Only You

Chp 14

Damian ended up turning in early and was asleep by the time I decided to hit the sack so we didn't get the chance to continue our conversation until the next morning, where he kept avoiding the topic at all costs.

"Tsuki." I whined, tugging on her shirt.
"I can't make him talk about his feelings Astrid, go figure it out for yourself." She demanded, swatting my hand away and strutting into the kitchen to make breakfast.
"Damian!" I called, marching back towards his room.
"Forget it Astrid! I'll tell you another day." He yelled through the door.

"Ugh! You're unbelievable, just tell me what it is you wanted to tell me yesterday!"
"Is this how it's going to be every morning?" Ember asked as she walked out of her room, her hair a birds nest.
"Maybe." I shrugged innocently and continued my assault on Damian's locked -and unfortunately thick- door.

"Don't mind me, I'm just regretting my life decision." Ember mumbled, walking down the hall and into the living room.
"I'll tell you later Astrid now please leave my poor door alone." Damian complained.
"Fine. Bully." I pouted and took my time walking back to the kitchen, followed by Skye and finally Damian.

"Get some plates out Astrid, it's your turn to set the table." Tsuki instructed, causing me to groan and the rest of the group to laugh.
"Skye since I'm stuck doing chores you wanna clue Ember in on the plan?" I asked, grabbing five plates.
"Sure." So for the next few hours Skye explained the plan, Damian and Tsuki added a few details Skye forgot and Ember made suggestions here and there, apparently she stole from the king a few times and knew a better, more hidden, route.

~~~~

A week later Tsuki decided to take us -all of us- to the castle with her while she made her delivery, we would pose as assistants and keep quiet while she worked. We all know that would be impossible.
We each got cloaks to hide our faces so should someone inside spot us when we come for the battle, they won't know whether they've seen us or not.

We followed Tsuki through the town and into the castle, where the halls were lined with portraits of previous kings, queens and their families.
"Wow that kinda reminds me of you when we were younger Damian." I mumbled, pointing to a painting of a man, a woman and a young boy with blue-black hair, amber eyes who the man behind him to the left seemed to look at disgustedly from the corner of his eye.

Probably due to the baggy clothes....

"Huh.... Kinda but not really." He mumbled, studying the painting with a frown.
"I'm sure it's nothing." Tsuki pitched in quickly, pulling them away from it.
"We're here for a reason so let's get on with it. Plus it'll help in the future too." She mumbled the last part so the guards who were stationed around strategically couldn't hear.
"Right." Damian and I mumbled together, following behind Skye and Ember as they followed Tsuki down the hall.

"Is everything ok?" I asked softly, focusing on the floor under my feet.
"Just thinking about something, I'll be fine." He gave me a smile, obviously fake, before continuing on, pretending nothing bothered him.
I frowned softly but decided to not poke the bear and keep quiet.
"Keep going guys, we're almost there." Tsuki urged, heading straight for two very large, heavy doors.

With the help of Skye and Ember Tsuki pushed open the door to reveal a beautifully decorated throne room, several windows lined the side walls to let sunlight into the practically golden room, three separate thrones sat at the front of the room, two of which were unoccupied, where a beautiful painting was placed above. The occupied throne held a man with brown hair and surprisingly bright teal eyes, a crown sat atop his head as he studied the five of us.

"Ah, I see you brought some friends along today." The king said, breaking the silence.
"Yes, they're some apprentice's of sorts and wanted to come along on my route sire." Tsuki explained, doing what she does normally I suppose while the rest of us studied our surroundings.
"And the cloaks?"
"They're shy, hardly take those things off."

The king hummed a response and studied each of us in turn before grinning.
"Welcome to my palace then I suppose, any friend of the great seamstress Tsuki is a friend of mine." He promised, putting a hand over his heart, a symbol of sincerity.

Unless he's got some second hidden personality then dang, this guys a great actor. Isn't he supposed to be evil and like... 100?

I kept my eyes on him for any hostility while Tsuki did her job, completely ignoring the rest of us as planned.
"Sire, that problem you asked us to deal with has taken an... odd turn." A guard interrupted as he burst through the large doors, causing the king to let out an irritated groan.
"I have guests, you know the protocol." He replied, waving the guard away.
"Yes sire." The guard bowed deeply before running back out the door while the rest of us shared a look.

What is he up to....?

I felt my lips turn down onto a frown and continued to watch the old king until Tsuki finished up, said her goodbyes and ushered us out of the room.

"Anyone else got a feeling something bad's going down?" Ember mumbled from under her hood, pulling it further o ear her face.
Everyone raised their hands in agreement, stopping I front of the painting of the king, the queen and the boy.
"He seemed really cool until that guard came in." Skye spoke up.
"I wonder what problems have been going on, and if so, what's the 'protocol' the king talked about?" I mumbled under my breath.

"One things for sure," Tsuki started determinedly.
"We need to figure out what he's planning, stop him and complete our mission. I mean we're supposed to dethrone him anyway."
"Everyone in?" I asked.
A chorus of 'heck yeah!'s filled the mostly empty hallway and we went on our way, feeling determined and brave.