The Trickster's Test {Prinxiety}

Chapter 11

Third Person

"It's been a while, hasn't it, Virge?"

"You know him?" Clearly, Alexia hadn't thought to inform Dallas of that fact before kidnapping him, much to his displeasure.

She sighs heavily, "Look, I know it's hard to keep your pants on comfortably with that stick up your butt, but you really shouldn't be that surprised," She dismisses easily, her noble heritage making the action effortless and effective, "Why did you think I was given so much control over how this whole thing went in the first place? I brought a basket of muffins to bribe you all?"

Well, he obviously hadn't thought about that, or if he did, he hadn't guessed right. It was also possible that he hadn't questioned why Alexia had nearly as much influence as he did, despite not being a part of their team for very long. Virgil would have liked to give him more credit than that, but Dallas was mostly ruining it for himself.

"Honestly? You bribing our employer was quite high on the list of possibilities," That was the second time Dallas had mentioned this 'employer' of theirs, and Virgil didn't know how to take that, "Also, most people are scared of all the things people with your background can do, so the others listening to you isn't a surprise. I swear I heard at least one of those Geminians swearing that he better not get arrested for this."

Whoever their employer was had to have enough money to fund this kidnapping, paying at least six people total. Rates for these kinds of jobs weren't cheap, either. And for some reason, Alexia had landed herself a position as one of his babysitters, despite being far from poor. At least, her family should be far from that, but there was little other reason for her to be here that he could think of. It didn't seem very likely that their employer knew of their former friendship and somehow convinced her to help.

Alexia rolls her eyes, "Once again, it's nice to see you again, Virgil. I was sorry to hear about your mother's passing," She looked like she was planning to explain further, but he didn't much care to hear it.

"Don't talk about her," She didn't have the right to talk about the deceased queen, even with their past. She had lost that right when she failed to attend Ophelia's funeral.

"Alright, that's understandable," She quickly recovered, "Anyway, I was hoping we could catch up a bit, since it'll be a day or two until the plan can move forward," She shot a glare Dallas's way.

"For the last time I was given the order to take him early, and stop revealing crap!" He snapped back at her, "He might not be considered a threat but that doesn't mean telling him everything is a good idea."

'Not considered a threat'? I know I'm not the pinnacle of scary but geez, Virgil thought to himself. He then considered that they both had confirmed he had at least a day here until...whatever came next in their plan. That at least gave him some time to escape, provided they didn't keep him within their sights until the next step was ready.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to tell him anything important," She assured him, "Now, be a dear and give us some privacy. I did only ask you to bring him here, not to irritate me and I'm personally sick of seeing your face, so I can't even imagine how Virgil's faring."

"Not a chance," Dallas immediately denies.

She frowned, "Fine. At least do me a favor and stay quiet so I can pretend you left," It was always bothersome when people apparently wanted to get on her bad side, and having him refuse on what she wished he had considered a trivial matter was quite annoying.

Now, Virgil could have been wrong, but he swore he heard Dallas mutter in a high-pitched voice, "And stay quiet so I can pretend you left!" Though, by the way Alexia jabbed him with her elbow, he was probably right.

"Do you remember the time you tried to climb the castle walls?" She asked, any hostility towards Dallas gone when she spoke. She must have been serious in her plan to pretend he left.

Of course he remembered, even the notion of him forgetting that day was ridiculous. Not only did that day create one of his favorite memories with Lex, he ended up stuck three stories above the ground on a windowsill. He had figured the climb would be easy, since the bricks provided plenty of foot and handholds. And the climb had been easy, until he realized that he'd have to go down again. That had been the day he learned he was scared of heights, or rather, of falling from large heights.

"In your panic, you resorted to breaking open a window to get back inside," She chuckled slightly at the memory, eyes flickering downward for a split second, remembering how she found him desperately looking over the bits of glass, as if he believed that staring long enough would cause it to magically fix, "You were so worried about what would happen when your father found out, unsure if he'd be more upset about the window or that you had gotten some glass stuck in your tequellos u preita, ruining them."

Virgil stayed quiet. If she expected to receive a comment on what was still one of his most embarrassing moments, she'd be wrong. Dallas laughed, and Virgil lowered his head slightly with pink cheeks. If his father were here he'd scold him for ducking his head in the presence of someone that was insulting him instead of staring back with a challenge in his eyes. But, he wasn't, so nothing other than the years of royal etiquette he had to go through urged him to keep his eyes on them.

"A prince with a fear of heights?" He doubled over, and Virgil couldn't help but hope that he would suffocate from his amusement, and Alexia seemed to share the sentiment, "That's like a noble having a heart, or a Geminian thief without a knife!" While nobles could be quite stuffy and heartless, and Geminian thieves commonly armed with at least a knife, Virgil didn't think it was that unbelievable for a royal to fear something such as heights.

Virgil was able to quickly block out Dallas's laughter though, as he realized something very important. Alexia was on his side. Normally, when you find your childhood friend working with a person that is probably trying to kill you, it's because they're now your enemy too. If that were the case here though, she wouldn't have just given Virgil everything he needed to get out before this mysterious boss of theirs got back.

Despite the utter humiliation he had just faced, he smiled. He smiled because Alexia was still his friend, she had to be. If she wasn't, then why would she have given him all the information he needed to escape?

A/N: Love this cliffhanger so much, this is literally one of the chapters I revisit the most