Kace Holland

The faint lights of dawn showered through the archive windows. I could barely hold my sinking eyes opened. Shutting the final box, I slid it back into its place and blew out the candle.

I stayed up for hours looking through these stupid boxes and found absolutely nothing. Lord Astley was surprisingly good at hiding his family's information. Maybe I shouldn't have assumed he was a sloth.

"Did you find anything?" Avaloryn asked, coming around from her section of the library.

Shaking my head, I leaned against the wall and pressed my fingers to my temples. Lord Astley... He was a sneaky bastard for making me meet with Rafe.

He wanted to play dirty. "Tell my guards to find Lord Astley and invite him to my palace for a meeting."

"Kace, this is hardly necessary."

"Do not argue with me right now." The more Avaloryn glared at me, the more I wanted to burn this place down. Her constant nagging was reaching a deep nerve and tested my patience.

Avaloryn scoffed, yanking a book from a desk. "Oh, by the way, you're pathetic for yelling at Princess Senna."

"She was out of line for weeks."

"She helped you," she muttered, now standing in front of me. "You wouldn't be thinking like this if it weren't for your father."

"You wouldn't be talking to me in that tone after hiding the fact my brother was alive for two years, Avaloryn. Let's not pretend like you're important to my decisions now."

Avaloryn furrowed her brows. Her pale face easily reddened as she said, "I had to protect Nick and you know it."

It didn't soften the blow, though. When Avaloryn came crawling back to the palace weeks ago, I almost had my guards throw her out. Had it not been for the stupid Amulet of Torth, I would've had her killed on the foyer.

"Believe whatever you want to," Avaloryn whispered as she turned and left the library.

With a sigh, I propped my head on my palms. Maybe I was lonely. Maybe I was helpless. Honestly, it was my fault for thinking anyone in this pathetic place could help me. They caused this. They couldn't fix this.

The right side of my body tightened. Before it could get worse, I popped my pill and sat straight.

Maybe Princess Senna was right that I was a broken boy. I wasn't poor; I had loads of money. 'Broken' was the right word to describe my head.

My thoughts have been swarmed by that insufferable woman since the day I saw her. Her sharp words, her careful demeanor, her sneakiness. She was the pinnacle of untrustworthy. Not to mention completely erratic and out of line entirely.

My heart pounded feverishly just thinking about that vixen. I needed her to stay away from me and my plans, and yet she muzzled her way into every. Single. One. God, as if Odaya wasn't bad enough, Princess Senna has managed to completely flip all of my planning and shred them.

Palms sweaty, I made my way through the corridors of the palace. Nothing was worse than someone who got in my way.

The guards who nodded their heads in my direction received a glare from me. Apparently a prince roaming around at dawn was an unusual sight for them, because they kept staring at me as I rounded the corridor.

Suddenly I understood why they were watching me. I stopped in front of the familiar door, cursing myself.

My mind had been so clouded that I was now standing in front of that vixen's door.

Was she asleep? I mentally slapped myself; of course she was asleep. Did she breathe fire when she slept? Did her body burn every time she thought of me like mine was right now? These Kandosians had ways of infuriating the world.

My mind did not cooperate well with my body. In the next second, I reached up and gently knocked the door. Insufferable vixen—fire-breathing vixen.

The door didn't open. Somehow, my ever-beating heart ached. How could someone beneath me have the audacity to not open the door, even if they were asleep?

Who cared, anyway? I was the prince of this country. If I wanted to open her door, I would open the door. If I wanted her to wake up, I'd wake her up with knives at her throat. She obeyed me whether she liked it or not.

God, there was something seriously wrong with me. She was sleeping. And what would I say if she opened the door? Everything that needed to be said was said.

With that in mind, I turned back, shoving my hands into my pockets.

Pathetic, pathetic, pathetic.

I didn't need to see her in real life when she already haunted my damned nightmares.

*~⚜️~*
Senna Aldorban

I jeered the door open. The knock was soft; probably the wind from the opened windows. Giving a quick glance around, all I spotted was an abnormally tall blond turn the corridor. Probably one of the many guards Kace assigned to this wing because of me.

Clicking the door shut, I continued flipping through the box. Thankfully the archives had been accessible to me, so I was able to take out a few boxes with most of the information about Lord Astley and his son, Rafe.

The information was gold: Lord Astley was currently residing at the northern-most port in Entorre. Funny considering he was the lord of the south.

Now how was I going to get there? There was no way I'd be able to run away again. Hell, Kace had guards at my room while I slept.

And he wasn't exactly going to let me waltz out. So what could I do? God, this was exactly why my brother shouldn't have left me there alone. Well, I insisted on coming, so what did I expect?

Hesitantly, I creaked the door open and stepped into the corridor. The guards immediately quickened their way toward me. "Princess Senna, you aren't allowed out of your room."

"I want to eat," I mumbled, stepping past the guards.

Their grumbles echoed behind me. "We can have breakfast brought to your room. By order of King Lius and Prince Kace, you are not allowed to step a foot past your door..."

They eventually quit their quoting session as I pushed my way into the kitchen. The servants there spun, nearly dropped their pots. "Princess Senna, we can't make you pickled—"

"Don't make me anything," I quickly said, washing an apple. "Tell Prince Kace I won't be joining him for lunch or dinner this week." Probably the next as well, but I couldn't say that.

"I'm sorry—What?" A guard stood in front of me, blocking my path out of the kitchen. "I will not be some relay dog for the two of you."

"Funny since Prince Kace already treats you like one," I retorted, pushing past his stretched arm. Honestly, these Entorreans were so stubborn it was annoying. "But don't worry; if you don't want to to tell him, I have no problem doing it myself. I wouldn't want you to get into trouble."

The guards lined up in front and behind me, blocking me yet again. If this was how they treated visitors, I didn't want to find out how they'd treat the royal family.

The same smart-mouthed guard towered in front of me, his arms crossed. "Look, Princess Senna. I say this in the most respectful way possible, but you are being extremely difficult to watch. Luckily for you, Prince Kace had the guards switched to more experienced ones. You aren't tricking us."

Narrowing my eyes, I took a small, loud bite from my apple. He was muscular, tall, hair short and neat, slim blue eyes. "Who said I was tricking you?" I commented, crossing my arms.

"Nice try, but we'll be escorting you back to your room. And you will be attending lunch and dinner with King Lius and Prince Kace."

it looked like these guards were much more observant. They definitely seemed more intimidating; God, they could probably wrestle with an elephant if they tried.

Sighing, I walked along with the dozen of guards. This was a bit overboard. Was I really that much of a handful?

The way their eyes pried at me sure proved that assumption. They almost resembled Kace when I first met him.

Almost. No one was more dumb than him.

"Wait, I need to throw away my apple," I said, turning to where I knew the nearest garbage can was.

"No, we'll throw it away. Fred, throw away her apple." A guard snatched the apple core from my hand and skipped away.

There was no way I'd be able to go north now.

As if the guard could read my mind, he said, "Every door in the palace has guards. Even the windows. It shouldn't have come down to this, Princess Senna, but Prince Kace has made it explicitly clear that you are to not step foot outside your room without us."

I found it funny how Prince Kace's only control in his life surrounded me. Why me?

Before, I never tried to trick the guards. Treating them differently from the way they were normally treated around this place was enough to get them lenient.

These guards, however, were much different. They didn't mind being treated like a servant to Kace. There was no way around them except flying, and I, unfortunately, couldn't fly.

I went into my room and shut the door, thinking up new ways to trick Kace.

*~⚜️~*

Lunch was spent listening to King Lius slur his words and Kace poking his plate. Queen Nillaj, for the first time since I was here, sat at the table, though she was silent like the rest of us.

One might've thought this was the norm in this family; silent until provoked. Or drunk.

I glanced up, meeting Kace's murderous glare at me. His eyes immediately flew back down to the more interesting stack of potatoes he created by the edge. I kept watching him as he stirred around his food, yet not a single time did anything go into his mouth.

"Aren't you going to eat?" I muttered, leaning closer.

He grabbed his glass of wine and sipped. "Don't make me get the guards to watch you here, too."

"I'm asking why you're not eating, Kace, not if I would have the honor of poisoning you," I bit out, stabbing my potato.

"Again, it's Prince Kace. And I don't have an appetite to eat."

I grabbed my glass of wine and sipped it. The drunk laughter of King Lius became background music as I spoke. "Too busy plotting the takedown of our alliance to eat? That's beneath you, Kace."

Upon hearing his name, he jerked his head up. Though he had his normal, disinterested scowl on his face, he also had his hand tight around his wine glass.

"Your face is very distracting, Princess Senna," he grounded back, his glass tapping mine. After his little acknowledgement of my existence, he took a swig. "Makes me want to ship you off into a fire."

Smiling as widely as I could, I hurled my foot against his shin as I said, "Likewise, Kace."

His facial muscles moved millimeters. Slowly, he dropped his gaze to my stabbed potato. "You're going to torture the potato, too?" Kace mumbled, stabbing his own potato.

"Better than stabbing other things," I whispered, gritting the metal fork against the porcelain plate.

Kace flinched, his gaze stuck to my food. Fine then. If he wanted to stare, he could do it all he wanted to. "Thank you for dinner, King Lius. I'll retire to my room now." Without waiting for the King's response, I sped out the dining room.

How dare he be mad at me? He used me. I should be mad at him. The audacity of Kace. The fact that no one was on my side had me boiling with even more anger.

I might've been getting in the way of his plans, but he was getting in the way of mine. I didn't care what I had to do to get to the northern port.

When I entered my bedchambers, I spotted a envelope resting on my desk. The Entorrean royal crest was stamped on.

The reporter wanted to speak with Prince Kace.