The palace was even more spectacular than Liam had ever pictured it to be. He ambled inside of the marble walls with his mouth gaping open as he took in the sight of the stained glass windows, the tapestry, the rugs, the paintings of eerie hooked nose people with tiny beady eyes that seemed to follow him and the long line of candles that illuminated only a tiny bit of the hallway.
Matthias abruptly halted before the large oak doorway where two knights stood at guard. He reached out and grabbed tightly to Liam's shoulders, "before we see the King there's something you need to know." Matthias cast a sideways glance at the guards before leaning his head in closer to Liam's ear and whispered, "The king, he's your grandfather."
The words came out rushed and surely he must have heard Liam say something wrong. Their family had been commoners, villagers, they surely hadn't been royals. His father was a fugitive. Matthias must have had him confused for someone else.
"The King is ready to see you now." One of the guards announced loudly as the oak doors opened from the inside of the grand throne room. The sun was brilliantly shinning in slightly blinding him as he was forced to squint as he made his way into the openness of the room.
The King sat upon one of the tallest thrones, he was perhaps fifty or sixty years of age, with a balding rounded head, wide set cerulean eyes and thin lips that were pulled into a tight grimace as the royal page announced their arrival and the trumpeters played the naval song. The Queen a bony narrow woman with a broad chest sat beside him in a slightly smaller throne. Her features were much more birdlike, a long hooked nose which was upturned as if she smelt something foul, had her legs crossed over one another and she appeared to be disinterested in the event.
"Your highnesses," both he and Matthias said in unison as they'd rehearsed countless times before.
The King whose name was Finnian stood at that moment and regarded Liam, "do you remember this palace?
"No sir. I do not have any recollection of the place."
"Aye I figured that much. Your mother fled in the middle of the night when you were just a wee lad with Captain Davy Jones, one of my most trusted naval officers." Finnian began to pace along the slightly arisen platform where the thrones rested. "You see she was pregnant with his child despite being married to your father."
Liam felt as though the whole world was spinning, as if he was caught in a treacherous storm and the Jewel of the Realm was rocking rapidly from side to side, churning his insides making him feel as though he was about to upchuck his stomach's contents. "I thought….I thought my father was Davy Jones."
"Perhaps your highness should stop." Matthias said urgently looking panicked.
Finnian let out a long chuckle making his large rounded gut jiggle slightly. He clutched his large stomach with his beefy hands as he paced the slightly raised platform where the thrones rested. "Why would you wish me to stop Matthias? Afraid I might reveal the boy's true paternity?"
"Please don't." Matthias pleaded. The soft spoken wise Lieutenant Liam had once known was gone. "I am about to be honorably discharged from the Navy, what good would it do him if he knew the truth aside then to torture him?"
Anger boiled in the pit of his stomach. Liam clenched his fists tightly to his sides and angrily ordered. "Tell me!"
"Your mother was married to another naval officer. The son of one of my knights, Sir Liam Matthias," Finnian replied, "I was told you were a bright boy Liam. Surely in the year you've spent together you haven't noticed the similarities between the two of you. Your height for one."
Liam couldn't bare to look at Matthias, his hands slowly clenching and unclenching as he fight every urge not to scream or run or do anything barbaric that would surely send the guards after him. The King finished off offering that he would take his father's spot as Lieutenant of the Jewel of the Realm and they'd be reassigned another Captain, Matthias would stay at port and train sailors at the Navigational school.
"Why didn't you ever tell me?" Liam hissed the moment they re-entered the long chambers of candles.
"I didn't expect him to reveal it-
"That's not what I was asking! Were you ever planning on telling me the truth that I was your son ever?"
Matthias was silent for a long time, unable to spare a glance at him. "No."
"Look at me! Look at me!" Liam cried out reaching forward and latching onto his arms. They were nearly the same height. Their eyes the same almond shape and their noses long and slightly squared. "all of this time you knew exactly who I was and you never planned on telling me the truth? Don't you think I deserved to know the truth?"
"You deserved the truth and so much more!" Matthias murmured. "Your mother and I we tried for you to love one another. We really did but both of our hearts belonged to another person and we were both miserable. She was just the first to act upon it whisking you away to that little village on the outskirts of the neighboring kingdom. You were convinced when you boarded that you were Jones' son and who was I too shatter every thing you had ever known?"
"Everything I know has been a lie! You, my mother, everyone has lied to me all of my life. Is my name even Liam? The only person who's ever told me the truth is the King!" Liam proclaimed angrily kicking at the bricks on the wall, ignoring the stabbing pains in his foot. Matthias went to help him but he swatted away his touch, "Don't you dare touch me! You liar!"
A/N: Merry Christmas! Hopefully you enjoy this little plot twist. It's always been head cannon of mine that Liam and Killian weren't full brothers and that they descended from royalty. In a way this is the beginning of why Liam puts so much faith and trust in the King, the only person who hasn't lied to him. Geneva lied to him telling him that he was Jones' son and kept his royal ancestry from him, Davy pretended to be his father and Matthias never revealed that he was his father. Anyway let me know what you think of the plot twist.