Chapter 35: A Tale of Love and Loss

Queen Meridian sits with her son at the grotto. She is holding King Merlion by the arm as if he would slip away if she lets him go. She still could not believe that she would ever get to see her son back here in his true home. She assumes that she is partly to blame for she never visited her son as well. She might call it a Mother's pride or a wounded heart.

The Queen opens her mouth, planning to say something but immediately shuts it. She is trying to figure out how she would say what is in her mind in a gentle manner. She is afraid that perhaps her words would make him avoid visiting their realm again and she would have to suffer the longing for her firstborn's presence once more. Just imagining that is enough torture for her.

"My son, I am aware of your duties at the Green Haven as their King. But you have really distanced yourself from everyone here. How did you manage all those years of staying so far, far away from us? Have you also forgotten about your Queen Mother?"

The Queen speaks softly but her words cut deeply in her son's heart.

King Merlion remains silent. He is unsure of what to reply to that. Should he make excuses for himself? He is aware of the guilt for leaving this realm which he was supposed to lead had he not decided to be with his Queen Alina at the Earth realm. His people has expected as much but never questioned his decision.

"I know the pain brought about by your King Father's betrayal. I have more to grieve than you. Despite of my love and devotion to him, he lost sight of my love for him and for our family."

Queen Meridian's words are full of sadness. The memories of the anguish upon discovering that your King and husband has shared his heart to another comes back fresh and wounding just the same as before.

"Mother, I understand your pain but that is the reason why I left in the first place. I could not stay loyal to a King who has done my own Queen Mother injustice."

"Let us not even go to the pain of a son who believed in his father since he was young. I have always admired the proud and mighty King Oberon."

Merlion's statements convey so much disgust.

King Merlion finally admits his true reason for serving another realm. It might seem cowardice to some but for him it is his way of defying his King Father.

His love for Queen Alina has also played a part in replacing the hatred for his father in his heart by the love for the Queen of the Earth fairies. Queen Alina showed him the same love and maybe even more than he feels he deserves. She has always been her source of calm through the years of his resentment for his father.

In his eyes, King Oberon has failed his duties to his realm when he betrayed them for loving someone else besides his own family. Merlion wants to be a better King than his father. Perhaps he can be a better father as well.

"I am aware that even when you felt betrayed as his wife, you stayed devoted to him as his Queen."

"How can you stay that way with him?" King Merlion questions his Queen Mother as if she betrayed him too.

Queen Meridian takes a deep breath to gather her own strength to explain her actions to her son.

"Merlion, as the Queen of this realm, I must exercise my compassion and what better way to serve as an example of that than forgiving the King. I forgave him but I have never forgotten a single day."

"I saw how you look at your father when you were just our Prince then. I love you so much and that tore me up inside because I still love your father despite of his shortcomings."
 
"You are a King to your own realm now and a Father to your daughter. You must see how your actions would ripple towards the lives of these people. You have to do your duties as a role model to others.

"When I became pregnant with your sister Ava, I thought everything would go back to the way it is, but I was mistaken."

"You felt it yourself. You have never trusted your father ever again."

Queen Meridian smiles a bit from a memory.

"Princess Ava gave us something to hope for. We wanted to be whole again, for her sake."

King Merlion couldn't help but smile too. His sister Ava is a bundle of joy for them.

Queen Meridian holds her son's face in both her hands. She makes sure that he is looking straight at her eyes.

"My son, if you must know, before we had your sister. I have done something unkindly too."

She pauses weighing what she is about to say.

"When your father promised me then that he would stop seeing her, I met with her without your father's knowledge."

King Merlion's expression is a mixture of surprise and confusion.

"She is more beautiful than the usual humans. No wonder your father's eyes adored her. He was captivated by her human frailty"

Queen Meridian becomes sad once more.

"Areeadne loves your father too. She loves him enough to decide to stay away from him for your father to be the true King that he is supposed to be."

"I never asked her for that but she was determined to do so on her own."

"For that, I admired her. She was not selfish."

She seems almost done with her tale of love and loss.

"Did father pursue her?" King Merlion asks with curiosity.

"Areeadne asked me to help her. For your father not to ever find her, I used magic."

Queen Meridian confesses and looks relieved for finally being able to say out loud her secret.

"I used magic for my own selfish reasons. She requested me for it but deep inside my heart I did it because I wanted to do it too. She was out of our lives for good." She says as if condemning herself.

King Merlion holds his Queen Mother's face too.

"Mother, you kept that all these years? What about father? Does Ava know anything?" King Merlion questions.

The Queen shakes her head. Her eyes are brimming with tears already.

She removes her hands from Merlion's face to claim his son's hands on hers.

"My son, there is more...I kept in touch with Areeadne. Your father has a son with her. She was carrying his son when she left." She admits weakly, as if this whole conversation tired her out.

"What? We have a half human brother? Where is he?" King Merlion inquires.

"That is the last that I know. Areeadne requested me not to contact her again and made me promise not to look for them. All I can assume is that he is a little younger than you but a lot older than Ava. Well, in human years." She calculates roughly.

"I am sorry my son. I have to keep my promise to her."

Queen Meridian appears defeated and guilty at the same time.

King Merlion embraces his Queen Mother in response.

Mother and son stay in that embrace for some time. Neither have any idea what to do with the secret they share now.

The Queen leans her head on her son's chest. With her revelations, she has freed herself from that long kept burden.

King Merlion's mind starts to formulate a plan of action based on the knowledge of a human brother.

Should he tell his sister? What about their father?

King Merlion strokes his mother's back to comfort her.

How can their family be this complicated?

He remembers that he has just got back his own daughter after a very long time in search for her. Right now, this makes him feel responsible that he has to do good with this half-brother whom he had no idea about up until this very moment.

As for his King Father, he recalls how much he admired him before his betrayal to their family. Being a father himself, he is aware of the King's right to this human son. Even though he still could not forgive him for breaking his mother's heart, his father should know of his other son.

"Mother, I think it is time to end all the secrets. We must talk to Father and Ava."

He is resolute with this decision.

After this is settled, he needs to have a word with Caspian too. No more hiding. No more secrets.