The morning after the ball, Ace woke up with a pounding headache from all the wine he forced down his throat to ignore the laughter and pointless begging of the bachelorettes. Ace smiled as he looked at the note in his hand, looking over the words 'your ally, Jack Sterling'. "Sterling. Sterling. Sterling." Ace whispered to himself while getting up. Ace knew he had woken up a little too early than anticipated considering the sun was just rising. Quickly he stumbled over to the washroom to wash himself, staring at his complexion that was untouched by labour and punishments. He thought of himself as selfish and greedy for not having a single scar on him or a tan from staying in the sun. Ace wanted to know what it was like to work and having to break a sweat. His father didn't even allow him to do any training, even though King Oliver went into battles at Ace's age. Going to meetings with the council and the Elites did not count as work. It shouldn't take more than one brain cell to sign a piece of paper of invitees to come to the next ball, but apparently in Findara it does.
Once fully clothed Ace locked the door to his washroom, walked over to his wardrobe, and opened the doors carefully. He stood for a moment in case anyone walked into his room, but when five minutes passed Ace pushed aside his shirts, crawled in, and closed the doors behind him. "Knock, knock." Ace said as he waited for the back of the wardrobe to open, revealing a slide that goes down to Chester's room.
"ACE!" Sebastian yelled as he threw the sheets over himself and Chester at the sudden appearance of the prince sliding out from the wall.
"WHY ARE YOU TWO DOING THIS AT SEVEN IN THE MORNING?!" Ace exclaimed as he quickly covered his eyes from the two lovers.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING USING THE SLIDE AT SEVEN IN THE MORNING!?" Sebastian yelled as Chester laughed covering his face with a pillow.
"Ace could you please go to Clara's room?" Chester asked as Ace quickly started to walk towards the door, only to run into the wall before uncovering his eyes and leaving.
"Cock blocker." Sebastian huffed as he and Chester got dressed. Ace carefully peeked his head out from the small corner that led to Chester's room and examined the basement to make sure there was no one there. Carefully he entered Clara's room who was meditating with Rhoma. Ace knew better to not interrupt so he sat patiently on Clara's bed as he breathed in the herbal scented room.
"Thank you for not interrupting Ace." Rhoma said as she helped Clara pack up their mats and crystals.
"Yeah, no problem. I understand how important meditating is for the both of you." Ace said as Clara looked at him with a smirk.
"You saw them doing it, again didn't you?" Clara asked.
"I just don't understand why they can't go to Sebastian's house and do it there!" Ace groaned as he held his head in his hands. One thing the wandering traveler should understand is that the kings of Findara are not 99.9% inhumane. King Frederick did not like how people sleeping on the streets in The Slums looked. When building the castle, he had the basement designed so it would house the homeless in return for labour (with the occasional outlier of a servant, gardener, guard, and other staff that was bought off of their parents when they were young).
"You know they would have a greater chance of getting caught that way, the guards living in The Slums are ruthless." Rhoma pointed out as Clara nodded her head. The Slums are mainly home for the guards and the King's favourites. It's been known that the guards in The Slums will hang anyone from the roof of their house if they have a slight suspicion of any witchcraft or homosexuals living there.
"Yeah, I should have known better." Ace said as Clara sat next to him.
"What are you doing here anyways?" Rhoma asked as she wore her uniform.
"I was going to ask Chester to tell the Defiance of a plan that I have for the next two weeks, but um obviously I was unable to. I might as well tell you now." Ace said as he watched Rhoma pull up a chair from a small vanity and sat in front of him. "There's an infiltrator in the Defiance, aside from Gracelyn. I'm not sure who but Kiki knows something is going on. If she can keep her mouth shut long enough from my father and no one steps out of line, then I believe we can hold out until Persephone and I are wedded." Ace stated as Clara busted out laughing.
"Sorry, I know this is serious. Persephone is a beautiful girl and all but she is not your type." She laughed as Rhoma tried her best to keep a stern look on her face.
"Obviously not! I'm gay and she's more loving towards women." Ace spatted out before realizing that is the first time he openly came out. He watched as Clara's and Rhoma's eyes widened before they looked at each other with a wide, toothy smile.
"Ahhh! Ace you finally said it!" Rhoma squealed, breaking from her serious, prenatal character to hug Ace. "I'm so happy you've finally come to terms with it. It's painful watching you admire the men training on the fields."
"Or how he admires the men from other kingdoms when they come visit." Clara added.
"Awe. Did I just miss him coming out to y'all?" Chester asked as he entered the room quietly.
"Wait you knew?" Rhoma and Clara asked at the same time.
"Of course! What's a bestie for if you can't tell them anything?" The red-head asked before throwing his arm around the prince and hugging him tightly, only to be pushed away.
"Can we please get back to the more serious, life threatening situation at hand?" Ace asked as the three rolled their eyes and focused their attention to Ace. "Thank you. Chester, I think Kiki knows something is going on. I need you three to please get the message out that we might be in danger and stay low."
"How do you know she suspects something?" Chester asked.
"She asked me to dance with her last night and she gave off some hints. I'm going to ask Beatrice if she can interrogate everyone. I have suspicion that Maddie and Mary Nita might be on father's side, though I don't have any concrete evidence." Ace sighed.
"Your intuition is usually spot on, so I think it would be best if we keep away from them." Clara said.
"And that's coming from a witch." Chester noted, making Ace smile.
"Awe come on." Ace flustered before going on to saying, "Speaking of witches and wizards, how did you not know Xavier is one?"
"Easy, we can choose to block ourselves out from sensing one another. It doesn't take much thinking to do so, but it helps out to block negative energy and any curses to be casted upon us. I've suspected he was one since he has looked the same for the past twenty years. But then again I don't know how he's portraying himself to you." Clara answered.
"Portraying?" Chester asked as Ace shared the equivalent confusion.
"As you know there are levels of magic. Some are much easier to master than others depending on the strength of the person's soul. Some of us can only do one level of magic, such as healing or illusions, while others can do multiple levels like, elemental and weather manipulation. There is a 1% of witches and wizards that can master all levels including necromancy. Because illusionary is a basic skill, you can cast a spell to make yourself look different to others or if the person has a weak mind, you can cast a spell on them on how you look." Clara clarified. "Too much happened in one night honestly. I might go with Lilith next time to visit a very old friend."
"On the topic of friends, I should also add that Asterin is now our ally." Ace said changing the subject once more.
"Ally or lover?" Chester asked as he nudged Ace in the rib.
"Ew, never! He's for real not my type." Ace gagged as Clara and Rhoma looked at each for a brief moment.
"You're uptight." "He's laid back." "You're the brains." "He's the bronze." "You're serious." "He's playful." Clara and Rhoma exchanged.
"Plus, from what I learned from Leo Percy; he really hates Findara." Chester pointed out.
"Firstly, ouch! Secondly, Findara could have killed him."
"Speaking of kill, do they know about what might be going down on Caspian soon?" Rhoma asked.
"Got that covered!" Ace said as Chester smiled, putting both of his thumbs up. "I gave Chester a paper with an overview of the plans Father has planned."
"And I gave that paper to Leo Percy." Chester said.
"But if you were with Jack, why would you give the paper-" "I didn't know that I would be spending some time with him. I thought I was going to be stuck in the ballroom." Ace interrupted Rhoma before the door to Clara's room cracked open, revealing Sebastian.
"Hey, people are starting to wake up. You better be on your way Ace." He said as the group nodded their heads.
"Thank you Seb. I trust that you three will get the message across and if you have anything serious to tell me, then you know where to find me." Ace announced before following Sebastian back to Chester's room.
"The passages should really have a warning when someone is about to come through." Sebastian chuckled as Ace shook his head.
"So much for being discreet." Ace joked before heading over to the wall he slid right through and saying 'knock, knock' once again. This time a similar passage opened up, but with stairs leading up to his washroom instead of the wardrobe. His timing could have not been any better because as soon as Ace entered his washroom, king Oliver walked into the prince's room with Xavier and Kiki following close behind.
"Ace!?" Oliver called out for his son as he stared at the empty room. Quickly Ace grabbed his toothbrush and stared to brush his teeth before leaving the washroom, only to stare in shock as he saw Xavier and Kiki behind his dad. He tried to remain calm, hoping that Xavier didn't say anything. "There you are! Up bright and early like the hangover never hit!" Oliver said as Kiki quickly pushed the king to the side and walked over to Ace to give him a hug.
"Oh! It feels like just yesterday you were born and now you are about to marry soon!" Kiki cheered, leaving Ace much confused.
"Lady Kiki, leave the boy to finish grooming himself. We can talk to him out here." Oliver demanded as Kiki let Ace go and watched him enter the washroom. There are always many thoughts racing around in the mind of Ace when he's by his father. 𝘖𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸. 1. 𝘟𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘬𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘩𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨. 2. 𝘟𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦. 3. 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯. Ace thought as he entered his room once again.
"I'll be leaving here in a moment to talk with the Elites and Xavier will be briefing you on today's itinerary, but I just want to say how proud I am of you!" Oliver said leaving Ace even more confused. "Look at that Kiki! The boy was so drunk he didn't even know what he did." Oliver laughed as Kiki joined him.
"You announced your engagement to Lady Persephone last night! All those poor girls that came from the neighboring kingdoms, only to find out that you are marrying your childhood best friend." Kiki smiled.
"Wow, I must have been really drunk." Ace chuckled as Oliver patted Ace in the back.
"I still believe you should have married Durgon's princess to tighten our trading affairs, but I think you should have a saying in who you marry." Oliver smiled.
"Thank you, father." Ace said formally.
"Speaking of Durgon, have you seen the advisor of Durgon? He apparently never returned to the kingdom." Oliver questioned as he and Kiki headed towards the door.
"Maybe I wasn't the only one that had too much to drink?" Ace joked, but no one laughed.
"Do not be late for tea time today." Was the last thing Oliver said before turning his back towards Ace and leaving the room.
"Nice joke there, bet I gave you a fright? Just seeing Kiki and I enter the room with Oliver?" Xavier asked as he twirled his pointer finger so the doors to the room would close and the balcony door would open, this allowed the chilling October morning air to enter the room.
"What do you want?" Ace asked coldly.
"Hey you should thank me!" Xavier said.
"And for what?! You work with my father!" Ace mentioned.
"Nuh uh uh! I work for your father to save myself." The wizard corrected the prince.
"Wait what?" Ace asked as Xavier shook his head.
"Oh Ace, Ace, Ace. You should really start trusting me more. When I was much younger and naïve, I stumbled upon your father. I told him I would serve him, in return for my safety. I signed a blood contract with him stating that none of my magic could harm him." Xavier sighed as he walked out to the balcony to see Silver City opening up for the day, Ace followed closely behind.
"I will trust you once you've earned it." Ace said breaking the silence. He didn't know what the wizard was truly planning on. He didn't even know if the wizard could be fully trusted. As a matter of fact, Ace didn't know anything about Xavier. As far as he knows, Xavier is at Oliver's command.
"Listen I know you don't. Especially with what I know about you, the Defiance, Asterin, and when your friend's go missing for the Burnings or punishments. But I promise, that's not me behind all of that." Xavier said looking over to Ace who was just watching over Silver City.
"If not you then who?" Ace asked uninterested with Xavier by the passing minute.
"That's information I am unable to-" "Say? Disclose? Sounds like an excuse. Xavier, I've lost way too many that I love. People who I promised that they can live a free life to do whatever and love whoever. A life where they can dress however they please and believe in whatever they want. I promised a life where they can be themselves. If I can't do it for the ones that are dead, then I will do it for the ones that are alive. Please just stay out of the way, my trust to you might never come. When it does you will know. For now, stop trying to make small talk, tell me what's going on today, and please get out." Ace demanded with fire in his eyes. Xavier watched as the fire in his eyes grew with passion, love, dedication, and fear. The wizard knew that the prince doesn't do this for himself. If he did, then Ace would have been out a long time ago.
"Very well." Xavier said as he told Ace the itinerary for the day. The two weeks that followed were not any easier. Ace continued to send messages to Jack where he found out more about the coven in the forest and how the people at Asterin are like. Asterin was a type of kingdom Ace wanted to live in. Hearing about how the ceilings in the Asterian castle was replaced with clouds just sounded ridiculous to the white-haired prince. It got even more ridiculous to Ace when he found out that the fairies lived in there too. Ace wrote to Jack how unbearably hot it can get in Findara and thought how the fairies would love to live there instead. Jack wrote back laughing at the suggestion saying how the fairies prefer the colder climate Asterin offers and how fast they would die in Findara if Oliver had caught them. Ace found out that Jack's mother had also passed away. The flu that swept throughout the nation, killing up to 25 million lives, had also taken the life of Jack's mother. Ace was surprised to see how much they really had in common. The letters from Jack were starting to become the only thing Ace was looking forward to everyday, aside from his meetings with Persephone.
Everything in Findara has grown stricter, according to Clara this was normal around huge occasions. It was annoying for Ace. It made talking to Chester alone harder, seeing the Defiance harder, making sure everyone is okay harder, and finding out the spy in the Defiance harder. He wondered if Beatrice was able to get information from the people she has interrogated so far, but Ace would assume not much information. The only information that Ace managed to find out is what happened to Durgon's advisor. Apparently one of Jack's friends had some business with him, again Ace assumed the worst. It didn't take long for the preparations for the 'wedding' to happen, which also made communication harder. The only time Ace got alone with anyone was with the priest going through Findara's wedding rituals and traditions for the groom. For eight out of the twenty-four hours a day Ace had to go through this. Walking down the aisle in a certain way, having to memorize the vows he will never mean, learning to dance the Findarian Waltz, and memorizing the prayer of safety from the curse.
The prince wanted so desperately to just drill the rosemary hanging loosely around the priest's neck into his eyes. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘦. Ace continuously repeated in his head as a motivation to help him throughout his day. At night when he was completely alone and waiting for his nightly letter from the Asterin prince, Ace would write down a detailed letter and give it to Persephone the next time he saw her so she could share it with the Defiance. This helped spread information, plan out events, and keep everyone at bay. Since there were no meetings happening the spy couldn't get accurate information about when people were leaving the kingdom or about their practices, therefore no one was being burned or punished.
Yet the fear of the Defiance being killed off still lingered at the back of his brain. Overthrowing Oliver after the coronation, during the wedding, was not a simple task at all, thinking of all the possibilities made Ace sick. There are too many of them, close minded and brain washed subjects of King Oliver. The week before the wedding Ace immediately thought of a plan. He wrote to Jack and Persephone of all the plan had consisted:
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆'𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒓𝒖𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑭𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒂'𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒋𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒈𝒖𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒔, 𝑺𝒊𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝑪𝒊𝒕𝒚, 𝒐𝒓 𝒈𝒖𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒍𝒆. 𝑫𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑫𝒆𝒇𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑨𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒊𝒏. 𝑨𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒍𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒗𝒐𝒘𝒔. 𝑫𝑶 𝑵𝑶𝑻 𝑫𝑹𝑰𝑵𝑲 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑾𝑰𝑵𝑬!!!
That was the plan. Plain and simple, right? Oh, but how the universe loves playing mind tricks. The night before the wedding, Ace thought about going to see the Defiance to make sure that everything was okay and that they understood the plan. Ace wrote a thank you letter to Jack that night, along with "I can't wait to see you soon.". In the short time of writing all those letters, Ace had grown a feeling for Jack. It was weird to feel his stomach do flips when he thought of Jack's sharp eyes. Ace smiled as he watched the fairies eat a cupcake, he had saved for them before they returned to their home. Little did he know that Xavier was under an invisibility spell with Felicity, Maddie, and King Oliver on the balcony watching his every move. They four watched as Ace crawled into his wardrobe and disappeared.
"See! Maddie, Gracelyn, Mary, and I told you he was the leader." Felicity smirked as Oliver walked into Ace's room and opened the wardrobe to see nothing but Ace's clothes in there. Oliver stood there in shock.
"That little brat." Oliver spat through his teeth. Earlier that day Gracelyn had caught Clara maintaining the mysterious greenroom. Clara pleaded with her to not say anything and that in return she would offer her anything she wanted. Gracelyn looked at her with a blank face, not a single look of remorse or sympathy on her face. The pale servant simply walked up to the witch and blew a black power into her face, instantly making Clara fall unconscious. Gracelyn dragged the witch by her feet to the Elites room, making sure to inflict as many injuries as she could. She hoped that by finally tuning in a witch herself to Kiki as a gift she could finally win her love and affection. Kiki was very satisfied with this and instructed a meeting with Oliver's secret force as soon as possible.
Together Felicity, Mary Nita, Maddie, and Gracelyn told King Oliver everything they know about what they knew about the Defiance. King Oliver thought that having Ace kill them would be a great opportunity to show the kingdom that he will be a fearless leader, but that was up until Maddie said "Ace is the leader of the Defiance." King Oliver did not want to believe this was true at all. He knew Ace was soft and sensitive, but not because he was their leader. Xavier wanted so badly to rewrite Oliver's memories, but due to the contract he could not. There wasn't enough time to warn Ace or tell anyone he assumed was in the Defiance, because by the time Xavier gave up hope on warning them the group was in the basement where it was empty. The guards were in the middle of shift change and a lot of the castle staff were doing the final preparation for what was supposed to be the wedding tomorrow.
"They're this way." Mary Nita said, leading the group to a door that led to the pathway where Aceline was buried. In that moment, the laughter of the group died down to absolute silence as Ace stood there wide-eyed staring at Oliver.
"RUN!" Ace ordered.