"What were you thinking?!" Ace exclaimed as he forced Jack to stubble into a room full of coats, once exiting the self-lit passage that captivated Jack's mind. This left Jack dumbfounded since the white-haired boy was so sweet and kind moments ago, only to be full of anger now. Ace noticed this and shook his head before further clarifying, "I know that you have your friends wondering out and about in this castle. Do you understand that by doing so, it is practically a suicide mission?!"
"How do you know about that? I thought Lilith said you weren't supposed to know that!" Jack asked as he watched Ace lean against the wall.
"Yes! They're not supposed to do that at all, but when someone jeopardizes the lives of many people, they tell me. If the wrong person catches your friends walking around that is, not 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭, but 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 death! I just hope Chester found the one that's supposed to go to the war room." Ace sighed as he rested his head against the wall.
"Many people? What do you mean 'many people'?" Jack asked hesitantly.
"Father would consider that an act of treason of what happened tonight and would call war upon Asterin. Regardless if Asterin fights back, father will burn it to the ground." Ace explained, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"I-" "Yeah you didn't think about it. Did you?" Ace smirked as Jack rolled his eyes.
"For someone who was trapped in the castle until 16, you sure know how to run stuff a lot better than me." Jack confessed.
"How did you know about that?" Ace asked, pushing himself off from the wall so he was standing straight up.
"Hehehe... Well, I was bashing on why you suddenly are trying to fight against your people's views and Lilith pointed out how you've been caged up in here like an animal. Then I viewed you with more respect. You're basically risking your life." Jack anxiously answered afraid of the response he would get.
"Hmm. If you chatted with Lilith then you knew I was on your side. Why did you have your friends spread out?" Ace asked, looking at the taller prince. He was unsure of how he should feel at this current moment. The Asterian prince is handsome, but all of his actions were making Ace very mad... very fast. The only thing that prevented Ace from slapping Jack on the face when he first saw him was the fact that he threw his cake on him, regardless if it was an accident it would have not been appropriate. 𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘵! 𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘢 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮. Ace thought before focusing his attention back to Jack.
"Honestly I have a lot of suspicion toward you still. This is my first time seeing you, but seeing that you genuinely care about not only the wellbeing of your staff, but the wellbeing of many others in the nation, has eased my trust towards you. I only sent one to find the war room and collect information about what King Oliver is doing next, another one has her own deeds to attend to, and then the rest should be in the ballroom still." Jack answered as he walked aimlessly around the room, but stumbled upon a couple of objects onto the ground. Jack instantly held his hands out in effort to brace himself for the fall, but his body never ended up hitting the ground. Ace quickly launched himself forward to grab Jack and held him up. When Jack opened his eyes; it felt like his whole world stopped for a moment, his heart started to run wild. The moonlight peaking through the large windows touched Ace's features gracefully, his hair glowed with warmth.
"At least your guard is smart." Ace said noticing that the object Jack stubbled on was the Asterian armor before letting Jack go.
"Ow!" Jack exclaimed as he got up from the ground.
"Sorry... no not really. I'm not sorry. Quickly pick something up and follow me." Ace instructed as he picked up the golden chest plate and helmet before opening the door gently. Jack reluctantly followed his instructions, a little mad that Ace had dropped him on purpose. "This is very important. We are going to find Clara who will help us with your stain, do not make a lot of noise." Ace said sternly.
"Wait, why don't we just take the passage thingy to go to her?" Jack asked as Ace closed the door slowly.
"You do see how big this castle is, right? Plus, I know a faster way... assuming Clara is in the basement." Ace mumbled the last part as he opened the door and peeked his head out. With the coast clear, Ace stepped out of the closet with Jack following closely behind him. Together they quietly and quickly headed their way down the long, dimmed, eerie corridors. Ace was growing anxious; he knew he was gone from the ball for too long now and he was already thinking of excuses to make as to why he was absent for so long, however, everything he was thinking of could potentially put the castle staff at risk for punishment. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘦! 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘬. Ace confirmed with himself as he swiftly entered another room that supposedly 'securely' stored his father's plate collection.
"Ummm..." Jack opened his mouth to say something snarky but Ace quickly placed his finger against Jack's lips before walking over to a plate with an apple tree realistically painted onto it. Ace leaned down to the plate and blew against it, soon following his actions a similar passage, like the one on the balcony, opened up on the open wall next to the plates that stood on their stands. Jack's mouth hung open as watched Ace walk into the passage.
"Well come on, we don't have all day your highness." Ace taunted making Jack roll his eyes.
"How many of these are there?! And why does each one has its own little password?" Jack asked, absolutely amazed by this idea.
"Growing up I didn't have many people to hang out with. Sure, there were the Elites, but I never felt like I fit with them. Plus, they're brainwashed bastards. Gwen and Persephone were the only ones from the Elites that stood out to me, but I was always teased about which one I was going to marry." Ace started off as Jack's face lit up.
"Persephone was the lady that saved me from that suffocating crowd. She's so sweet, are you planning to marry her?" Jack teased as Ace laughed.
"The irony of it," Ace chuckled making Jack frown, "but she is not my type." Ace finished making Jack smile again
"So, what's the irony?" Jack asked while the two continued to walk down the passage.
"We are planning to marry, but only until I become king. It's a tedious process, but it's the safest. I'm pretty sure she's more interested in women anyways. So, it's a win-win situation, assuming everything goes as planned." Ace answered as they reached a fork in the path.
"Alright, well continue on with the story of the passages." Jack urged on as the two continued left on the path.
"Right. I grew really close with the castle staff after my mother's passing. No, I am not telling you anything about that. Of course, with the type of life I was forced to follow I knew at a young age I wasn't allowed to just straight up go to a maid or the guards in training and hang out with them. We found loopholes of our strict lifestyles such as: I would order them to watch over me in the gardens, but in reality, we would have a small picnic. When I was teenager I would personally sneak down to the basement where the live-in castle staff sleep and we would hang out for hours. Eventually I got caught and somehow the staff were punished for it... not me. But they felt like my real family, so we made these passages. There are approximately 87 ways to enter or exit the passages But, there are 654 different passages themselves that connect with one another. I know there's 32 dead ends, in case someone was following us. And there is an emergency exit. If you take the current path you will end up at your destination." Ace explained as they reached a dead end, but Ace simply pushed against the wall and it opened up to a room with dirty clothes in it.
Both princes left the tunnel and cautiously entered the room. "Let me make sure it's my people in there and not father's." Ace said as Jack nodded, understanding that not everyone is on the Defiance.
"Ace! What are you doing here?!" Rhoma exclaimed, noticing the white-haired prince. "Don't worry, it's just Clara and I here."
"Good! I need her! Come on Jack." Ace said as the two left the room and walked further into the basement. Ace noticed Jack's admiration of the bright cozy basement and couldn't help but smile. "Jack, head guard Rhoma. Rhoma, Prince Jack of Asterin." Ace introduced as they shook hands.
"Oh, doing some sneaking around with someone you just met?" Rhoma teased once she noticed the Asterian prince.
"Not what it looks like. I accidently threw my cake on him. So, I kind of need Clara's magic hands to help make it new again and quick." Ace rolled his eyes as he placed the golden armor on the ground and jester for Jack to do the same.
"She just went up to check on the ballroom a little bit ago so she should be back soon. Um shouldn't the designated guard be wearing that armor?" Rhoma asked as she sat on the couch nearby.
"Well yes, but that guard is currently roaming around the castle. Assuming that Chester will bring down that guard, could you give him back his armor and send him back to the ballroom as soon as you can?" Ace asked as he sat on the couch across from Rhoma with Jack sitting close to him soon.
"I'll ask Cain or Silas to-" "There you are Ace. I had to put an illusion of you up there dancing around with everyone. What are you even doing here?" Clara huffed, interrupting Rhoma.
Before Ace could even say anything, Jack spoke up, "wait you're a witch?"
"Yes... and you are?" Clara asked back.
"Prince Jack of Asterin. Lilith didn't mention that there's two people of magic here." Jack said. Ace and Rhoma quickly looked over at Clara who displayed the same look of surprise on her face.
"I'm sorry... two? Clara was the only one we knew of." Rhoma said, breaking the silence.
"Lilith and Sellandia mentioned Xavier, but not you Clara." Jack said and tears were brought up to Clara's eyes.
"S-Sellandia? She's still alive?!" Clara whimpered as she collapsed to the ground, trying to hold her tears back. Ace rushed over to her side and embraced her tightly.
"Clara, what's going on?" Rhoma asked as Jack worriedly looked over at the situation he had caused.
"Sellandia and I grew up together. We were in the same coven! Then the extermination happened and we were separated. After all this time, she's still alive!" Clara happily cried out, tightening her grip on Ace.
"What about Xavier?" Rhoma asked.
"He's a wizard, well a warlock. I thought you knew." Jack said timidly.
"You know, that would explain why people who run into Xavier either end up dead or really messed up." Rhoma pointed out.
"Now is not the time to make any jokes." Ace snapped. "You don't think Xavier is guarding the war room right now, do you?"
"I surely hope not. That could mess us over big time." Rhoma sighed as she handed a tissue to Clara who had composed herself.
"I haven't been able to detect any magical presence from this kingdom since Gwen and Lilith left with the rest." Clara sniffled.
"You think he blocked his magic like you?" Ace asked Clara.
"He did exactly that and I don't mean to be rude because I would love to chit chat about this to help you get a better understanding of what I am telling you, but the more I'm here the more worrisome I'm becoming about my people." Jack said softly.
"Sorry Clara, he's right and I need to go back to the ballroom too." Ace agreed as he patted Clara's back softly.
"I promise one day you will see her again! She's doing very well and just reunited with her baby witches at my kingdom." Jack smiled as he placed Clara's hands in his.
"Thank you, Jack." Clara smiled before Ace explained to the witch why the two princes were in the basement, making Clara quickly attend to the Asterian.
"I hope Clara gains some information about the two princes." Rhoma said as Ace nodded his head.
"Yeah, I do too. She deserves to know more than what was given to her. But now we need to know more about Xavier." Ace groaned.
"I can tell you a summary about him on the way back to the ballroom." Jack offered as he returned from the Clara and Ace happily accepted.
"I'll have the illusion of you walk away now, but you better make it there soon before the shift change happens." Clara said as the four quickly bid their farewells and went their ways. Heading back to the ballroom, Jack made sure to tell Ace all the major points about Xavier. Ace made sure to make a note of everything that Jack told him, especially the part that Xavier knows necromancy. It was clear to Ace why Oliver keeps Xavier close to him now. However, Ace wonder's who else knows about Xavier among the secret service.
Once approaching the ballroom, Ace looked over to Jack and said, "Jack, I need you to keep everything you learned today a secret. Do not tell anyone what happened, except for Sellandia. I've heard about her from my mom, but I thought she was a folk tale or a myth."
"Yeah, for the safety of the Defiance, I can keep this a secret. Allies?" Jack asked as he extended his hand out to Ace who gladly accepted his hand.
"Allies." Ace smiled before being greeted upon Chester, who brought the lurking Asterin guard, Leo Percy, with him. It was strange to Ace that the Asterin guard liked going by his full name, but it had a unique ring to it. Chester showed the Asterin's into the ballroom first while Ace decided to wait out in the halls for a little bit.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Ace what are you planning on doing?" Xavier asked, emerging out from the shadows.
"What are you planning on doing?" Ace asked back as he felt his heart sink to his stomach.
"Don't worry, I'm not planning on telling or doing anything yet." Xavier smirked as he walked over to the prince.
"Xavier, I swear on my life I will kill you if you hurt anyone." Ace spat as the taller brunette threw his hands in the air in defense.
"Hey now! Finally, something interesting is going on in this damn castle and I'm not planning on ruining it. Just make sure you're cautious of the eyes in the castle." Xavier whispered, shaking his head to his side. Ace looked over Xavier's shoulders and there, hiding around the corner, was Felicity. "I'll go and have a talk with her while you be a good little prince and have some fun."
"Thank you." Was all Ace managed to say. For the rest of the ball, Ace couldn't help but find himself looking for Jack as he indulged himself in the wine being served. He wasn't even ready to hear what Chester had to say about Leo Percy after what had happened today. Maybe it would be safe if Ace limited his contact with the Defiance until a week from now, but he knew that would not be possible with what Oliver was planning. He knew Persephone and him would have to go over many things tomorrow, that is after Oliver realizes that Gwen and a few others have escaped.
Ace woke up abruptly to the sound of something hitting against his balcony door over and over again. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘦𝘯𝘥? 𝘖𝘩 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘩, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭. Ace groaned as he made his best effort to walk in a straight line while fighting his on-going drunken state. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I hear you." Ace said as he opened the balcony door, not even thinking twice what would happen. Before he knew it, the white-haired boy shrieked as he fell to the ground as a whole bunch of tiny, grey creatures flew into his room and started to make a mess of everything. Ace wondered if this was just a really bad fever dream, but it was a reality as soon as one of the grey creatures whistled. The group of grew creatures quickly put everything back into place and floated above Ace.
Hesitantly, Ace got up from the ground and faced eye to eye with the creatures. They weren't ugly at all, but Ace was afraid of what they wanted. Another whistle came from the creatures and the two more little, grey creatures from outside floated into the room with a folded paper.
One of the creatures looked at Ace and started to talk to him, but all that came out from the creature was a squeaking noise. Analyzing the creature's body language, Ace assumed that it wanted him to take the folded paper from the other two creatures. Ace carefully did so. The moment he had a firm grip on the paper the fairies rushed out of the room and closed the balcony doors for him. The prince stood still, confuzzled, as he looked from the paper, to the door, back to the paper, and then back to the door. "Man, I should not drink too hard." Ace whispered as walked over to his bed and laid down again.
As much as Ace wanted to fall back asleep, he was also curious about what the paper contained. So, he opened it and started to read it, which said: 𝙎𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙮 𝙞𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙄 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙗𝙚 𝙖 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙪𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙚! Ace smiled knowing it was from the Asterin prince. "Oh boy." Ace managed to say before reading the rest of the letter.