"You are almost late." Sydney hissed as soon as he made it to the castle gates.
"I'm sorry. I was… Preoccupied." Adrian apologized. Images of that girl buzzed around like hornets inside his skull.
"Leaders have no use for excuses, Adrian." She reminded. He didn't even put up the pretense of listening, he was too busy replaying his final confrontation with the mystery girl in his head. She seemed so familiar. He could read the nameless conflicting emotions on her face as easily as his own, fear, surprise, desperation,, excitement, sadness, all veiled by a thick layer of guilt and regret. She was still consuming his thoughts when his father's caravan arrived and Sydney hissed at him to kneel.
He could feel his father's presence before he saw him. The king was a very cold man, especially to his own children. Tall, powerfully built, and imposing, he was a strong leader, and normally wore the Kingstone, the symbol of his reign, in plain sight around his neck to show off that fact. The kingstone was an ancient magical focus gemstone, white, shiny, bigger than a person's fist hand suspiciously absent from his neck.
"Did you have an enjoyable trip, father?" Sydney asked.
"Son, I am cancelling your ascension to the throne. You are not ready for the responsibility of being king yet." King Allaris told them.
"But father!" Adrian explained, standing in indignation. He was relieved that he wouldn't get the throne and all the responsibilities that came with it yet, but he had a bad feeling that there was more to it than just his father's decision.
"That is exactly why you are not ready to be king! You have no self-control!" His father shouted.
"I understand, father, but you promised to step down once I cemented our alliance with the kingdom of Sennil during this tip. Going back on your promise sets a bad precedent." He told his father. Inside, he wondered why he was trying to persuade his father to give him a throne that he didn't even want.
"I am the king, so the decisions are mine to make. You will still marry the Sennil princess in order to cement the alliance between Sennil and Uriah, and then you will return to Ortain as planned. You will simply not touch the Kingstone or assume any kingly duties until I decide that you are ready." The Sennil princess was a beautiful young woman named Amanda Salila who had been betrothed to Adrian since birth. Amanda and Adrian were close friends. So close, in fact, that they had both agreed to annul their betrothal at the age of seven. They had gone through a ritual with witnesses that had all been sworn to secrecy until the real wedding, which the ritual would make null and void by Sennil laws. Tomorrow, they were supposed to get married directly after she was crowned. The idea was that she would get crowned, declare her support to Adrian, whom she would not be marrying, but would stay close friends with. That would officially cement their alliance, at least for the foreseeable future, and fulfilling the requirement for Adrian to take Uriah's throne as soon as he returned to Ortain.
"Father, that is not fair! Adrian is more than ready for coronation!" Sydney exclaimed.
"You dare to argue with me?"
"No, father." She trained her gaze to the ground again.
"I thought not. Now leave my sight at once. You are to be in Sennil by nightfall." There were no arguments to be had. They left Ortain by carriage within the hour. They arrived in Sennil's capital city by nightfall, due to a spell that Jasper had placed on the horses before announcing his decision to stay in Ortain. They never made it to Castle Sennil, though. Upon entering the Sennil City gates, one of their horses collapsed, a dagger appearing in its side. When the driver got out to her help, another dagger appeared, this time in his shoulder. He fell without even a scream. Adrian quickly traced the daggers' paths and caught the flash of a familiar white shirt as the killer fled. Without thinking, Adrian tore after them. He could hear Sydney follow him, but he focused all of his attention on following fleeting glimpses of a white tunic. Finally, he saw them disappear into a poorly hidden teleportation portal similar to the pool in Ortain. He jumped into it behind them before it closed.
When he emerged from the portal, it was dark. He could barely make out the room he had emerged into. After a moment, he heard Sydney stumble through the portal behind him. Before they could really get their bearings, they were grabbed. He felt his word get taken and he was shoved to the ground. Then, he heard a boy's voice.
"Lock them up. With both them and the Kingstone in our hands, Uriah's king will be weakened beyond recovery." The pieces fit into place. They had stolen the Stone and lured them into a trap, and Adrian had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker.
They were forced through a corridor and outside at sword point. Their eyes adjusted as they marched. When they got outside, Adrian rushed a glance at their captors. Two were holding daggers to his and Sydney's throats, and a third one that was a smaller man following them with a ridiculously oversized metal club that looked to be much too heavy for the average giant to wield. Adrian didn't care about those three. He mentally marked the fourth person, a seasoned looking warrior carrying his Whiteblood sword. Each of them wore black armor with a red rose engraved into the breastplate. The one holding the blade to Adrian's neck nicked him as a warning. They were stopped halfway across the courtyard by a gorgeous girl Adrian's age with red eyes, wearing a white dress and swinging a sword that reminded him of his Whiteblood, except with an ebony black blade, and a blue focus gem in the hilt instead of a white blade and red gem.
She swung her sword casually, but with an expert grace, as if she knew how to wield it like nobody else could, but was masking it with indifference to make herself seem more innocent.
"Where are you going with those two?" She asked, lazily chopping the air less than an inch from knight no. 4's throat.
"Rose Princess!" He exclaimed, dropping to his knees in terror.
"To your knees!" The guy with the club didn't give them a chance to obey. Instead, he slammed his club into the back of their knees, knocking them both onto their butts. In a flash, there was a black blade at Club's throat.
"Normally, I would have your head for giving an order in my presence." She lowered her sword, finally noticing Adrian's sword in the clutches of knight number 4. She immediately snatched it, "But… my new sword has put me in a good mood."
"Hey! That's mine!" Adrian's outburst was rewarded with a club to the chest. His rib felt like it broke on contact.
"I will spare your lives, but remember to tell my father about them. He will not be so forgiving." She informed them.
"Of course, Princess Hecate."
"Pick them up." She ordered. They were forced to their feet roughly. She stared into their eyes, Sydney's first, then lingering on Adrian's. He forced himself to hold eye contact, despite the burning in his ribs and the terrifying coldness in her gaze. After a moment of eye contact, he noticed something familiar in her eyes, something that spoke to him, but he couldn't quite place it.
"And don't make them too uncomfortable." She ordered sarcastically, walking away with a mischievous smirk.
A moment later, Club called out "Understood!" And slammed his fist into Adrian's stomach.
"Dumb brute." Sydney muttered under her breath. They rewarded Adrian for her muttering with another fist to the gut, which didn't seem fair, but it would have been stupid to complain.