At Your Service- A Royalty Solangelo AU

Chapter 50

Beneath the depths of the palace, no one would know, but a series of tunnels wove their intricate paths. Down there, where the rats scurried and stagnant water pooled in-between loose stones, the atmosphere spoke for itself. Maybe that's why on that day, two figures found themselves slipping through the shadows that lurked in each corner, there on a summons from a soon-to-be king.

The man in front led at a brutal pace, unwilling to look back at his companion. His boots fell heavily on the floor, announcing to the underground their every move while the other man seemed to slink soundlessly behind him, as though a ghost trailing the leader.

Finally, they came to a halt, stale air seeming to freeze alongside them in front of the small door. The gnarled wood caught the fleeting light from scarce candles flickering in the tunnel, warping the door into an ugly hatch. With a quick hand, the man in front wrapped his knuckles on the entrance, three sharp cracks of sound in the quiet tunnel. 

For a moment, they stood hunched under the curved walls a silent fear that there would be no one on the other side to receive them. But, quick as the knock sounded on the frame, the door swung open with an aged creak to reveal a better lit room behind it. At the center, the man they had been waiting for stood. 

When they had first received their summons from the man in front of them, neither were prepared for what lie ahead. Both bright minds were called to be advisors, generals from the two armys that would soon be called to protect the Aruman crown, however their mission did not align with that goal. Before the plans for a Hele invasion were even drawn up, there existed another plan, one that would shift the power balance of the Greco-Romano world as it was known. At the center of it lie a certain man from Olympia, a regent greedy for power, and now the generals found themselves in the very same room as him to finalize the last few steps just days before the invasion would take place. 

In the firelight of the room, the regent's hair could almost be taken for obsidian, the way it seemed to glint, and when the unnerving eyes were set to the entryway, the two men found themselves straightening on instinct. 

"I fear," the regent's voice filled the room suddenly, slicing through the silence of the underground room with ease, "that there has been a change of plans- a minor setback, shall I say- to this whole invasion. You see, in my foolish oversight, I underestimated one key factor: the King. When the war is won, it will be hard to turn the tide in our favor, thus I have come to ask you for your advice. How shall we weaken the man's grip on the crown so that it will at last fall into our hands?" 

The men, not anticipating this question, were quiet for a moment.  To the left, the Hele general's eyes glinted, the only indication that he was mulling the man's prompt over. And on his right, his companion from Nebo adopted an easier stance, regarding the question as mere child's play. 

"For a young man to procure and maintain such power speaks at lengths to the ruler he has become," Luke began. "To attempt the removal of the crown from the hands of such a man would prove to be a terrible feat, one that not even I would busy myself with attempting." 

"It is true," Octavian sighed as though bored, "I may not know much but even I can understand his capabilities as a ruler- strength that I myself was banished for by my own state. If Nebo spooks at a man crooked as myself, then they would cower at a man with control like Nico. Though he has the one thing that I had not, sanity, and it is in that regard that he will be able to keep his power for as long as his little heart desires."

"So, in your wayward manner of speaking, you have nothing to use against the king to force his abdication?" Kronos hissed, eyes boring into the men in front of him. Months before, when he had sought out the assistance of them, he had considered them each to be capable individuals to fill the role of advisor, though now he wished to retract that presumption. "There is not one single scrap of the King's life that could loosen his claim to the throne in the slightest?"