Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

I've mentioned that I had an uncle, named Howell. He was on my mother's side.
The reason he didn't take me in, or even enter into this narrative is because he had died at age nineteen. Mother had looked up to him more than anything in the world. I never met the man. But the year I turned nineteen, I got something from him. I had been in the library with Henry, helping him with a paper. As I may have said, Henry was not much of a Scholar. Suddenly, he sat up, and snapped his fingers, quite loudly enough to get us a dirty look from other people in the reading room.
"Xan, I just remembered, I've got a message for you."
"A message?" I said, trying to quiet him down again. "Can't this wait?"
"No- but you're right, this isn't the place, how about dinner?" and without waiting for an answer, he dragged me bodily from the library to his gentleman's club.

While I was always up for a good meal, and his club's fare was far superior to anything I would be eating, I was quite worried. I had only a few hours to finish up with Henry and get back to the theatre for that night's performance. If he beat around the bush, I would be late, his paper wouldn't be written, and chances are, he'd forget what the message was again.

"Father received a message last month." Henry said eagerly over the rolls. Apparently now that he'd remembered it existed, he was remembering the details with a frantic accuracy. "And the strangest thing, it was addressed to your parents."
"But my parents have been dead for years!" I protested. It was a sore spot for me, as they had died around my birthday that year. I still was rather feeling as though I would never enjoy a birthday again.
"Yeah, well, the really weird thing is that it was sent before they were married."
I stared at him in shock. Our food arrived, and he set to. I kept staring, I'm afraid.
"... how long before?" I asked at last.
"Aren't you going to eat, old man?" He joked, pointing his fork at my meal.
"I'm afraid the evidence that someone sent something to both of my parents before they were married is a little bit distracting."
"Oh there's more." Henry took a sip of wine, and continued. "It wasn't just addressed to Mister and Misses Shaw, it was addressed to them as your parents."
"You seriously expect me to eat now?"
"You'll faint on stage if you don't."
I gave him a sour look but attempted to eat.
"Now, since your mouth is full, you can't ask why my father got it when it was addressed to your parents." Henry seemed to be enjoying knowing more than me. Well let him, it was rare that he did. "Since I'm the generous sort, I'll tel you, even though I'm not supposed to know." He smiled. "It seems whoever sent the package knew my grandfather- and quite well. Well enough to know his dirty little secret."
"You don't mean-" It's nearly impossible to choke on mushy peas, but I managed. When I'd finished coughing, I was exhausted, and must have looked it, because Henry had pity on me, and wrapped it up quickly.

The rumor that had always been bandied about was true- my father was Lord Constantine- Henry's father's half brother. The real kicker- he wasn't illegitimate, either, not really. Henry's father had married my grandmother, but been forced to divorce her and marry someone else by his family, before my father was even born!
In a different world, I would be the heir to Constantine name, not Henry.