Thia and Jen jumped away from each other as Kai and Cinder walked into the cell.

"What is going on in here?" Kai asked. Thia's parents looked very angry.

"I was just, um, interrogating the prisoner," Thia said quickly.

"That's not what it looked like." Cinder knew she was lying. A quick glance at Kai let him know that she was not telling the truth.

Thia slapped her forehead. She should have remembered that she couldn't lie to her mother.

"Thia, why don't you come with us right now. I think your interrogation can wait." The way her mother said it made it sound like she didn't have an option.

Thia nodded, unable to speak. As she followed her parents out the door, she glanced back at Jen and mouthed I'm sorry.

Love you, he replied with a wink. His response made her face turn redder than it already was as she followed her parents out of Jen's cell and back into the main palace.

She was dreading the conversation that was to come.

---

"Have a seat," Kai said and gestured to one of the couches.

"No, thank you. You're standing so I'll stand," Thia replied coldly.

Her father ran a hand through his dark hair and sat down, Cinder sitting a second after him. Thia remained standing.

"You're not going to make this easy, are you," her father remarked.

"Nope."

"When did you become so difficult?" her mother wondered. "You were always such a nice little girl."

"Well, I'm not a little girl anymore," she snapped, sick of being treated like a baby.

"We're well aware of that, Thia," Kai said softly.

"No, you clearly aren't!" she shouted. "You keep treating me like I'm some scatterbrained little kid and I'm sick of it!"

"Thia, please. Can we have a civil conversation? Sit down. No yelling. And let's talk." Her mother looked exhausted and Thia felt a pang of regret for yelling at them.

"Fine." She sat down on the couch opposite them and crossed her arms. "What do you want?"

Her father let out a breath. "We would like to talk about what we saw. Would you care to explain it to us?"

"There's nothing to explain. You saw it and there's no use lying when Mom's got a computer in her brain," Thia replied, her tone still a bit harsh.

"You do realize that he is a bad guy, right?" Cinder asked.

"No, really?" she deadpanned.

"Thia, please," her father begged.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

"I don't know what spell that boy has on you, but I don't like what's going on between the two of you," her mother continued. "He could be responsible for the letumosis outbreaks."

Thia jumped up from her seat. "It's not him! It's Daeva! She outright said it back in the tunnels! She and whoever she is working with are the ones who are doing this. She kidnapped Jen and threatened him."

"What did she threaten him with?" her father wondered.

She felt her face turn red. "She said that if he didn't go with her, she would kill me." She took a deep breath and continued. "So, he kissed me and went with her." She was sure that her face was flaming by this point, but she kept talking. "He went with her to protect me, don't you get it? He-" her voice broke. "He actually cares about me, and I care about him."

After that confession, Thia broke down in tears. She buried her face in her hands as her parents came to her side and wrapped their arms around her.

She sniffled and wiped her eyes. "I'm sorry. I don't know why I'm crying."

"It's okay, Thia," Cinder said comfortingly.

"I'm sorry we were mad at you," Kai said. "We can tell that you really lik- uh, trust this boy, so we'll try to trust him too. But please, until we can prove his innocence, try to keep your distance. We don't know everything about him yet."

"Okay," Thia agreed, standing up. "I'm going to go get some fresh air." She was halfway out the door before she turned back and said, "By the way, his parents are Luan and Mona, Daeva is his older sister, Aimery Park is his half-brother, he's fourteen years old, and if you couldn't guess by now, Park is his last name."

---

"So," Rikan said, a mischievous glint in his eye. "I assume you went to see the Trickster."

Thia rolled her eyes. "Yes. And he's not a trickster, certainly not the Trickster. I have no idea where you came up with that name."

He shrugged. "What did you guys talk about?"

"Nothing really."

"Sure." He raised an eyebrow. "What did you guys do?"

"Nothing, Rikan." She felt her cheeks heat up.

He scooted closer and raised both eyebrows.

"We talked and then he kissed me," Thia mumbled, giving up easily. She knew that she couldn't hide anything from her twin.

Rikan shouted, "I knew it!"

"Not so loud!" she hissed. "All of Luna doesn't need to know."

He ignored her. "Did you know that Kinney is going to propose to Aunt Iko?"

"Oh my stars!" she exclaimed. "I had no idea! I'm going to ask him about it." She got up and then paused. "Wait, how did you know?"

He grinned and winked. "I have my ways."

"Who would have thought that genius Prince Rikan knew all the gossip? Maybe I should start calling you the Trickster."

Thia didn't wait for his response. Instead, she raced to her parents' room where she knew Kinney would be standing guard outside.

"Is it true that you're going to propose to Aunt Iko?" she asked once she caught her breath.

"Hush! Who told you that?" Kinney asked.

"Rikan," she confessed.

"Please don't tell anyone," he said. "It's supposed to be a surprise. I'm planning to do it on..." He trailed off as he realized that he was talking to a thirteen-year-old girl. "You are so easy to talk to, you know? Just like your mother."

Thia bristled at the mention of her mother. She was still hurt from their discussion earlier and she didn't like being compared to her parents. "I am my own person, thank you very much."

He flushed at her angry tone. "Sorry."

Just then, Iko came by. "Hey, Thia!" she called, walking over to where they were standing. Thia gave her aunt a hug. "How's it going?" She noticed the expression on her face and asked, "Has Kinney been giving you trouble? You know that I'd be more than happy to put him in his place." She winked.

"Oh, no, it's all okay," Thia replied. "He was just comparing me to my mother again."

Iko frowned sympathetically. "I know how much you hate being in their shadow, but Cinder is a great person to be compared to. That is, if you're being compared in a good way."

She sighed. "I know. But it's like you said. I hate being in their shadow. Anyways, I'd better get going. Bye!"

Thia knew her exit was a little sudden, but she wanted to give the couple some time alone.

Maybe she would go visit Jen again.

A/N:

Hello again! Two chapters in one day with Kiko and Jia. I really do spoil you guys! Just kidding, lol. I make up for it in devastatingly mysterious cliffhangers. *evil laugh*

So, sorry that this chapter was kind of boring, but it was necessary to move the plot along.  Don't worry though. The next chapter will be much more fun. (I hope it will be. I haven't actually started writing it yet...) I'm not sure if I did a good job of portraying Kai and Cinder as well as Kinney and Iko. I would assume that they change a bit because they are older and [Kai and Cinder] have kids. I don't know when I'll get Chapter 15 out, but hopefully within the next couple of days.

By the way, this chapter partially explains the title. Also, to all my Keeper of the Lost Cities fan-siblings, did you catch my that boy reference? 😉 In case you were wondering, I don't like Keefe... But I'm not going to start ranting about that right now because if I did, I would never stop. Just so you know, I liked him in the first couple of books, but then he started making really bad decisions so, yeah. Anyways, enough about Keeper (but if you want to talk about it more, I'm more than happy to, just not in here).

Wow, this author's note is quite a bit longer than normal. I guess I just had a lot to say. 😁 So, I'm going to wrap it up with this: KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES IS MY FAVORITE BOOK SERIES (TLC is tied with it) AND I AM A VERY BIG FITZPHIE SHIPPER (if my username didn't give it away already) SO PLEASE TALK TO ME ABOUT KEEPER.

Also, I have a question: Are you the biggest reader you know? For me, that is yes. I don't know a single person who reads and loves reading more than I do. Reading is life and reading is freedom.

Okay, I got sidetracked a little bit... fine, maybe more than a little bit. By now, this is definitely the longest author's not I have ever written. So I'm just going to end it right now.

Thank you for reading my story!! I really appreciate it!!

~Bookworm 😜