He started pacing back and forth, trying to strategize in his mind how they would discredit any information that would reach Castle Gold. "Under no circumstances could they find out any information that would lead them to Christopher." He mumbled to himself.

"Iris, could you talk to Maister and IT immediately please? We need to contain this fast." Joas said as he passed his hand through his dark blue hair.

"I'm on it," she replied and started to make her way towards the wall of the room.

"If I am correct Evelthon will want to check the situation by himself. He trusts Annalise intelligence information but as he always said seeing is believing."

Iris touched the wall with both her hands trying to call IT to come to her.

"Come on IT, this is not the time to hide," she whispered to the wall. She waited a bit longer keeping her hands pressed on the wall. IT was not responding to her. "Come on," she hissed under her breath, "come, we need to talk."

She placed the side of her face against the wall and waited for IT to decide to show up. She was always a strong defender of IT's independence and freedom of movement but right now she was starting to reconsider her stance on the matter. Ten minutes had passed and IT did not show up. Time was running out. IT would find her when IT wanted.

"I'm going to find Zanti. IT is not unresponsive," she said with a sigh.

"It's a good thing that you are friends," Joas said ironically.

She stuck her tongue out towards him and turned her back to him. She left the room and made her way towards Maister's chambers, Zanti could cast a temporary disguise spell on the flora surrounding the castle.

Joas watched as Iris, his Queen, gracefully left the room in search for Maister. They had fought together for so many years that sometimes he treated her like a fellow soldier forgetting that she was his Queen. 

The knock on the door broke his train of thoughts, he had to deal with the situation at hand. He looked up and saw Madelin standing at the entrance, her eyes locked with his.

"Come in," he said.

She stepped hesitantly inside the room as if assessing his mood. Her hands wrapped in front of her waist and her shoulders slightly slumped. She was obviously disappointed with herself. Joas knew that Madelin was harder on herself than anyone else in Silyn. He wasn't going to shout at her because she was already beating herself up for what happened.

"I assume you heard about the breach of security by Annalise." He paused for a second until she gave him a positive nod with her head. "The Queen and I are taking steps to rectify the situation. What I need from you are two things. One, I need to know how she managed to get so close to the barrack undetected. Two, I need you to double your surveillance to make sure it doesn't happen again."

"Yes sir. I am not sure how she managed to avoid our surveillance but I will find out shortly," she said as she took a few steps backwards.

"Annalise is one of the strongest spies Castle Gold has and she used to be part of Silyn for one hundred years before the breakup of the Kingdom. We need to make sure that we don't have any other weak spots that we are not aware of," he informed her.

"Yes Joas, I'll get right on it."

"Madelin..."

"Yes?" She replied in a small voice.

"Don't let this get you down. I need you at your fiercest self if we are to succeed. Can I depend on you?" He moved in front of her, he touched her chin to make her look at him. "Can I depend on you?" He repeated.

"Yes sir," she said with confidence.

"Good, now get to work magister," he said with an encouraging tone in his voice.

She smiled softly at him and left the room with an assertive spring in her step. Joas was certain she would get the job done over and above his and anyone elses' expectations.

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Hi everyone,

Another chapter that I really hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed writing.

Don't forget to comment and vote!!!

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