Princes Hali
The moment a patrol of guards turned the corner and met us head on; I knew we were in deep shit.
"Princess Hali?" A soldier from my own kingdom recognised me immediately, "You shouldn't be here. Your mother instructed you to stay by Cyrus until the battle was over."
I stared down at the wounded Felix in our hands, wondering how to explain this. I had slipped away from Cyrus the moment we got inside the ball, and I doubted he even cared about me. He certainly had no reason to, for he had not protested when I disappeared.
"Why do you have the Lurisian prince with you?" the soldiers collectively bristled, taking a step forward, "What is the meaning of this?" It was too late; he'd been recognised and there was no chance of him getting away now. I took a deep breath, knowing my only option now was to save my own hide. Alani would understand.
"He's my prisoner of course" I straightened up, raising my chin defiantly, "I captured him after I found him hiding in the castle."
"Give him to us, we will take him to the dungeon alongside his friend" A man who was probably from Xuidel offered his hand, "Go alert Cyrus. I'm sure he'll be pleased to know the prince has been found at last."
With one last solemn look at Alani, I nodded. "Of course." I hated how understanding and compassionately Alani stared at me. I would prefer it if he looked betrayed or hurt, or even angry. His empathy made it much harder to turn away and leave him to the mercy of the soldiers.
Cyrus was still in the war room when I returned. Selah had disappeared but everyone else had remained, standing around the map on the table muttering to each other. It took them a long moment to even realise I was there, having been thoroughly absorbed in whatever they were plotting.
"Oh, Princess Hali" Cyrus nodded to me, "Excellent timing."
"Indeed" I tilted my head, "I captured the Lurisian prince."
"Oh, good" Cyrus nodded, his eyes glittering, "I'll go and question him myself later. I gather he's been sent to the dungeon for the time being?"
"Why of course" I smiled, "At your command."
"Ah, good" Cyrus nodded, "Now we have some leverage over Aspen. I'm sure he'd do anything for his brother." His words were strangely bitter, and I wondered if he was still sore over Reagan's betrayal.
Cyrus's lips pursed in satisfaction. "Do you know if your mother is coming back soon?" I froze.
"No, and why should I care?" I replied tartly. Cyrus blinked, seeming a little surprised. I regarded him with disdain, wondering the kind of person he was that he was able to conceive the evil he had tonight. Due to us being close in age and our kingdoms being neutral to each other, we had known each other our whole lives. Though I wouldn't say we were ever friends, we were never enemies.
"Well, we need her before we can continue" Cyrus waved at the map on the table, "Unless you have any great ideas?" I stepped closer, looking at what seemed to be chess pieces. From their placement I could guess they were going over their plot to chase Aspen to Kuya and invade them. I mentally scoffed, Kuya was even harder to invade than Vraekya, purely because of their geography. Cyrus was delusional if he thought he could mount a successful attack on them.
"I think you're crazy" I said simply, "And a little too trigger happy." Cyrus's nostrils flared, staring at me incredulously.
"Clearly you're not very intelligent then" Arden sneered, "If you can't see the necessity, you're useless."
"You can't be talking on intelligence when you allowed a woman you had stuck under your thumb nearly kill you" I pointed at the ugly scar on his face, "And now it's all you ever talk about. I don't know why Cyrus still keeps you around." Arden's jaw clenched, his fist shaking a little. I raised a brow, knowing I best not antagonise them too much. They may not be able to hurt me for risk of losing my mother's alliance, but I still wouldn't put it past them.
