Henry

"I've given you guys everything you need for the expedition, please be careful and look out for each other. Most importantly, find that flower." I said.

Alexander, Katerina, Jayden, Hazel, Ben, Matthew, Dave, And twenty other men stood in front of me, outside the castle.

I reiterated the mission. "Katerina, Alexander, these men will listen to you, lead them. Ben, you're captain of the guards for this mission. Matthew, Dave, you two are co-captains."

Matthew and Dave smiled.

"Thanks, Lord." Ben said.

I nodded.

"Travel as fast as possible, good luck."

Katerina gave me a hug. "I'm gonna miss you," She told me as we pulled away.

"I'm gonna miss both of you," Was my response. Alexander gave me a hug.

"Watch out for each other." I told them as we pulled away from the hug.

They nodded.

"Bye dad." Alexander said.

Katerina And Alexander got on their horses, then rode off.

As much as it pained me to see them go, they're grown now, they can handle it.

I waited till I couldn't see them anymore before returning back to my office. I went to the infirmary to check on Melanie.

Alexander

All 27 of us rode North towards Northumbria.

When my father asked Katerina and I to lead this mission, I was shocked but excited. But I didn't realize I would be sad about leaving until I did.

But he trusted us to lead, so it has to be done. It's the only way to save mom.

We rode for two hours, then took a break to water and feed the horses.

We tied our horses to a tree and tended to them.

"We should be in Northumbria in three days time, if we keep this pace." Jayden informed as he fed his horse.

I nodded as I fed my horse. "Sounds good."

"Every man stay where you are!" Ben yelled.

Katerina and I look at each other, confused.

"You! Lower your hood!" Ben pointed as he yelled.

Instead of obeying, the hooded person ran.

Ben, Matthew, and Dave ran after him.

The hooded person ran threw a pond of water, but that slowed him down, allowing Ben to get a hold of him.

Ben pulled the hood off revealing James himself.

"You can hurt me, I'm royalty!" James said as he flinched.

"What the fuck are you doing here!" Katerina exclaimed, furious.

"Didn't dad tell you to stay back?" I asked James, as I glared at him.

"He did. But I wanted to help." James replied, as he stood taller.

"He can't be here! We should send some guards to escort him back to the castle." Katerina said.

"I agree. But I don't it's worth it."

She crossed her arms and look down. "I guess he could stay then."

"Yes!" James said.

"Fucker got lucky." I mumbled.

Henry

At lunch it was just, Amber, Charles, and Aaron.

"Where's James?" I asked.

Amber shrugged her shoulders.

"He probably went on the expedition." Aaron replied.

"He wasn't suppose to. How did I miss this?" I mumbled.

"He just wants to help." Charles said.

"You knew he was leaving and you didn't think to say anything to me!" I asked, enraged.

"I just didn't think it was my business." Charles said.

I scoffed. "Yeah right."

"Calm down, there's nothing you can do about now, I'm sure they know that James is among them." Charles said.

"Who are you to tell me to calm down?" I inquired. He was really testing my patience. "Now I see it, you're too comfortable here. Well, you're not even suppose to be here in the first place."

"What are you going to do? Kick me out?" Charles questioned.

I smiled. "No, that would be ill-advised." I'm going to wait until I have prove that you tried to plot against the crown first. "You're free to stay here, but you don't belong here." I told him.

Charles just grimaced.

Fortis

"I just got news that the wolf king sent a group of men with, Alexander, Katerina, Jayden and Hazel in the direction of North." I mentioned.

"Traveling sounds fun." Maya said.

"I just wonder if they know what their looking for." I told them.

"I would hope so, or the trip would be pointless." Scarlett said.

"You're telling me they did some research yesterday and figured out where to go? I thought the research would take a few days at least."

"You calculated wrong then." Stephen said.

"Oh well, it's going to take them a week to get back to their castle anyways. If they're going where I think they are going." I smirked.

"Where do you think their going?" Stephen asked.

"Northumbria." I simply replied.

Scarlett rolled her eyes. "Of course you would know that. You and your stupid spies."

"My spies work effectively, yes?" I asked her.

"If you say they do,"

"They do, we wouldn't be where we are today without them." I replied.

True statement.

Katerina

Three days later we finally arrived in Nothumbria. We tied our horses to the trees and had Ben, Dave, Matthew and four other guards, guard the horses. Jayden showed us a picture of the Sugar Bellflower. It was yellow, almost golden like. It shouldn't be hard to spot. We split into groups of seven. Three groups would look and one group would guard the horses.

We spread out into the field.

"In a few hours, it will be dark outside so work fast." I warned the guards.

I remember the first night we had to rest I couldn't sleep. Eventually I had to get use to sleeping on the cot. I miss my bed.

"Hey guys!" James yelled. "I think I found one of the Sugar Bellflowers!"

We all run over to where he was all.

"Huh, I guess you are useful." Jayden said as he pat James on the back hard causing James to flinch.

"Thanks." He smiled.

"We should find a few more." Jayden said as he knelt down and picked the flowers. Then he sealed it in a bag.

We found four more Sugar Bellflowers before it got dark outside. We got on our horses and headed into the forest. We found a spot and decided to camp there.

"I was hoping we could've started traveling back south today, but it's dark outside, now." I told Alexander.

The sun had set.

The faster we got these flowers back to Mercia, the better chances my mom has of getting better.

"Right, but we're going to have to wait till tomorrow." He told me.

We ate dinner, then went to bed early.

A few days later we were back in Mercia. We arrived at the castle. We put our horses in the stables and headed to the infirmary.

"We have the sugar Bellflowers, is she still alive?" I asked the nurse and she nodded.

Jayden handed her the flowers, then we were told to leave the room. We would have to wait a few hours before we knew everything. I decided to take that time to unpack, take a shower, change clothes and take a quick nap.

After that Alexander, James and I met our father in his office.

"It's nice to see you all back." Henry said.

"It's nice to be back, dad." Alexander said.

"Katerina, Alexander, thank you both for leading the expedition successfully. Not only did you get the flowers, you also came back safely." He turned to James. "James, you deliberately disobeyed me. You we're suppose to stay here." Henry said.

"But, I'm the one who found the first Sugar Bellflower. That's gotta count for something?" He mentioned.

"It doesn't count because you weren't suppose to be there in the first place."

"Sorry, I just wanted to help." James said quietly.

"Ben was the one who discovered him. We knew he was there on the first day." Alexander said.

"I almost sent him with a few guards to go back to the castle, but Alexander told me it was pointless." I told Henry.

He nodded. "Thank you both for being responsible and getting the mission done. We'll have to wait a few hours until we know the results. Let's all head to lunch." Henry said to Alexander and I.

James just crossed his arms and glared.

"I don't know why you're looking for a thank you James, you weren't suppose to go in the first place." I told him.

"Dude you lost cool points for going." Alexander added with a snicker.

I chuckled and smiled.

Henry just shook his head and said nothing.

"Well, let's head to lunch." James said causally as he left the office.

The three of us followed him.

James

I'm furious! I deserve as much of a thank you as Katerina and Alexander got.

But they can't look past the fact that I wasn't suppose to be there in the first place.

I find it really hard to make my father proud. It's like he favors Alexander and Katerina more.

I haven't done anything as bad as they have done, but he still doesn't see how good of a son I am.

Katerina isn't an issue. It's Alexander who is.

First in line for the throne, first born. He's made more mistakes than I have and he still meets father's expectations.

It's alright though, I'm plotting. I'll make sure that throne is mine. Even though my father is aware of my plans to steal the throne. That won't stop me though.

We all sit down at the table. Amber, Charles and Aaron we're already there.

Henry

"You guys got the flowers to save Melanie, right?" Charles inquired.

"Yeah, we wouldn't have came back until we did." Katerina answered.

Charles smiled and nodded.

"I don't know why that's your concern though," I stated.

"I care about her." Charles replied.

"I'm sure you do." I gritted my teeth.

"He does, he couldn't turn her away when she showed up at his door about a week ago, trying to get information about my plans." James said. "But I'm sure she was doing it for a good cause. Was it fun drinking with Melanie, Charles?"

I gripped the table till my knuckles were white and gritted my teeth.

Why is he bringing this up?

I know I sent her, but I knew I could trust Melanie and that nothing would happen between them.

But hearing that they drank together, infuriates me.

Charles gave me a guilty look before answering. "I enjoyed her company and wouldn't mind drinking with her again."

I slammed my hand down on the table. "I hoped you enjoyed it because it will never happen again!" I yelled at Charles who seemed a bit taken aback.

"It's not like you drink with her, she told me that you rather drink in your office."

"I've realized. But I will make an effort to spend more time with her." I told Charles.

It was true, after she was poisoned I feared that I wouldn't be able to spend more time with her. So I made a promise if she got better and she should now that we've brought her the flowers, I'm going to spend more time with her and make her feel appreciated.

Even though it's been hard lately, with all this shit that been going on with the Westons. But I will find time for her.

Just then the nurse taking care of Melanie walked in. "I have some good news, Lord Henry. Lady Melanie is cured. The poison has left her body and she is in good health."

I smiled. That's so good to hear.

"Can we go see her?" James asked.

The nurse nodded. Then excused herself. Probably to go check up on Melanie again.

I got up from the table and headed to the infirmary.

Stephen

We all sat down for lunch. Earlier I noticed a carriage in front of the castle, meaning we have guest. But I wondered who was visiting us. I told Maya about it and she was just as clueless as I was.

"We'll have some guests joining us for lunch today. They should be joining us in a few." Fortis mentioned.

"I'm sure we we're all aware of carriage in the front of the castle." Scarlett replied flatly.

"I know you're mad at me Scarlett, but could you at least hide it in front of the guest?" Fortis requested.

"I'll try." She said with a fake smile.

"I think you and I need to have a talk later." Fortis suggested.

Scarlet rolled her eyes.

"Sorry we're late, we got lost on the way here and had to ask someone for directions." A guy with brown hair and brown eyes entered the room. Accompanied by a girl around my age with straight brown hair, and green eyes.

She had the same hair color and eye color as Katerina but her features we're different.

I glared at Fortis. "What the fuck is going on here?" I growled.

"You didn't tell Stephen here that he is to be betrothed to crystal?" The brown haired man with brown eyes asked Fortis.

Fortis smirked, shrugged then simply said. "He knows now."

I looked over at my mother, she was just as shocked as I was.

What the fuck is going on?

~Dominique