Chapter Eight

It was the day after the Battle of Bowerstone, Reaver had heard the sounds of battle all the way from his home in Millfields but he had not taken a role in the fight himself. This morning he had stood in the Throne Room and witnesses Lexi's coronation where she was crowned Queen Alexia I of Albion. The coronation although elegant had not been as lavish or as a long as King Logan's had been, Reaver didn't know if that was because it had been unexpected or if Lexi (he doubted that he would ever refer to her as anything else in his head) had specifically ordered it. He was of two minds about that, on the one hand it was a good thing because shorter ceremonies were always better in his opinion on the other however he also felt that Lexi deserved the best of everything, including coronation ceremonies.

Anyway, that had been this morning now it was the afternoon and Reaver (along with the rest of the Royal Court and the little people who had come as spectators, really didn't they have jobs or other things they should be doing?) was waiting for Lexi to arrive so the court session could begin. He wondered if Lexi was at all nervous, after all this was her first court session and she had not been raised and prepared for the responsibilities of running the kingdom, the way her older brother had…allegedly been.

As if his thoughts had summoned her, Lexi arrived…wearing a chicken costume. What in the world was she thinking, wearing such a ridiculous looking outfit?

"All stand to attention for the Queen of Albion" Walter announced as Lexi came down the red carpet. Reaver didn't understand why Walter told everyone to rise when no one was sitting down. Anyway, once Lexi had seated herself on the throne Walter spoke again

"Logan, former King of Albion, you stand accused of crimes against the Kingdom and its people, those who brought you to justice will now speak." Immediately each of Lexi's so-called friends urged her to order Logan's execution, didn't those fools know her at all? Lexi would never be able to forgive herself if she did that, he remembered how inseparable they'd been as children and although they'd grown apart as they grew older, Reaver believed they still loved each other…plus, Lexi had inherited her mother's bleeding heart. So her 'friends' either didn't know her or they didn't care about her, either way Lexi deserved better. He was surprised when the resistance leader spoke in favor sparing Logan's life, although in retrospect he probably should not have been, she was one of those annoying bleeding heart do-gooder types, he tried to ignore the fact that Lexi was in pretty much the same boat herself.

Logan did not wait for permission to speak out in his own defense. He didn't say anything that Reaver had not already known so Reaver didn't really bother to pay attention although he did notice that Logan directed his answer solely to Lexi…pretty much ignoring everyone else in the room, including Lexi's friends and their disapproving scowls…small-minded fools the lot of them. He understood that Lexi had needed their support to take the throne but now that she had it, why did she still keep them around? Didn't she know how tools worked, you use them and then you lose them, it's really quite simple. Reaver was slightly amused by the fact that Logan seemed more calm than many of the people urging his death.

Once everyone had said they're piece, they waited for the Queen to announce her verdict, although it was not at all silent because the crowd was still yelling, really this was why peasants should not be allowed in the castle or at least they have to pay to get in. Oh, that wasn't a bad idea; he'd have to remember to bring it up to Lexi later.

Eventually, Lexi stood and said in a loud firm voice "I will see justice done." Reaver was stunned, he couldn't believe Lexi would kill her brother (well, half-brother technically but she didn't know that) people immediately began murmuring and the guards began moving toward Logan "Hold, I said I would see justice done, but killing Logan would be merely vengeance not justice." Now it seemed people were confused what was going to happen to Logan? Reaver, however, was no longer interested, he had known that Lexi wouldn't kill Logan and he'd been right, as usual. "Logan has taken a very great deal from the people of Albion, justice demands that he give back more than he has taken, he can start by helping us defend ourselves against the Crawler after that…well, I'm sure we can find something useful for him to do." Then she moved closer to him and said softly "I forgive you" in gratitude. Then Walter announced that this particular court session was over.

"Reaver" Lexi called to him "if you have a moment, I'd like a word with you…in private."

Reaver nodded "Of course, my dear, I always have time for you." Lexi then led Reaver out of the throne room and into a nearby chamber.

"Reaver, do you remember that party of yours that Paige and I crashed?" she asked him once they were alone

"Of course, you two ladies killed off all of my guests." Reaver replied simply

"Yes, well they were trying to kill us at the time" Lexi pointed out but she did not wait for Reaver to respond before she continued on "You shot the Balverine that ambushed me from behind…why? I thought you wanted me dead at point" her tone was sad when she said that last bit

"No, my dear I'd never want you dead…I only wanted to kill your meddling little sidekick." Reaver said honestly, he was pleased that she'd noticed. Lexi was torn, on the one hand she was glad that Reaver didn't want to kill her, growing up she'd always considered Reaver her friend and selfishly she didn't want to lose that (despite all of the horrible things he'd done) but Paige was her friend too…she didn't know what to think.

"That still doesn't explain why you shot the Balverine" Lexi said after a moment

"Simple that Balverine was going to kill you and I was not going to let that happen." He declared

"Thank you…but why?" Lexi asked

"Because" if Reaver had been a lesser man he would have sighed, this was a lot harder than he'd thought it would be but he wasn't a lesser man so he instead said "You're my only child, Adrian wasn't your real father."

"What? You can't be serious, my mother wouldn't do that!" Lexi exclaimed. Reaver winced internally (though he would never admit to doing so out loud) logically he knew that this was quite a shock for Lexi and she would need some time to adjust but he was still hurt and angry at the idea that she would prefer that miserable, useless, imbecile of a man over him

"She didn't want to." Reaver admitted "well, she said she didn't want to but I doubt she really meant it. Anyway, she did because Theresa had warned her that the Crawler was going to invade-"Lexi cut him off

"Wait, she knew, why she didn't tell anyone?" she demanded

"Probably because that idiot Theresa didn't give her any specifics that damn woman only told her that some big evil was going to invade Albion after her death." Reaver answered "who would have listened to that?" however Reaver's question was purely rhetorical so he didn't bother waiting for Lexi to answer before he continued "Theresa also told her that the hero blood was so diluted the only way to for a child to be able to born a hero both of its parents had to have the blood of heroes."

"That does explain why there are so few of us…I mean, as far as I know there's only you and me" Lexi stated but her voice carried a hint of questioning, she was probably wondering if Reaver knew of any other heroes that were still alive, both Hammer and Garth had passed on, and neither of them had borne any offspring, at least as far as Lexi knew

Reaver replied "it seems that way" to Lexi's ears his voice sounded a little smug about that but she let it go because she had other questions

"Does anyone else know about this?" she asked

"To my knowledge only Sir Walter and Logan, your mother was afraid it would cause problems if too many people knew." Reaver answered

"What?" Lexi yelled furiously "Was anybody ever going to tell ME about this?"

"I planned to tell you the day after you turned seventeen…but you and I both know what happened there." Reaver replied. Lexi nodded she knew all too well. For a while neither of them spoke and then finally Lexi said "tell Sir Walter that I'm going to my chambers and I am not to be disturbed…I some time to think" Reaver bowed slightly and said "as you wish, my dear, tatty-bye" and he left to go find Walter while Lexi went up to her new chambers (she had different rooms as queen than she had had as princess).