Milo had been right. Every plan they'd ever made had gone to hell because of Astoria. They weren't angry about it, not at her at least, but without the ability to contact Alex and Alan they couldn't come up with a second plan.
They were at a standstill. Oli had suggested just storming the place, but Vic had shut that down. "It would just get us all killed and leave Alan, Alex, and Astoria there forever."
Oli's snarky reply had been something along the lines of, "well if you've got something better."
But no one did.
Not until Dallon and Brendon came stumbling in with a few additional people behind them after a short raid.
"Pete?" Gabe asked as he took in the sight of the rest of his companions. "Bilvy?"
"Hey, Gabe," William Beckett replied as he stepped aside to let others in.
There was a lot of confusion from people like Oli, Kellin, Vic, and Austin; people who didn't know the true extend of the war.
"Let's get everyone here and then we'll talk."
Chairs were brought in and everyone crammed in around the table—even Doctor Ramsay had been dragged out of his laboratory cave to meet with everyone.
"Patrick's alive," Pete said. It was the first things he could think to say. Everything else flowed after that. "Alex and Alan told me where to find you. Astoria told me how to find them."
"You got into the palace?" Austin interrupted.
"I was just planning on seeing if Patrick was who I'd seen before, but then he mentioned her, and I just had to see her. But yes, I got it."
"How is he?" Brendon asked before Pete could go on. "Is he okay?"
Pete nodded. "He's fine. I guess he was attacked, but Astoria fixed him up. She's keeping them all safe.
"She told them Patrick knows how to kill them and he's told people. But she admits Patrick has no idea; she took it from someone named Doctor Ramsay who's using someone named Josh to see if what he has works."
Doctor Ramsay lifted his head at the mention of his name. "I do. And so far it seems to be working." He gestured towards Josh who was tucked under Oli's arm. He was looking more pale than usual, but showed no other signs of any adverse effects.
"Excellent. Doctor Beckett has some information that you may find use of. Alan and Alex are safe. They've been assigned to protect the king. They're making friends too. The right kind of friends," Pete emphasized.
Mummers of excitement rang along the group. Was it really possible that there were more among them? Was it really possible to dream that this wouldn't last forever?
"What about Tori?" Milo asked. "You haven't said anything about her."
Pete looked at him, seeing the perfect mixture of Dallon and Brendon in him. Patrick had confessed one night that Milo wasn't Ryan's, so he knew, but he hadn't expected Milo to behave so much like Ryan.
"She's as safe as any of them, really. As long as she continues to be the pretty fiancée of the prince she keeps everyone else safe. And as long as the king stays alive so do the rest of them. For now."
"For now?" Kellin asked.
"Pete nodded. "We're certainly not going to just snatch them back when we've got an opportunity right in front of us. We can end this. We just need to play the cards right."
"And how do you suggest we do that, Pete?" Gabe asked.
"Simple," a figure from the back said. "We infiltrate until there are more of us than they could expect. Mikey," the figure said as they revealed themself. "You still have to capability to hack into the database and find the blueprints?"
Mikey gave one of his rare smirks. "I though you'd never ask, Gee."
*
Simply to annoy Joseph more than anything, Astoria had taken to following him around like a shadow. She sat in all of his meetings—giving superb advice—she joined him for lunch with his friends—charmingly winning them over—sitting on the sofa in his private office when he worked—gracefully blessing the room with her presence. Shy of sharing a bed with him, she wedged herself into his life with the intent on leaving an impression.
Joseph was annoyed at first, but once he saw the glow Astoria brought with her, he couldn't deny its use. Instead of being annoyed by her presence, he grew to love it. He wasn't going to admit it; however, because he wasn't going to let her be his weakness.
"Have you see those design books your mother gave me?" Astoria asked as she glided into his office.
Without looking up he pointed in the direction of a long table underneath the window. He used it for meetings, but Astoria has slyly taken over a section of it. Not that he cared.
"Thank you."
She gingerly pressed a kiss to his cheek and and made her way to the table where she scooped up a decently sized stack of books and began to move towards the door.
"Where're you going?" Joseph asked as she opened the door.
"Oh." Astoria turned. "I was just going to lay these all out on the floor and eliminate some. There's so many to choose from, and I don't want to bother you."
"I don't mind," he said, and truth be told he really didn't. "There's more room in here."
"Are you sure? I don't want to be in the way." She shifted all the books in her arms.
"No. It's fine. Look, let me finish reviewing this, and I'll get someone to help move the furniture."
"If it's not too much trouble," she said with a blush. "I'd appreciate it."
A few minutes later Joseph had helped a servant move all of the furniture to the side and all of the sketches had been laid out in nice, neat rows.
"I'll be back in a few minutes," Joseph said when they were done fixing everything.
And Astoria wasn't even surprised when he absentmindedly gave her temple a kiss and left the room.
She had him wrapped around her finger, just like Alex had told her to do.
