran. Did he still not say anything? Did he know what he had done all along?
"Aren't you going to yell at me? Lock me away? Tell me what I did was wrong?"
His leg wobbled and gave way. He slid down the wall and onto the floor. Raising his leg, he clutched it to his chest, resting the side of his head on his knee. He took a shaky breath, "I can't remember mother, I can barely remember father, or Alice. But I remember you most, and I've missed you, Kieran. I've fought, and denied that I did for a long time. I didn't want to miss you....I was and am scared of you because I ran away from everything and left you to pick up the pieces by yourself. I abandoned my family....and I am sorry."

Adrian didn't dare to look up at Kieran until his brother spoke, and even then he wished he hadn't. There were too many swirling emotions to keep track off, too many that he didn't think it was possible for him to remain intact and not suffer some explosion.
Not safe? Never leave? So many years of not seeing each other and Kieran wanted him to leave?
Breathing in and out slowly, Adrian tried to calm himself down, his gaze not leaving his brother. "What is going on? I don't understand.....Why wouldn't I be safe here? Why wouldn't they let me leave? This isn't a prison, is it? Are they keeping you here against your will?"
The questions would have continued to pour out but Adrian busied himself by trying to get himself up onto his foot.