The Dragon Prince

Chapter 4

Master Derrick Rikon

Rivergarde, Morith

The ocean was quiet this evening, as the sun set disappeared behind the colored water. I had often found myself here, contemplating my petty decisions and not caring about my future or my life. I sighed, leaning my head back against the pillar, as I sat on the thick railing. There were hundreds of feet and different angles to this overlook, but this one, directly in the middle, was mine. It had always been my favorite spot, ever since I was little. It was always where my best friend would find me. It was where I would always go. He always knew. We were as opposite as night and day, but we balanced each other evenly. Where I had been weak, that was his strength, and vice versa. He kept me grounded, and sane. He was always there for me when I needed him most, and he kept me out of trouble. But now, since he is gone, there was nothing to stop me. No one to tell me my ideas were terrible. No one to suggest that I stay home, rather than taking a year-long adventure for no reason. No one to help with the pain of losing him.

I had been there that day. The day my best friend had been taken away. The day my best friend had been murdered. It has taken me eight years to realize that he is never coming back. How could he have survived such an attack? He was never a fighter. He wasn't strong enough to stand against an experienced murderer. His attack had been planned. It was too clever, too clean and precise. He did the deed, concealed it, and made off, before anyone even knew where to look. There are those that believe he is still alive, and I wish I could be one of those people. They never lose hope. But I have. It has been drained from me every waking minute of the past eight years. A piece of me died that day. A piece I will never get back.

It was well into the night when the moonlight no longer dulled the pain. I got down off the railing, and made my way back through the castle. As I came around the corner, I recognized a familiar sight. Many times I have come upon this scene over the years. Her long dark hair pushed back, with her ear firmly pushed against the wooden door. She had never grown out of her childish game of ease dropping. She knew secrets, any and all secrets, about anyone and everyone, myself included. The gossip she has on me is enough to make our mother's head spin in disbelief. Somethings in my past should never be discovered. There are just somethings a parents shouldn't know about their child.

"Jaqueline!" I hissed, causing her to jump, and look at me startled. Her always questioning pale blue eyes stared into mine, but not as the usual caught in the act, guilty look. This was genuine fear. "What have you overheard?" I asked, coming to stand next to her, slightly concerned to see her trembling slightly. All the gossip in the world could not hinder me from caring for my little sister.

"This time, brother, you will be glad that I have been listening in." She shook her head, glancing back at the door to father's study, before looking back at me. "This is not good news. Father has received a letter from Lord Zircon that Roland Castian has escaped his prison."

"Our uncle has escaped?" I questioned, slightly shocked. I knew Lord Zircon well, and our families were close. This was no small matter.

"Not just escaped, Derrick." She shook her head, staring up at me with worry. "He was broken out, by someone who knew that place well." She glanced down at the floor, hesitating to continue. "The letter stated to ignore all claims against Queen Marnie being the culprit."

"As we rightly should." I said, and slightly worried that I spoke to loud. I half wondered if father would pull the door open and yell at us for ease-dropping. "It doesn't make any sense." I laughed at the thought of how absurd it sounded. "Marnie despises Roland. He tried to kill her."

"Which is why Zircon believes that the guards were fed a drug of some sorts, and made to believe that someone who looked like Marnie let Roland go." She leaned her rear back to the door, whispering what she heard. "Mother says that she received word from Mikaela. They have doubled the security in the Imperial City. She says Jasper worries he will come for his mother, and possibly for Mikaela." I sucked in a breath at the mention of my twin sister. Mikaela. The future queen of Vrinian. To everyone else, Mikaela and Jasper's confession to being in love with each other came as a shock, but not to me. Mikaela never kept anything from me. For years I knew their childish friendship would become more. It had only been a matter of time. Perhaps mother and father had seen it as well, seeing as they did agree to end Mikaela's betrothal to Jonan. He didn't want to marry her any more than she wanted to marry him so perhaps it came as more of a relief instead of a shock. All three of them still remain good friends. Mikaela is a part of me, just as Felix had been, but in a different way. Mikaela and I are identical twins. She had inherited father's dark eyes and hair, and I got mother's light eyes and hair. Jaqueline got the mix, with her dark hair and light eyes. Mikaela and I were opposites in appearance, but on the inside, we are exactly the same. We have the same interests and talents, same favorites, and strengths and weaknesses. Where Felix evened me out, Jasper evens her out. Cancelling out the odds. "Apparently Marnie has seen him. Stalking her in the shadows. Elyas wants to set a trap and flush him out like the rat that he is, and use Asher and Ivory to do it. They are thinking he will show his face at Jasper and Mikaela's coronation. They want to catch him. Zircon has found letters between Roland and an unknown person. He bribed guards to deliver them. They fully believe that he is behind the kidnapping and possible murder of Felix." I flinched at his name. Felix. It still hurt. Still stung in the back of my mind. My best friend. If Roland was behind it, I would make him pay. Felix didn't believe in revenge, only justice, but he isn't here anymore to stop me.