As the rain fell down on the mourners the parents, Capulate, Montigue, and Brand shook hands and talked about their children's misfortune in hushed voices.

"It is truly unfortunate that our hatred caused the deaths of our children." Capulate said

"...That the heavens find fit to kill your hopes with love" stated the prince

"Actually" Balthazar interpreted. "My lord Romeo was not in love with Juliet."

"WHAT!"

Balthizar took out the letter that his lord had handed him earlier that night. Montigue grabbed the letter and tore through the seal. He read for a few moments before breaking down into historical sobbing.

"I know it must be hard to read your sons last words, but can you please tell us what happened. And please does it mention my daughter?" Capulate started to tear up at the thought of his little girl.

"That little bastard! That fucking little bastard!" By now Montigue had stopped crying and was infuriated.

"My God, your sons last words and you call him a bastard!" Lady Capulate was frightened by his reaction and wondered if he was going to restart the feud.

"That little shit-headed-monkey-faced-ass-fucking-bastard" Montigue started toward the coffins with the intent of destroying his son's remains.

"Get a hold of yourself." The prince gestured for his men to stop him before he could desecrate the graves. The prince took the letter.

"Dear Father,
I am gay. I have been in love with the county Paris Brand sense I first saw him. We have been lovers for the past three years. To be perfectly frank I never really liked Juliet in a romantic way. She was a bet. No not just a bet, we were trying to help her too. Juliet was in love with someone and knew that she would never be aloud to be with the one she loved. We were all going to go to Mantua there we knew we could find a way to be together with the ones we loved. The bet was which of us out of me and Paris could convince the world that Juliet loved them. Juliet's love would have no problem with getting to Mantua, but we needed a way to get her there. We bet oral for a month on that. I'm sorry for everything that happened and that it killed her in the end. I will go pay a visit to her resting place, I am meeting Paris there, there we have decided to die together. To keep up the appearances of her virtue. Before the world can learn of our secret. Before she is shamed.
Romeo

"What!" Lady Capulet was red in the face. "A BET! Your sonofabitch son made a bet out of my little girl! I'll kill him! I'll fucking rip off his head!"

The guards grabbed the Capulets to prevent them from doing harm to the bodies or anything else.

The prince turned to Balthazar "I think you'd better explain exactly what happened."

"Your Hines, I would love to, however I promised my lord to never tell."

Montigue stormed toward Balthazar, "You little shit! You knew about this?"

"Yes M'Lord"

"Tell me, tell me what happened!"

"M'Lord, I can't. I promised your son"

"I am your lord and master, you will obey me. Now."

Balthazar hung his head, "Yes M'Lord"

"It all started from the time Romeo yes very young. Maybe we should have suspected something when he developed a fascination with ancient Greek culture and the relationships. But my lord was always different. Sure it started small he would walk in on someone in the bathouse, but over time it developed into him spending hours at the public bath house."
Lord Montigue spent a moment reflecting before saying "I had wondered where he had been."
Lord Brand nodded his agreement "Same with my boy"

"My lord met the county at the bath house just over four years ago. He tried to fight off the attraction, he went so far as to court Lady Kait, however nothing could take his mind off the county. Finally they found peace in eachothers arms. My lord swore me to secrecy and as his friend I agreed. Everything was going well for my lord, until the day his friends introduced him to Lady Katherine. My lord didn't love her, he didn't even like her. In the past he had courted women temporarily to keep up the guise of being strait, but Lady Katherine couldn't give up on him."

After blinking several times Lord Montigue started "Aha! I do seem to remember a Lady around him a lot, and if I remember correctly, he seemed not too happy about that."

"Well My Lord Romeo tried everything to get rid of her, but Lady Katherine would not be ignored. One night she discovered Romeo and Paris' secret. Romeo was mortified by her discovery and started to make plans to leave for Mantua with Paris. They acted like everything was fine, Romeo even "fell head over heals" for Lady Rosiline. Lady Katherine have him one month to marry her, or she would tell all of Verona of his secret. Then came Juliet."

Lord Capulate who had up to this point looked almost board stood up strait "Yes how does Juliet fit into all of this?"

"My Lord decided to make a final attempt to get Lady Katharine away. He pretended to court another, Rosiline, and then no one would suspect him before he left. The deal was that each man would choose a woman and court her and in the end they would just pack up and leave. Romeo was courting Rosiline and when in her house she broke down and confessed her love for Lady Juliet."

"WHAT!" Whatever the crowd had expected him to say, it was not that.

"Lady Juliet and I were in love." Rosiline walked out of the crowd. A hush fell over eveyone as they parted to admit her. "I loved her more then you will ever know. We've dated for two years. The best of my life. We loved eachother, we understood eachother in ways that I would have never believe were possible before I met her."

Montigue was outraged "That is disgusting! Your Capulates niece!"

Rosline turned toward him "Only by marriage. My mother had me and my father died. My mother remarried and that husband was Lord Capulates cousin."

"This still hasn't explained what happened." The prince was shocked at everything that had happened.

"I can't say anymore, Balthazar, please Finnish. I-I-I just can't talk about it" Rosiline broke down crying.

"Shh, Shh, It'll be ok. Don't worry. Please" Her nurse came up onto the stairs to help her.

"I will continue for you my Lady." Balthazar started his story up again.

"Lady Rosiline and Lady Juliet were in love. Romeo was taken aback. He did not know what do to. Paris had chosen Lady Juliet for his decoy. Romeo may have been gay, but he would not allow a woman to cry. He said that he would try to talk to Juliet for her. That morning there was the skuffle in the streets. He knew that there would be no real way for him to get to Lady Juliet. He wanted to find a way to talk to Paris and Juliet together. When he heard that Rosiline was invited to a party at Capulates house he knew that he must attend. His friends knew nothing of his love for Paris, but they decided to help him crash the party. He got there and knew that the only way to talk to Juliet was to appear to court her. Romeo danced at the party with her for hours. He even went so far as to jump the wall to talk to her. Rosiline told him a phrase that would tell Juliet that he came from her. "Juliet is the sun." Romeo and Juliet spoke as if they were lovers, they knew that anyone could listen in. They decided to give Romeo time to talk to both Rosiline and Paris and that she would send someone for news the next day."

The nurse interrupted him "But I heard her. She loved Romeo! I know she did. They were married."

"If you would hold on a moment I'll explain exactly how that wedding worked. As you know Romeo and Juliet married. This was not an action of love. Romeo hoped to end the feud. He also knew that society would never permit him and Paris to live alone together, even in Mantua. Romeo and Paris decided that it would be wise to marry the girls, then all of them could run to Mantua together. They could even share a household. If anyone ever got suspicious they could claim that they were two brothers married to two sisters. Things got out of hand."
Lord Brand approached the man-servant. "But Romeo and Paris killed eachother. How could they have done that if they loved eachother?"

"Both felt guilt over the lady's death." Balthazar sighed. "The didn't know what to do. They knew that their plan would never work. They could never leave and be together. Th-Th-They...They d-decided t-to" The prince raised his hand to stop the now crying Balthazar.

"Do you need anything to help you?" Balthazar shook his head.

"J-Just g-g-give me a-a m-moment?" While Baltazar sat and collected himself the crowd was left to ponder everything they had heard. After a few moments Baltazar sat up and started back on his story. "They decided to kill themselves. They knew that they could never be together, so they wanted to be together in death. The way that they figured would be best if they made it look like a duel for Juliets honor. They could kill eachother and people would never find out."
A small stone hit him from the crowd. "Then why break your promise to them."

"This isn't really a choice. I was ordered to speak. Now I'd like to tell the rest of the story before I loose my courage and cry again. They fought, Paris was slain. He begged Romeo to go to Juliet's side and die there, to save her shame. Paris died in Romeo's arms. Romeo went to the Lady's side. And there he drank the poison. Juliet woke up to find him dead. She talked to the Father and learned of Paris' death too. She tried to ask about Rosiline. But couldn't get answers. She took the dagger and killed herself, thinking that her love was dead too. And knowing that even if she was not that they would never be able to love eachother in peace."

"Is that the whole story?" The prince demanded.

"Yes my lord"

"Then it is finished. Bury them in one crypt, and seal it, None are to ever speak of it, or be put in this crypt after it is sealed. No one shall know of this story."

"Nooooo" A piercing scream rose above the crowd. Lady Rosiline ran to the body of her lover. She grabbed the dagger that still lay in Juliet's hand. She drew it back and as a hush fell over the crowd. She plunged it into her breast and with one final sigh, fell on the body of her lover.The crowd started to murmur. "Put her with them. And we shall never speak of this again."

'The legend of the Lovers of Verona went down in history. One person told another who told another. Each changing the story just a bit. By the time it reached the man who recorded it it had changed from the Lovers of Verona to Romeo and Juliet. A love story. And a lie'