"You have lost it!", Ethan exclaimed.
"No! Can't you see? We have to save him and this is the only way.", I said.
"No! We are not kidnapping him!", he retaliated.
"But why?", I asked losing my temper.
Ethan sighed and with heavy eyes, he looked at me. I could see he was hiding something from me. I looked closely at his face and the way his lips were forming a thin line and his eyes twitched a little I was sure he was lying to me about something.
"What is it?", I asked sitting beside him.
"Aiden is not under any spell. He is there by choice.", Ethan said.
I looked at him shocked. How could he even think that his younger brother would stay at the enemy's tent by choice? Well! If it is some trick of his to defeat the enemy then he might.
"Is it a plan to defeat them?", I asked hopefully.
Ethan shook his head making my hopeful eyes lose their shine.
"What are you hiding?", I asked moving a little closer to him and scrutinising his face again. He looked away and sighed again.
"He is there because he wants to be. Aiden is the best at killing with swords. No sand in his eyes, can make the target fade. He let us escape. He remembers us.", he spoke up finally.
"You are just assuming it!", I scoffed trying my best to not believe his words, no matter how much sense they made.
"I have known him all my life. I know when he wants to kill and when he wants to lose a winning game.", Ethan said looking straight into my eyes.
"But we still need to save him.", I said looking at him expectantly.
"We can't save a person who is there by choice Hyun!", he said.
"I need to know if he is there by choice or if he is held captive.", I was not able to believe that Aiden would join hands with the enemies.
"Okay! We will carry out an investigation but no kidnapping!", Ethan said sternly. I looked at him and then nodded giving in.
"What about the war?", I asked.
"We have to fight a war, obviously! We don't have any other choice.", Ethan said.
"Then you manage the war and I will take care of the investigation.", I planned out.
"Okay. But Hyun! No kidnapping! Okay?", he said again and I nodded.
If Aiden is there by choice, then there was no point in kidnapping him and putting the lives of my soldiers at stake. But if he was kept there as a captive, I am not sitting here and watching him struggle alone.
"You have to be quiet!", I whisper yelled at one of the soldiers standing behind me. We were back at the enemy's front. Hiding behind the tree I was trying to get a better view of the tents. The soldiers were moving from one tent to another carrying weapons, food and every other thing.
"There! There he is, prince Lee.", one of the soldiers pointed. "Shhh!", I scolded him. "You will blow our cover.", the other one also scolded him lightly.
I moved a little closer to get a better view. Aiden was standing with other soldiers and laughing with his hand around the person standing next to him. I was trying to get a better look at the person next to him and I saw he was wearing the royal symbol of Gyeonggi which meant he was one of the higher officials.
"Hyun! We should leave now. We have enough information to give to the king.", one of the soldiers said. "You two go and make sure this information reaches the king and I will stay here to see if we can get some more useful information.", I ordered.
"We can't leave you here.", he said.
"It is my order!", I could feel the anger rising inside of me.
"Wait! Look there.", the other soldier intervened.
Both of us looked in the direction he was pointing. A new member had joined the group now. She was wearing a crown which meant she was the princess. Her back was towards us.
"She is the princess.", I said.
"A peculiar one. I have heard three of her inner court officials refused to accept her as their princess.", the one right next to me said.
"Why?", I asked.
"They refused to recognise her. According to them their king never had a princess.", he said.
When he told me about this incident I immediately thought about the day when the head refused to accept Ethan as his king and created a commotion in the royal court. I looked at the blond long hair princess standing with her back towards me. She was wearing a belt which has laurel leaves made all around it. I tried to peek a little more. She finally turned around and looked at me straight in the eyes as if she knew about my presence all along.
"Fate?", I murmured shocked.
I could feel the colour drain off my face. She was still looking at me and then she smirked. She wrapped her hand around Aiden's arm. He looked at her with a soft face. He bent down and gave her a soft peck on her lips. I just watched them, too shocked and hurt to say or do anything.
"She has seen us. We need to leave now!", the soldier next to me said and the other one nodded.
"Let's go. We have got enough information.", I said and looked away.
We retreated slowly and with every step I could feel a piece of my heart chip off and fall. The kiss and adoration in Aiden's eyes were haunting me. A look like that cannot be compelled. It is true. Aiden went there by choice.
"We will go and inform the king of our return.", they said and left me alone near my tent.
I walked towards the river holding my tears inside. People were already giving me looks of pity as if they knew the real reason behind my bummed face. They thought prince Lee aka Aiden changing sides made me sad, but who knew a change of heart was the real cause of my pain.
I looked at the ripples in the water. The sun was setting and tomorrow we will officially be at war. Ethan will fight his brother, and I will fight Fate- literally and metaphorically.
"Hyun!", I heard a soft voice call me out. I didn't turn around.
"I heard what happened.", he continued.
He doesn't! He is the same as everyone else. He doesn't know it was not just my trust that he broke but my heart too.
Ethan came and stood beside me. I finally looked at him. His resemblance to Aiden was striking a little more as his visage glowed under the orange sky. I kept staring at him, reading every inch of his face and trying to tell myself, he is not Aiden. Ethan looked at me and his eyes held a lot of questions. But before he could ask me anything, I made an uncalculated move. I kissed him!