AISLIN | I

CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR

I IMMEDIATELY found myself drawn to the biggest book in the stack from the moment Evander reentered the room. The cover of the book was at least 12 inches long and about 3 inches thick playing flat on the table. The once royal blue cover was faded and worn away, which left me perplexed as The Battle of Ruby was 12 years ago. The spine of the book remained untracked leading me to believe it hadn't been thoroughly studied.  

I laid the book in front of me and opened it to the first page. The stunning calligraphy inside took me by surprise and I found myself staring agape.

Upon seeing the sketch, I was hit with a sense of deja vu. But why? Where had I ever met her? Her name sounded so familiar and her face appeared so easily in my mind's eye, yet I couldn't fill in the background.

Before I could fall deep into my own thoughts about where I knew this girl, Kingsley stormed into the room with a look of determination.

She crossed the room briskly, only stopping when she reached the end of the table, "I must speak with you."

I slid the book out of the way so I could give her my full attention, "Alright. What is it?"

She took a deep breath before continuing, "I have reason to believe that we need to keep a closer eye on Prince Koa."

"Keep an eye on? Why?" I questioned.

"Aislin always taught me to trust my instincts," she began, "When Aislin was here, I brought this to her attention too and she agreed with me. The Prince has been acting strange. He's disappearing when he is needed and then always meddling in our work when he's not. Don't you think it's a little suspicious that when all the bad things were happening, he was nowhere to be found but leading up to it he was always trying to help?"

"What are you suggesting, Kingsley? The Prince Koa, the heir to the throne, is a trader?" I asked. I was confused. I've known Koa for years and it seemed unlikely.

Kingsley took a deep breath and stared at me. It was clear she was contemplating revealing more, and in the end, she decided to tell me. "I followed him one night before we left. All it did was confirm my suspicions. I lost him when he went down a hidden staircase. I have reason to believe that it led to an underground chamber of some sort beneath the castle."

"Underground chamber? T-That shouldn't be possible, those collapsed years ago." I stuttered.

"Apparently not. And he wasn't the only person I saw going down there. There were two other women, though I did not see their faces." She worried. I groaned and ran a hand through my hair. Obviously, Queen Aria needed to be notified, but before I do that I need to see what is in that chamber. If I am going to accuse the heir of the throne of treason I need stronger evidence.

"Take me there," I said. 

With sudden urgency, Kingsley and I stung into action. We exited the Archives and made our way to the lower levels of the castle.

When the underground levels of the castle collapsed, the King ordered for all the entry points to be blacked off. He said it seemed unsettling to have a place with such a gruesome meaning of its existence in the same place he called home. He also said that having it in the Castle put a large target on them so he deemed it unsafe. That order was carried out years ago and the facilities haven't been touched since...or so I thought.

If what she said is true, then I'm not sure what I'm going to do. But I know for a fact that the impact of this information will have a larger domino effect. If Prince Koa was a trader as Kingsley suspected, I only hoped that he had nothing to do with Aislin's kidnapping.

Not even the Gods could help him if he did.

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Author Note!

Hello My Mickey Mouse Club House Members!!❤️

FUN FACT: My mom drew that sketch of Elowen!

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