"Your name is Ender, correct?" Shafiq asked.
"Yes, Your Majesty," Ender replied to his teacup.
"Master Ender, I apologize once more that you are learning all of this in such a crude and cruel manner. I wanted to speak with you privately, and explain everything to you, and let you and Nadir meet if you chose to."
"I don't understand how this is possible," Ender said, the words barely above a whisper. "Did my parents give you away when I was a child?"
Shafiq sighed, tired and sad. "The brutal truth is that we will probably never really know. Your birth parents are long dead, we have already confirmed that. They sold you, or you were kidnapped, when you were babes. One child went to the people that raised Nadir, and you of course went to the couple who raised you."
Ender's stomach lurched hard, threatening to release all the wine he'd drunk since arriving in the city. He'd justassumed… It had never occurred to him… "So my parents aren't really my parents." They'd participated intrafficking. "Did… did my parents know we were twins?"
"We don't know," Shafiq replied. "Only your parents can answer that question. I will have them summoned eventually, but I wanted to speak with you alone first, in case…"
Ender frowned, slowly bringing his gaze up. "In case what?"
"Nadir was severely abused by his parents. They did not just wrongfully obtain him, they actively helped with the trafficking, arranging children of all ages to go to… other places. Most often families, but not always. We are still unraveling the web. I wanted to be sure you were not also a victim—more of a victim, I should say."
The tears Ender had been holding back finally slipped free. "My parents are good people. I thought they were. Strict, but loving. Carpenters. Didn't mind I wanted to go to university so long as they didn't have to pay for it, since we don't… don't have that kind of money. I earned scholarships… I… I…"
He'd been normal. Perfectly ordinary, even boring, normal.
Now he didn't know what he was, or what he could have been, why his parents who weren't really his parents…
Anything. He didn't know anything.
Oblivious to everything but his own inner tumult, Ender buried his face in his hands and cried. He barely noticed at first when warm, slender arms wrapped around him. When he did finally notice them properly, he looked up to find his own face staring back at him, just as tear-streaked and miserable.
Bells clanged in his head, a warning about all the protocol he was breeching, but Ender didn't give a damn right now. This was hisbrother, histwin brother.They'd never known. Nobody had ever wanted them to know.
When the tears had finally eased, at least for a time, Ender accepted the kerchief someone pushed into his hand and cleaned up his face. He stared at Nadir and blurted, "You're so beautiful. I know we look alike, but it doesn'tfeellike it."
Nadir laughed. "Here I was thinking you look so refreshingly pretty, instead of all perfectly polished like I've had to be my whole life. That's not a backhanded compliment!" he added hastily. "No, it sounds awful no matter how I try to say it."
"I take your meaning, and no offense," Ender replied with a smile. "Refreshingly pretty is much nicer than country dullard."
Across the table, in an odd tone of voice, Shafiq replied, "I can assure you that you are both breathtaking, and very much alike."
Ender's face burned, though he couldn't say precisely why. Next to him, Nadir made a rough, ragged noise in his ear and abruptly pushed away. "When did you first know about him? About us?"
Shafiq sighed and dragged a hand down his face. "Not long after we arrested your parents and started asking questions. Your father…let us say, began cooperating…first. He told us much. We figured out the rest, or persuaded it out of your mother, eventually. I wanted to tell you, but then I feared perhaps your brother was dead, and then what would be the point of causing you more pain? So first I set out to see if he was alive. Once I knew that… I thought to bring him here, and speak with each of you in turn, and see what you wanted to do, and proceed from there. I am sorry. I should have simply told you from the beginning."
Nadir sighed. "I wish you had, but I understand. You're lucky, though, that it's illegal to clobber you."
"Believe me, my jewel, I am well aware how much the law protects me, from my concubines and the council," Shafiq saidwith a chuckle. "I swear, I had only your best interests at heart, and truly I am sorry I made such a mess of the matter."
"Well, you brought me family I never knew I had, so that counts for much," Nadir replied.
Tentatively, Ender said, "Yes, but what kind of family might have shown up? I could have been a criminal. A thief. A greedy schemer who would twist this situation to my every advantage. I could have been at least as awful as your parents sound. I cannot say I would have behaved differently than His Majesty were I in his position. Too many questions, too many mysteries, and far too many possible unhappy answers. I have discovered a newfound hatred for having secrets kept from me, it's true, but… but his reasoning is sound." He glowered at the table. "That does not excusemyparents, who could have at least revealed everything to me before I came here, as they clearly suspected what the summons pertained to. Instead, they left me to find all this out…" He waved a hand in the air, abruptly out of words.
Shafiq smiled, soft and gentle, and Ender couldn't help the way his stomach flipped. Who wouldn't be flustered and a little pleased to receive such a smile from the king himself? "Eat, please, do not let the food go to waste. Once you've eaten, I will have you escorted to your rooms, so you can rest properly. Tonight, you can dine with me and my concubines, and we'll speak more." He stopped, face falling. "Alas, no, I misspeak. There's a banquet tonight that I cannot skip. Tomorrow, though, and in the meantime, you and Nadir have leave to speak as much as you like. It will have to be under guard supervision, of course, I cannot simply ignore the laws, but I will clear Nadir's schedule, so he may spend time with you."
"The gossip is going to be truly ridiculous." Nadir laughed, the sound even prettier up close than it had been at a distance the first time Ender heard it. They might betwins, which despite everything, Ender still had a hard time comprehending, but Nadir was far more beautiful, in a hundred ways, than Ender would ever be.
He didn't feel like a brother, but more like… an aspiration. Someone Ender would rather be… or have… the sort of person he only got to be or enjoy being with in hopeless daydreams or far more illicit bed dreams.
Especially with the way he looked at Shafiq, the way Shafiq looked back, like they were the only two in the room. Just that single look showed so much love, affection, passion…
Cheeks hot, Ender sipped at his wine, which didn't really help anything, but at least gave him something to do. "You don't have to interrupt your days on my account. I am happy to attend between obligations. I've never been to Tavala, and I never thought I'd get to see the royal palace…" His cheeks burned anew. "Sorry, that probably sounds as stupid and countrified as I'm always accused of being."
