ꜱᴄᴀʀ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴋᴇʏꜱ

Chapter 21: Cazzlyn

  Cazzlyn tapped her fingers impatiently across the elegant table. She knew what she had to do. The king of Retano was sitting on a throne in the ballroom with a smug smirk across his face.

"Go for the king, take the prince." She could feel her cold dagger sheathed under her dress.

She turned her head to the entrance of the ball, and he saw two kids about her age. The girl had a fiery red dress on, her hair was braided into a bun. She looked a little too much like Ethan. The designs on her dress reminded her of flames. Cazzlyn felt a stab of sadness in her gut. Castilla loved her hair like that.

The boy had a happy grin across her face, and he was holding the girl's hand. His dark brown hair was slicked back, and there was a white rose sitting in his black suit, his tie had silver rubies on it that formed a leaf.

The way they were grinning at each other looked like they had a plan.

One of the servants escorted them to a table across from hers.

She waited for Ethan to come back, but he never did because the ball had barely started.

He sat down next to her and took her hand.

She took it back reluctantly. ."I know about the whole escort thing, but no need to hold my hand while we're just sitting,"

He sighed, but the girl in front of Cazzlyn caught his eye. He smiled slightly.

She wanted to ask why she looked familiar, but she brushed it off when she heard the prince talking into the girl.

Ethan changed his gaze over to the king sitting on the throne with a smug smirk.

"I've never really liked the king of Retano," he admitted dryly. Cazzlyn had just realized he looked a little too smug to be king, even though the prince was being too carefree.

The two kids from earlier seemed like they already knew this. The girl was glaring at the prince like he was something she was allergic to.

The prince stood up on the stage and turned on the microphone. He grinned sweetly, but it was a manipulative grin. A cunning grin.

"Welcome to the Quad kingdom ball!' he began. "We welcome you to our kingdom. We are delighted to host this ball in our kingdom," he smirked wickedly and turned to her table. "We especially welcome the ones from Maleni and Alnao,"

She heard the girl from earlier scowl. The prince must have heard her because he smirked.

"Anyways, there are refreshments in the corner on the king's table," the prince straightened out his tailcoat. He turned his gaze to the king, and he nodded.

The prince fidgeted with something in his pocket and pulled out a crumpled note. "We would also like to announce the coronation of Princess Alsana of the Valedin kingdom." he fidgeted again. "As well as the announcement of Prince Arkin and Princess Alsana's marriage,"

Immediate scowls erupted from the crowd, as well as surprised gasps. The prince sighed, but his eyes turned green out of nowhere. He crumpled the paper to the ground and stared directly at her table's direction. His fists clenched.

The king tried reaching for his son, but he pushed him away. "This is my thing, you!" the prince scowled, but it didn't even sound like him. "Four shall answer the call, From the kingdoms, Fire's wrath, Earth's utility, Air's wisdom, Water's mercy. They shall face the fate of the keys,"

Surprised gasps sounded from the crowd again. Some were horrified. The prince snapped out of his trance.

Ethan looked just as surprised as they did.

This is my chance to go, she thought. Cedar was protecting me from this.

She stood up and ran for the door, and to her horror her dress was changing from the brown elegant sparkly dress to a gray one. It had short sleeves that went down to her elbows.

What a way to make an exit. She untied her white heels, and they had changed into loose glass heels. .

Runaway princess much? She heard shuffling to her left, and she saw the girl and the guy from earlier.

The girl's dress had changed to a dark calf length dress with stars plastered across it. She looked back at the boy with a stone cold expression.

"I'm Reylyn," she looked over at Cazzlyn. "There's a chance we will be spending some time together,"

The guy behind her chuckled. "I'm Rheton," he grinned happily. His black suit had turned into a dark green suit, but he no longer had the tie.

Reylyn twirled a gold gladius in her hands. She sighed loudly.

The three of them made a path to the entrance, but a snarky blonde boy about seventeen blocked their path.

"You'll need me for this quest," he scoffed as he looked at the group of three. "You're my questmates? This might as well fail,"

"Do you even know anything about quests?" Cazzlyn snapped. "So what if your water's mercy? We can do this ourselves,"

Reylyn was regarding the blond with a menacing glare. "So you're actually useful for once?" she scowled at him. "Shew,"

They both worked together to push him out of the way. Rheton followed behind them with a fast pace.

"Don't you think we need him, though?" he asked, he seemed genuinely curious.

"No!" Both the girls yelled at Rheton in unison.

Cazzlyn turned to look behind him, and the blonde boy was gaining momentum. She took a deep breath.

"This might feel funky at first," she made a swirling motion with her hand. "But it's worth it,"

Reylyn looked ready. Rheton on the other hand, looked a tiny bit nervous.

A tornado just big enough for the three of them appeared in the middle of the exit of the ballroom. Cazzlyn stepped into it, but before she motioned for the two to follow.

Reylyn stepped in it first, then Rheton. Cazzlyn stepped in right after.

Cazzlyn saw her sister laughing around at the river, and she was practicing archery. Younger Cazzlyn was playing in the trees, like she could care less about anything.

"Be careful up there," Castilla called.

The wind speed picked up and Cazzlyn scowled. "Curse you wind!" The wind immediately calmed down to a faint breeze. "I can control the wind, hehe!" She jumped across the trees like the wind was guiding her.