Chapter 10:
Tedros POV:
"Teddy, this is going to ruin my nails."
Tedros sighed, flipping through another book. This idea was stupid. But once Sophie had found out Tempest knew a lot about Camelot, she immediately took to the library to find out if she had any connections.
"Have you found anything?"
Sophie suddenly stopped turning pages.
"Sophie?"
Silence.
"Soph?"
"Y-Yes."
Tedros poked his head around the shelf.
"Huh?"
"This is a record on kidnapped children. It's in my dad's handwriting. But it's not just Camelot. It's all the kids who were kidnapped around the same time as Agatha."
Tedros frowned.
"Why would he do that?"
"I don't know. But it's weird. All of these names are girls."
Tedros froze.
"Tell me some." His voice was hoarse. Not his.
"Kiko of Neverland. Hester, Dot and Anadil of Ravenswood. Beatrix of Jaunt Jolie. Reena of Pasha Dunes."
That was enough. Tedros dropped his book and sank to his knees.
"Sophie."
"Y-yeah?"
"The woman who kidnapped Agatha…did we ever find out her name?"
"Yes, Callis. Why?"
"Yeah, Tempest was kidnapped from a village. She was going to be given to the slave trade- horrible thing Callis used to do- but Callis and her first mate, Leonora were so impressed by her fighting skills and feisty attitude that they took her in and trained her. Eventually Tempest convinced them to give up the slave trade and kidnap thing, and to revert to what we do today. Callis would have said no, but she'd grown overly fond of her adoptive daughter, and couldn't say no to her- and there was also the fact that Tempest was much more proficient with a gun than any of the other sailors."
"I'M A PIRATE, TEDROS PENDRAGON, AND I WILL BE UNTIL THE DAY I DIE."
Tempest turned back to look at him, her hat shadowing her eyes, a grin spreading across her lips.
Tedros' heart skipped a beat.
"Is that ok, Ted? You can be the Prince?"
Agatha turned, her eyes shadowed by her hair,a grin spreading across her face.
Tedros nodded, laughing.
Why, when she smiled, when she spoke, when she did anything, did she look like Agatha?
Not worth ninety?" she snapped, eyes aflame. "You squander three hundred yearly on drink and your son isn't worth a half of it? You know Arthur, I had a father who didn't care about me much either. And look where I ended up. A pirate, capturing Princes and Lords for ransom. If your son runs away, thinking he's unworthy, you'll know why."
"What would Agatha think?"
Tedros couldn't breathe. It wasn't possible.
But it was.
He could have cried then and there, from a mixture of regret and relief. Agatha was alive. Under the guise of Tempest, she was alive. But she was gone. He'd never see her again.
"Tedros?"
"Sophie, she's alive."
"What?"
"Agatha's alive."
Sophie went a shade of pale akin to a ghost.
"How do you know?" she croaked.
"She's Tempest. Sophie, she's Tempest."
Sophie shook her head. "No. No, she can't be."
"No, listen. Kiko told me this: Yeah, Tempest was kidnapped from a village. She was going to be given to the slave trade- horrible thing Callis used to do- but Callis and her first mate, Leonora were so impressed by her fighting skills and feisty attitude that they took her in and trained her. Eventually Tempest convinced them to give up the slave trade and kidnap thing, and to revert to what we do today. Callis would have said no, but she'd grown overly fond of her adoptive daughter, and couldn't say no to her- and there was also the fact that Tempest was much more proficient with a gun than any of the other sailors. Tempest knew far too much for it to be coincidental. She looks like Agatha, talks like Agatha and acts like Agatha. Your sisters alive."
Sophie was silent for a very long time. Eventually, she only said one thing.
"She said father didn't care about her."
Tedros blinked.
"Did he?"
Sophie nodded, tears welling.
"He did, of course he did!" she held up the book. "This is proof! He knew! He wanted to find her!"
Tedros recalled that Stefan had been killed in battle with some pirates a few years ago. They had been from a ship… but not the Damned Lady.
"That's why he fought so many pirates. He was looking for Agatha, and he died never knowing she was in control of one of those ships!" Sophie was bordering on hysterical. "Oh, Tedros, what if he fought her?"
Tedros shook his head.
"No, he didn't. She would have mentioned killing him. Tempest likes to gloat. Agatha is Tempest, but I somehow think they're separate people. Kid of an alter-ego, but she constantly let it drop accidentally."
"But she said he didn't care."
"She didn't know, obviously."
Sophie nodded, sighing.
"Even if you're right, she's gone-"
BOOM.
The window panes shattered. An orange fireball exploded over the sea in the distance.
"WHAT IN THE NAME OF-" shrieked Sophie.
Tedros saw his father's ships a second after he realised what the ship was.
He felt his stomach plunge, his heart freezing to ice.
"Sophie…"
"What?" asked Sophie distractedly, peering out of the window.
"My father broke his promise."
Sophie turned, confused.
"Huh?"
Tedros swallowed.
"He fired on The Damned Lady. He just tried, or actually managed to kill your sister."