Senna Aldorban

Havoc ensued around me as the ship docked. The familiar distant sight of domed buildings, sand, and limestone meeting dust clouds hugged my insides, especially after the months I'd had in Entorre City. Wendigo, although one of the oldest cities in the Main Continent, bustled with life.

Arkan slapped down a walkway to the mainland and ran ahead of me, a crowd forming. Familiar faces lined around, some I remembered from events, others from seeing portraits of them. "Out of the way, everyone!" Arkan shouted, leading the crowd a safe distance away so I could walk down.

A heavily decorated carriage drifted in front of me. From behind it, Arkan spun and lifted a brow, impressed. I apologized, saying, "Sorry, it's just my—"

"Senna, darling!" Alice and Father leapt out the carriage, my brother embracing me as Father gleamed at the sidelines. "About time. We got worried something happened to you."

"I wrote to you in Entorre I'd be coming, no?" I mumbled into his shoulder, pulling away to embrace Father.

Alice shrugged, readjusting his hair bun with his heavily tattooed hands. "Well, after what Kace did, we thought he could've wrapped you into it."

What Kace did? All I told them in the letter was that I was coming back to Kandose; I never listed a reason. But as Arkan spun from a Entorrean media personnel, the paper he held in the hand probably had all the answers. Before he could say anything, I took the paper—realized it was four newspapers, not just one—and read them myself.

Prince Kace Claims To Have Sent Princess Senna Away

Well, I knew he didn't like me, but I didn't think he'd stoop as low as lying about why I left.

Prince Kace Announces Alliance With Thaeleckean Vigilante Ashe Knightley

The man who was originally thought to have killed Manea and Nicholyn? Of course he'd befriend him—after all, his hatred was at Thresan and my family.

The Greatest Plot Twist—Valarya de Mertaire and Ashe Knightley Are Married

My eyes nearly bulged as I read that headline. How the hell did all this happen on a one month voyage overseas?

And the final paper—I shoved the paper in Arkan's hands after reading it.

The Next Dark Prince—Or Perhaps Dark King. Prince Kace Kills King Lius At Triannual Gala

"Kace did not kill his father," I said.

Alice and Father hushed, waving me into the carriage. "Don't speak too loudly—"

"He'd never do that, Father! You don't know him. He'd never... I know he hates Lius, but never enough to kill him."

They exchanged a glance, then Alice sighed. "Look, Senna, believe me, we wish this wasn't true. A royal killing another royal isn't something we take easy, even if we don't like Entorreans. Murder is murder." Crossing his arms, he turned his gaze out the window at the crowd that was being backed up by the guards. "But Kace openly admitted to killing him, and everyone is justifying it because of Lius's involvement in a trafficking ring."

"Yes," I started, jerking my brother's arm to bring his attention back to me, "I would know. I caught the Ring in act mid-auction."

Father now spoke, his tone even. "We know. We did our best to remove your name from any involvement with that—"

"I wanted to be involved in that. Father, they're selling people." His face showed no emotion. Although that was normal for him, it was unlike Alice. "Alice, did you know about this?"

"No. Yes. Like"—he began speaking with his hands now—"kind of. We needed those people for our Warrior Program. Anyone not brought into the labs got lost somewhere along the Ring and, well, that's not our business—that's Entorre's burden—"

"Burden?" If I hadn't been so drained from the trip, I would've strangled him. "Are you serious? You're buying people—"

"You're making it sound worse than it actually is," Alice mumbled back.

"You're kidding. Father, you cannot be allowing this, right?" His silence broke my heart. "Father, please. You know I hated this Program to begin with, but this is beyond us. I comforted myself knowing that it was at least voluntary."

"It was voluntary," Father assured, shaking his head. "You don't know a lot of things, but what we just said is hardly the surface of it. Just keep quiet."

"You cannot expect me to be quiet about this," I hissed, leaning forward. "Alice, think, you idiot. This is horrific!"

"You have no idea what it means to make difficult decisions," he spat, leaning forward in an attempt to scare me. He didn't. "I am the next leader of this family. I must make the difficult decisions to protect us, our country, and most importantly our people. So keep your opinions out of it."

"You asked me to send you what was happening in the palace. Why?" I snatched the folder next to him, pushing him away before he could stop me. "All of this are letters I sent to you. Why did you want these?"

"Well, you sent them. Too late to go back on your word."

"I'm going to break your damned nose, Alice—"

"Enough, both of you," Father scolded, taking the file out of my hands. "Senna, Alice is right; there's a lot of things you're not aware of. And Alice, quit being rude to her. She's serves Kandose well, too."

Fine. I flung myself back on the seat, running my tongue across the inside of my teeth. They wanted to be secretive? They clearly had no idea who they were dealing with, and if I had to make them all uncomfortable to get answers, then so be it. "I should've married Kace when I had the chance."

Both of them nearly snapped their necks when I said that. "What?" they yelled.

"That's why I left Entorre. Kace proposed and I said no, contrary to popular belief. I suppose he's too embarrassed to say the truth." I was straight lying through my teeth, but at this point, I didn't care.

"Do you hear yourself?" Father seethed, ordering Alice to shut the blinds of the carriage. "In what world did he even think to comfortably think that you'd marry him?"

Exactly. One second he'd call me beautiful, the next I was the world's worst nuisance. "But I could always write to him and say I changed my mind." Perhaps my lie was going too far.

"You've lost it, sister," exasperated Alice. "I cannot..." Then he started laughing—wheezing even. "You think Kace loves you?"

No, I knew he didn't, but let me entertain him. "Of course he loves me," I lied.

He laughed harder, mockingly tapping my shoulder. "First of all"—he sniffed, holding back from another outburst—"Kace doesn't love. His a notorious rake. Ask Odaya—she had him first."

Flexing my neck, his words oddly struck a nerve. "And what's your second point?" I mused, widening my eyes in a challenge.

"And second, you're Senna. You're not exactly the demure ladies he picks. Trust me, I've gone to pubs and bars with him. You're too... Well, loud. Opinionated. Argumentative."

"And?"

"And? Ha, Senna, you'd rather die than marry. Remember that man you"—he gestured to Father—"tried to arrange her with? She yelled at him that same day and scared the man off."

"Oh, and you think Kace gets scared easily?"

"No, he would've gotten rid of you. Which he did. You're bluffing about the marriage proposal. How stupid do you think I am?"

I supposed he got to the right conclusion, though with the wrong logic. Actually, was he wrong? Because Kace does hate me. He does want me gone because he didn't stop me from leaving. And he did, in fact, not love me. So in reality, Alice read him to filth before I could. A rake, indeed. Even I wasn't immune to his rake behaviors. "Don't you have to go to the Superior Meeting?"

"Father and I are attending it. You're being escorted back to the palace—you need some time to clear your mind." Without another word, they descended from the carriage, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

If they thought they'd hid information from me, they were gravely mistaken. As the door shut, I lifted my hips and revealed the papers I snuck from Alice's file. There were more papers in there than letters I had written, meaning not all of them were letters from me. These had to be important.

As the carriage jerked forward, I got to reading the papers, memorizing every little detail I could. Most were documents from the Austruc labs, but one stuck out to me more than the others, mainly for the stark spelling errors and different material.

Prince Alice,

I am writing to thang you for your assistance in my will. When the tine cones, I hobe you will look out for my father. I shall keep you ubdated when more information comes out.

No signature. This person didn't want to be caught, but the writing was incredibly flawed. This could be someone who didn't know how to read or write and didn't have time to get someone to proofread it.

My mind immediately went to Kace and his father. He didn't want his father protected, so he didn't write this. But perhaps... Nicholyn? Nicholyn. This had to be Nicholyn, but how? Nicholyn went to some of the best institutions for schooling. He'd never have this many errors in spelling.

And then I remembered another tabloid heading from nearly a decade ago.

Dyslexic Nicholyn Causes Widespread Fear Amongst Entorreans. Can He Truly Lead?

He was dyslexic.

Did Alice plant the will for Nicholyn? But why? What secret could've been worth pardoning Lius? If this had to do with the Dark Warrior Program, then only the Austrucs could answer this question.

And maybe even Thresan, wherever he was locked up.

I read and reread every document, trying to absorb and memorize each word. I used to think Kace played a role in the Ring and that he condoned this, but after seeing his reaction to it... and him killing his own father. He was in the dark just like me. But why? How could Nicholyn hide secrets from his brother?

The same way my own family was hiding things from me.

The second the carriage parked, I shoved the papers down my bosom and ran into the palace. The servants quickly bowed and congratulated me on my safe return as I made my way further into the palace, ignoring the footsteps behind me.

Just a few more corners to the Austruc labs. Father, unfortunately, thought it would be a good idea to run the operations in the palace. The few times I bumped into Célia Austruc were pleasant and awkward. Ideally, I could go into the labs, talk to Zian, then leave. Simple. Easy—

I collided with what initially felt like a brick wall. A warm brick wall. "I'm so sorry, I was in a rush and didn't see—"

"Papers are falling out your bosom, Princess Senna." God, kill me now. I bent to the ground to pick the crinkled papers up and bumped heads with Arkan, who was also trying to pick them up. "Here, I'm sorry, I should've paid attention."

"No, no, thank you—I can take that." I took the papers from his hands and held onto them. "Why are you here?"

"Just got my job with the Kandosian Advisory."

"Oh, you're new on the Council?" The council consisted of twenty seats voted in by different regions of Kandose. "What part do you represent?"

"Northernmost Kandose. Ahmet, Princess Senna." He smiled, and only then did I note how expensive his smile most be worth. And he couldn't have been much older. "I was volunteering on the ship you were on."

"What a coincidence," I mused, pursuing my lips as he didn't walk away. "So you did know I was the princess."

He smiled harder. Dimples and perfectly straight teeth. "Of course I knew, but if you wanted someone to talk to, I wanted to be that person."

"Thank you for being normal."

"No problem." He inched his head to the side and flicked his eyes to the papers. "Perhaps it would be a good idea to have a file to store those papers," he observed.

"Perhaps." Kill me.

"I can have someone drop a file in your bedchambers tomorrow."

"I'd appreciate that, thank you." There was no use for it, but I needed to end this conversation. "Did you need something from me, Arkan?"

"Yes, actually," he confessed. I mentally readied myself for whatever he said, straightening my back and perking my brows up. "I'll see you at Zian Austruc's speech later tonight, right?"

See, I didn't expect that. "Speech?"

"Oh, you must not know. Prince Adrie asked Zian to make a speech announcing the Warrior Program to the public, and Queen Chiara organized a massive ball for it. You know, important people and whatnot. You'll be there, right?"

Now I definitely had to be there. "I'll definitely be there."

"Good. Then I'll definitely see you tonight."

"I am the princess after all," I joked, now it being my turn to take his appearance head to toe. "What did you need from me, though?"

"Oh, right," he recalled. Arkan covered his mouth with a hand, hiding some of his stubble as he continued. "Do you dance?"

"Dance?" It had been years since I tried, but I supposed to could possibly step here and there. "A bit."

"Save me a dance, then."

My brows shot up at his directness. His grin, followed by a melodic chuckle snapped me back into my body. "You're serious?"

"Very serious. No pressure—unless, of course, this is because you can't dance..."

"Oh"—I poked him with my papers—"I can dance, Mister Arkan. Just watch."

"Hmm, the request was to dance with you, not watch," he corrected, adjusting his stance. "I'm guessing that's a yes, though?"

"Sure," I affirmed.

Arkan rolled his eyes, still smiling as he bowed, taking my free hand up and kissing the backside. "Suddenly I am an owl impatiently awaiting the night."

His kindness and sincerity couldn't be overlooked, but something about his gaze shredded my heart. Arkan's dark eyes became emerald, his dark hair shifting to golden, and bronze skin turning fair. His touch was gentle, nice—and his was rougher, passionate, electrifying.

I slowly took my hand back, my smile falling as Arkan's only widened, his body unfolding. "And by the way, I'll see you only as Senna if that comforts you. No formalities necessary."

"That's very kind of you," I whispered.

Pushing back his hair, he walked away, but not before calling back to me. "Good afternoon, Senna!"