know of Aurek and Aurelia, don’t you?” he says after a moment, his tone a little less frigid.
I look at him, shaking my head slowly. Then a picture comes to mind. The Sleeping Prince stands atop a tower, a girl, his sister, beside him, Tallith golden and gleaming below them. And I remember the caption that accompanied it, hear the voice of my mother reading it.
The twins, the mirror of each other on the outside, grew apart as they grew older, becoming as different as day and night. Aurek, the golden prince and heir to the throne of Tallith, aurumsmith and vitasmith, and his sister, Aurelia, philtresmith, no longer moved and thought as one.
Aurek. In all that had happened I’d never thought of him as simply Aurek, the golden one. This is the real man, not the Sleeping Prince, the fairy tale. Prince Aurek of Tallith. Cursed to sleep so long the world made him a myth. I’d forgotten that. I’d forgotten he had a sister too. Aurelia. She’s hardly mentioned in the story, overshadowed by the plight of the Sleeping Prince and the rat catcher’s daughter. But Aurek and Aurelia were the original alchemists, the blessed children whose gifts brought unrivalled prosperity and health to Tallith, until the Sleeping Prince was cursed. Then Aurelia left Tallith for places unknown, though she eventually married and had a family; it was she who carried the philtresmith line.
“Yes,” I say. “The twins. The Sleeping Prince, and his sister.”
Silas nods. “And you know the tales of Aurek and his … appetites?”
I shake my head and Silas looks surprised, and then embarrassed, his eyes sliding to the side.
“Aurek was fond of … courting maids and seducing them. He got many of them with child—”
“I know about the Bringer.” I interrupt him, and immediately regret it when Silas’s face turns stony again.
“We don’t include him,” he says coldly. “His story isn’t part of our lore.”
I fall silent. Long, awkward moments elapse; then finally he takes a deep breath and continues. “Aurek decreed that because these children had his blood, they were to be taken from their mothers and raised as noble children in the palace. By the time Aurek fell asleep, he’d sired eight children.”
“And all eight were taken from their mothers?” Even with my current feelings towards my mother, I’m still horrified.
“It seems they were paid off, handsomely.” His mouth twists with apparent distaste. “And there would have been no point defying Aurek’s wishes. He was as cruel as he was lustful. After the curse caused Tallith to fall, and it became apparent Aurek wasn’t going to recover, Aurelia left and founded the commune in Lormere, along with a few former servants who were loyal to her. They brought the children Aurek had sired. They were vulnerable, as his acknowledged offspring. Even though at first they seemed not to have his abilities, their name alone would have fetched a high price. Aurelia chose the East Mountains because of how isolated they were. She had no idea Lormere would be a fledgling kingdom in its own right within sixty years of them arriving.”
He pauses, licking his lips to moisten them, and I wait to hear if there’s more.
“The rise of the House of Belmis, and their obsession with securing alchemists to work for them and further their hold over the land, caused many to leave Lormere. They married normal men and women, in Tregellan, and were largely left alone by your former royal family, save for paying a tithe in gold. They went back into semi-hiding after the war with Lormere.”
“Because of the Lormerian royals’ demands?”
His face darkens. “Precisely. The House of Belmis had always been a little too interested in alchemy, and Aurek and Aurelia.”
My eyes widen and he continues. “When the Tallithi first settled in Lormere, they brought the tales of the twins with them: Aurek, the vitasmith who could give life to the never living. Aurelia, who could heal any wound, cure any ill. Over time the story was passed down by word of mouth, and the people forgot they were twins, and they forgot they were mortal. Rumours spread of Aurek’s enchanted sleep; that he didn’t rot, or even age. That he was uncorrupted and would one day rise again. He was styled as a God, and Aurelia with him. Then later, as lovers. That’s where the tradition of the royals marrying brother to sister came from. The misunderstood history of Aurek and Aurelia, the Golden Twins of Tallith.