* EMBER ELLIOT ELYSIAN *

Keith was the first one to react after I explained everything that happened with Erin. "She left?" he asked, frowning so deep, his frown almost seemed like a natural part of his face. "Why? When? What did you do?"

I hesitated, wondering what to say and decided to go for the truth. "She found out that my powers are sealed in her. She thinks I lied to her and I got her here so I can take back my powers from her,"

"She thinks you used her?" Zenix said, raising an eyebrow.

I nodded hesitantly.

"I told you!" Keith almost raised his voice, running a hand through his white locks of hair. "I told you to tell her the truth! This was a big thing, she deserved to know the truth more than anyone!"

"The former queen transferred your powers to her, erased her memories, orphaned her and then kicked her into another world -- I would be mad, too," Ilayna sighed, shaking her head and the more I listened to my friends, the more I realised that I'd messed up really really bad.

"I wanted to tell her everything after I stopped the wedding. I never intended to hide anything from her," I said, but the words seemed empty because she was gone and now I stood among my friends with my weeping heart.

"Well, tell that to her!" Keith said, his voice harsh and quick. "We don't even know anything about your portal yet. We don't even know if it's going to work the next time you try to open it. We don't even know how much energy it takes from you," he pointed out, now pacing around the room.

"Well?" Zenix looked at me, his Hazel eyes stern and lacking warmth. "What are you going to do now?"

"I don't know," I said honestly, my voice cracking as I said those words. "I don't know at all,"

Keith's shoulder slumped, his eyes softening but he said nothing. He knew I was the wrong one and he wouldn't support me for that, he would say no words of comfort because he'd warned me, many times, but I paid no heed.

"I wanted to wait and finish the current conflict but I don't know if I have that much of patience. I want to go there now. I want to open the portal now and it doesn't matter if it doesn't work – I will just keep trying. I want to go to her," I expressed, my chest heaving up and down frantically as my mind flashed images of Erin being upset because of me.

"Going there now would be foolish and irrational," Zenix pointed out, giving me a long look. "We can't trust your portal creations. Not yet. It's still unreliable,"

"I agree with him," Keith joined. "We don't know for sure how is it going to be. What if you can go now but then you can't come back? The whole kingdom will go berserk if you go missing even for a few hours,"

"What do I do, then?" My voice sounded desperate, and I hated that and what I hated the most was that all of this wasn't like me at all. I always knew what to do whenever we had a conflict, I was always the first one to come up with a solution and I knew the solution to this as well but I didn't want to accept it. I didn't want to wait. I didn't want to wait for two days while Erin would spend her time thinking I used her when that was far from any truth.

"Wait," Ilayna finally spoke, her eyes gentle and full of empathy. "I see no other way. After cancelling the wedding, make the portal and go there."

"And what if she doesn't listen to me? She won't even look at me," I mumbled the last part, my heart tugging at the thought of Erin not being able bear my sight, it shattered me. No amount of father's reprimands and mocks could ever compare to the pain I felt when Erin looked away to hide her tears caused by me.

"You have your way with words," Zenix walked up to me. "You will come up with something. You got this," he gripped my shoulder, shaking it slightly as I saw my other two friends nodding but they didn't know I never had my way with words with Erin -- it just didn't happen with her, no matter how much I tried. I always ended up speaking my heart with her.

I simply nodded.

***

Every second was killing me with impatience.

Yesterday ended later than I expected, I didn't get a wink of sleep last night due to planning the destruction of my wedding and thinking about Erin and thinking what she might be thinking of me and what she might be feeling right now and how she was probably hating me right now while my heart was wrenching to go to her and tell her the truth and tell her that nothing matters to me except her and—

"Ember," my eyes widened, my breath caught in my throat as I looked up to see Ace, looking at me kindly and shaking my head, I realised that I was now at the amphitheater where Ilayna was taking her trials. I shook my head again, thinking that was helping me to come to my sense as I took in the scenery in front of me. I noted the fact that I was at the amphitheater again, just to be sure, as I looked around and saw more people making their way to the grandstand and taking seats, most people from the palace.

The amphitheater was one of the largest spaces of Elysia, the whole area of stairs went as high as they could and if you were to sit at the bottom, you'd never be able to guess where the stage even ended. The middle part of the coliseum was surrounded by guards and soldiers as we, the royal family was to be sat there — father and my step-mother being sat in the middle, Ace by father's side while me and Ira would be in the back.

Ace being here meant Ilayna had already passed the first two trials, and was now preparing for the final trial, hence the sudden expansion of people while I was dozing off and didn't see anything my friend did.

Ace took a seat, craning his head and facing me as I noticed his hair falling back, his eyes sharp. "You spent the whole night worrying, didn't you?" he sighed and I suddenly remembered I had told Ace what happened with Erin before going to bed last night.

I said nothing and only dropped my head in my hands, grabbing my unauthentic hair and letting out a sigh of helplessness. "She's been gone for only a day and I'm already losing my mind. I didn't even realise when the second trial ended," I looked at the field, Ilayna's short figure exasperated after going through the two trials as she drank an entire mug of water from one of the servants. I couldn't see much but I did see her fake hair being all messy as she untied her hair and then tied it again.

"You think she no longer wants to see you?" Ace asked, but I could sense some tease in his tone, making me confused.

"I think she hates me," I said truthfully, watching more advisors and generals making their way in the amphitheatre and taking seats by the king's empty spot, even though it was pretty far away.

"Amber's not that type. She's just really mad at you but I don't think she can ever hate you," he said and it was that moment I thanked the gods for blessing me with a brother like Ace. Ira might have spent half of his childhood abusing and belittling me but Ace always tried to be my side, albeit we barely talked due to him always being busy with the council.

"Your wedding is tomorrow. I don't know what stunt you're going to pull, but every plan you make always works so this will, too," Ace said, now smiling at me. "After stopping it, go to the meadow, make the portal and go to her,"

"I'm scared," I confessed and I realised that was the first time I ever said that I was scared. I was never scared, not when I was nearly killed several times, not when I made the portals, not when I was facing death in my childhood -- I was never scared but I was scared now -- I was scared of losing Erin and never being able to tell her how I truly felt about her, I was scared of her not looking at me ever again, I was scared of her ousting me from her heart while mine was all full of her, I was scared she'd never be able to forgive me, I was scared-

"Hey, Ember, listen to me," I didn't even realise my own heart racing, my thoughts swirling with thoughts of Erin as I looked at my brother and his kind eyes.

I didn't let him speak. "What if she—"

"What if she forgives you?" he said, his voice low, as always and never once raised.

I swallowed, not knowing what to say because I had never thought of it that way. I always thought she'd never even look at me but what if she did? What if she paid heed to me? What if she gave me a chance to explain myself? A sudden hope bloomed inside me as I took a deep breath -- yes, I would try and I would keep trying because that is what I have been doing all my life. I try, lose and then try again. "That is all I could ever wish for," I finally said.

Ace patted my shoulder, giving me a small smile and I voiced out my thoughts before he could look at the front. "I heard your conversation with father yesterday," I said, waiting for his reaction.

His eyebrows raise high. "That was you?"

"You knew there was someone?" I asked, more baffled, my eyebrows knitted.

"You need to work on making your footsteps more lighter," he chuckled.

Embarrassment consumed me as I scratched my neck. "Father didn't hear anything, did he?"

"Father has always been bad with his hearing, and I'm sure it's worse at his current age," Ace shrugged casually and I noticed his formal attire: a white embroidered tailcoat that stretched till his calves, a white vest beneath, which fitted his body perfectly, several golden chains hanging low as they shined against the sunlight, accompanied by the golden brooches which were nearly illuminating due to the sun bathing them.

It was mandatory for crown princes to wear gloves all the time, but Ace didn't go by that rule but today he did -- I noticed his tight gloves, and the intricate details on them and the jewelled rings on them. I even noticed his scabbard, a sword sheathing there peacefully — the sword which father used when he took over Elysia -- the sword which will be given to Ace's heirs when they came of age. Ace dressing up this formally meant only one thing: he'd failed to convince father.

"How did it go? The talk with father?" I asked, my eyes landing on the crest secured loosely in the right side of his vest, a carved eagle with golden details as sunlight reflected on it.

Ace's smile dropped. "Not well. He didn't agree at all but that doesn't mean I will stop trying,"

I bobbed my head. "Why don't you want to take the throne? You'd make the best king Elysia could ever have,"

Ace laughed, earning a few giggles from across the amphitheater where women were staring at him, sighing every time his head fell back due to his light laugh.

"I'm serious," I said, raising an eyebrow. "Father is a good king -- he took care of this kingdom better than any Elysian that has ever ruled. But with you in it?" I imagined my brother on the throne, and it warmed my heart because he deserved all of it -- he prepared his whole life for this. "Elysia will flourish, Ace. With you as its ruler."

Ace said nothing for a while. "And you? What about Elysia with you as its ruler?" he asked, his eyes deep and waiting for an answer.

I swallowed, not knowing what to say. I'd always wanted to be a ruler -- since I was a child -- when I didn't even know what it meant to be ruler but I knew I wanted to make the world a better place, I knew I wanted to make a better place for the Ezèrian and everyone else. But I could not. And I wasn't so throne-thirsty that I would take away the throne from my brother, from the rightful heir to the throne. And that was why I never spoke about this selfish deep-buried desire of mine.

"Me?" I laughed now. "I'm an Ezèrian. And also not the crown prince. Father would rather destroy Elysia than make me the ruler of this land,"

"Do you know I always thought you were more fit to be the king more than me or father?" Ace said, lost in thoughts. "You have that in you. I've seen it since we were kids."

"It doesn't matter," I said, not wanting to talk more about this as if we did, I would have hope and hope only shattered me. "Father will make you king, whether you want it or not."

A few seconds passed and Ace didn't say anything. He only looked at the field where I could see Ilayna unsheathing her sword and blowing strikes at nothing, probably practising. Ace continued looking there, still lost in thoughts and then he spoke, and I could sense the determination in his voice, determination to win against father.

"We will see about that,"

I was about to speak again when a loud noise screeched in the air, making me cringe and realise it was the gong bell from the field and that only meant one thing:

The third trial was about to begin.

Ira was about to appear now.