over the tower, letting us know it’s safe to come home. If it’s a girl, a red flag will let us know we can never return to the castle again.
“This is horseshit!” Andrew says from a branch beneath me. “I have half a mind to stage a mutiny and overthrow the crazy old bastard.”
“I’m coming with ya,” Frederick agrees.
“Hey!” James shouts from the tree next to us. “He’s still our father, and you’ll speak of him with respect.”
“Father or not, he’s lost his fucking marbles,” Edward, our second eldest brother, declares.
James shoots him a disapproving look, but they say no more about it. The noises of the forest surrounding us, mixed with the slight drizzle falling from the sky, are deafening as the lot of us grow quiet again. The darkness of night is creeping in as ominous thunder rolls softly in the distance.
“Benjamin, are you sure you can see? Climb higher!” George yells from a branch beneath me.
My brothers decided that I would climb furthest to the top since I weigh the least of all of us. It’s tough being the youngest in the family. I love my brothers, but I’m usually the one that gets stuck doing the grunt work.
“I told you already; I have a clear view of the tower! If you don’t believe me, I’d be happy to switch places with your ass!”
My eyes catch James’ as they scan back to the tower. He nods and winks his approval of me. On the flip-side of being the youngest, I can’t imagine taking responsibility for eleven other people at seventeen, as James has.
I know that he is furious with Father, but he’s trying to be an outstanding leader. He doesn’t want our brothers turning their backs on the man who taught us nearly everything we’ve ever known, even though he’s struggling with that decision himself.
There are nine years separating him and me, with our ten other brothers falling in line along the way. Edward is sixteen, Andrew is fifteen, Frederick is fourteen, and George is thirteen. Then comes our first set of twins: Harry and Henry; they’re twelve. They’re inseparable and constantly getting themselves into trouble. After that is Louis, who is eleven, followed by Philip and Christopher, who are ten, then Alexander. He’s nine and one year older than me.
My thoughts are interrupted by Harry and Henry, who are currently laughing their asses off about something on a branch to my left.
“Hey, Benji,” Harry calls to me, barely able to get the words out through his laughter.”
“What the hell is so funny?” I ask them.
“What do you call bees that make milk?” Henry asks.
I shake my head and shrug my shoulders at them.
“Boo-bees!” they shout in unison, practically falling out of the tree in a fit of laughter.
I roll my eyes, but can’t keep the smile off of my face as I turn my attention back to the only home I’ve ever known. It’s then I see something floating in the air above the tower.
“I think I see something!” I shout, turning the attention of each of my brothers to the castle.
Straining my eyes, I try to identify the object, but it’s getting harder as the sky grows dark with the storm. Lightning shoots across the sky a second later, illuminating the scarlet red flag and delivering the inexorable fate of our future.
Thankful for the rain, which blends in with the tears streaming down my face, I turn to James.
“We can’t go home.”
His eyes close with devastation and I’ve never seen him look so defeated before. The next few minutes are quiet as all of us stare at James, awaiting his direction. I look to Harry and Henry once more and take in their grim expressions. I can’t remember the last time I saw either of them without a smile on their faces or a lightness in their eyes. I look back to James, whose face is now contorted with anger.
It makes sense, he had the most to lose. He is Father’s rightful heir, after all.
“Everyone down!” James scares me from my thoughts.
None of us moves.
“Now!” he shouts.
We begin our descent back to the soggy forest floor beneath us in silence. Once there, we watch as James paces back and forth. No one wanting to speak but each of us begging to ask him what he’s thinking.
My eyes are trained on my feet as I wait. The more I watched James, the more his anger frightened me. As if I was watching all of his good