Felix's POV:
Later that very night, when we were all asleep in our own quarters, the disaster struck. That night when we all lost someone; sons, brothers, husbands, fathers. The whole Lawrence palace was ablazed with fire that not only engulfed the buildings, but also people's lives and hopes.
"Lix, wake up please. You're supposed not to sleep in this situation, com'on!"
Mother's voice laced with urgency, woke me up.
Opening my drowsy eyes, when I looked at her, she looked so much worn out and full of dirt, her face not radiating the elegance she always held.
Concerned, I asked "mom! What happened to you? Why are you in..."
"Lix, baby, listen to me first. I'm fine, really fine. Right now mom wants you to hide for a while."
Her voice though trembling, still sounded as assuring as possible.
"Hide? But why? Did something happen in the palace? Mom, you're scaring me, please tell me what happened?"
Seeing mom's almost breaking down posture, I couldn't help myself from getting anxiety.
"Lixie, now is not the time for this. Later we'll explain everything. I heard that you have a hiding place with Frank. Can you take him to hide with you too?"
She tried her best to stay strong for us.
"Francis?"
My eyes darted to the silent boy, standing just behind her.
"Hmm."
"Okay. But promise me, you'll explain everything to me."
"I promise. Now go! Hurry up!"
As we were about to get out of my room, a man in a black clothing came charging at us with a sword and mom meticulously countered that with her dragger. After a few exchange of blows, mom successfully eliminated the attacker.
Still breathing heavily, looking at us she pleaded, "Frank, Lix, leave! They've already sneaked into the inner courtyards! Go!"
And we sprinted towards the old store room again, the store room where we shared laughter, sneaky moments, beautiful memories, suddenly came to witness us hiding with bated breath in terror.
Occasionally commotions were heard, even big blast of gunpowder too, but never a sound of Yelp came out of us. We didn't know how much time had passed, how the others were doing? Connor, Julian and more importantly where was our brother? Was he safe? Did he have someone to protect him? All these thoughts stressed me to the point when I didn't even realise that I was crying, silent tears rolled down my cheeks reflecting the immense helplessness I felt.
A strong assuring grip on my trembling hands got me anchored to the present. Frank despite being the same aged as me, was much more stronger in mental state. His eyes clear yet filled with courage subsided the raging storm in me, however the underlying worry didn't wear out. Some more time had passed, when we came running here it was just midnight and the city hour clock didn't ring a bell at all. Is the whole city under attack? Pulse quickened, fear devouring us, we couldn't stay still in there forever.
As usual Frank's patience broke first, as quite as possible, he suggested me "Lix, listen to me carefully. I'll sneak out a little to see the situation out there, then come back to take you with me."
"What?! Have you gone crazy?! I'm not letting you go alone anywhere!"
My voice trembled despite my try to sound strict.
"Trust me, I'll be careful. I'll just check on the others and come back."
"Frank, I know you're worried about them, so am I! But getting out right now will just cause more problems. So, no, we're not going anywhere until someone comes to get us." This time my eyes gave him the final warning.
However, Frank being him, didn't fret from his idea at all, "Just once. Don't worry, I'll come to get you."
"Then let's go together."
"No. Lixie there are assassins in the whole palace."
"Then why do you think you'll be safe..."
Before I could say more, I felt a sharp pain on my lower head, that immediately stole my hearing then my eyes blurred. I understood that he just dared to knock me out, tears rolled down as I tried my best to keep my consciousness awakened. But thanks to the merciless gods up there, I still blacked out and let it all happen.
When I opened my eyes, I realised I was still in that wardrobe in that very shabby storeroom, no one came searching for me, and Frank: he didn't return either. Hurriedly coming out of the wardrobe I stumbled on the floor, feeling cramp in my legs, but I could care less about that. My heart beat almost in my throat as I tried to listen to any sound from the outside. Only few footsteps were heard with some hushed conversations, whoever were outside they were in hurry.
After making sure that no one was on the corridors, I finally opened the door, the dawn hadn't broken yet, so maybe only two or three hours had passed. That's long. Where is Frank? My mind raced, my eyes easily threatened to spill again and I didn't dare. With quite footsteps, I approached the junction to the main courtyard, mom dad would be there right?
"What do you mean by there is one more prince in this palace?"
A stern, worried and unfamiliar voice made me halt on midway.
Hiding behind a pillar, I tried to see who those people were. This part of the palace was almost abandoned, we only used it to play or just practice sneak attacks, perfect camouflage. Then how these people knew about this place? There were four people, three very young boys, maybe still in their teenage and the other person was a woman. As I looked carefully, she turned out to be our nanny! How could she betray our trust?
"Yes, yes. There is one more prince indeed, his highness the Second Prince. He is still nowhere to be found."
Her eyes seemed to tremble as if she was really worried about me.
The one, she was talking with looked at the other two boys who didn't move from their position of guard and they were guarding a room. That room used to be a kitchen for the servants. Why? Is there any important person in there?
"But we all knew there are only two princes in the Lawrence royal family. How come there is a Second Prince? The younger one, inside, isn't the second prince?"
Looking at the door of that very room, he enquired.
"No.. no, no. He is the Third Prince, his highness, Francis Lawrence. I'm talking about his twin brother, his highness, the Second Prince Felix Lawrence."
"But we can't get back to the main courtyard right now, we just came from there and that by barely escaping. If we go out, we'll give away our hideout. Do you know any place, where he could be?"
"No. The twins usually stays sticked to eachother. If his highness the Third Prince was there, I can't say the other's location." Lowering her head, she fidgeted with her fingers.
She is really worried? Wait! They said Frank was there? Were they keeping Frank captive? I must rescue him from them.
Just as I was about to approach, the all-enquiring guy spoke again, "okay, I'll go to check out the inner courtyards again. You two don't move from this position."
Looking at the guarding boys, he ordered.
Then with a soft look, he assured "don't worry I'll be extremely careful. Check on Steven too. He is also injured."
Who is this Steven? Their leader?
Then looking back at our nanny, he asked, "can you please tell me how does he look?"
"They're almost identical. Except for the hair, his highness, the Second Prince has blonde hair unlike his twin's black hair. And the birthmark! The Second Prince has a birthmark on his left cheek." Nodding vigorously she informed him.
Were these people bad or good? What were they planning to do? Just as my mind started to go astray again, that room's door creaked open, revealing an all blood-soaked, exhausted tall figure, his eyes trembled with unshed tears, his body swayed, before he could fall, the other three boys caught him, immediately leading him inside the room, our nanny following behind them. Cautiously approaching the door, I hid myself just behind the door frames, I needed to know what did they do to my brother.
"Thank you for your hardwork." Looking at our nanny, the guy who must be Steven, spoke. His voice trembled too as he suddenly broke into unrestrained tears.
"I...I... couldn't help the little one.... Henry. What should I do? He was so small....just like Simon....how will I face his mom now....he lost so much blood... I just... I couldn't..."
His tone almost hysterical, gripping my own heart with iron strength, my own tears finally broke free. In my subconscious, I already knew whom they were talking about. My mind didn't work properly anymore, my legs walked themselves towards the cold body laying on the small cot. Frank's eyes were shut tight as if he was thinking it was just a dream and he would wake up soon and how desperately I wanted that too. His blood-soaked clothes looked as if they were littered with the last drop of his warm blood. His face so pale, so lifeless that I reached out to warm them up.
Taking his hand in mine, I gently rub them, "Frank, I know you like to do pranks with me. But this is getting serious, you know! Com'on wake up! Tell me you're fine, please. Please."
Though my tears flowed, no hands came to wipe them, to soothe me.
Moments later, I felt a hand softly caressing my hair, looking up I met with our nanny's red puffy eyes, she cried too, she mourned too and I thought her as a traitor. Gripping her hands, I cried again never realising that I was making it hard for them to stay hidden and surprisingly the others didn't complain at all. When finally my tears dried, I felt so much exhausted, yet I couldn't rest, I needed to know who these people were? What were their motives?
"Nanny, where is my parents? And the others? Is my brother okay? Where is Jules and Connor? Please tell me they are safe."
Nanny's distraught expression told me not to expect any good news. Since she couldn't utter any sound, one of the boys answered for her, "your parents aren't in this palace. We rescued them approx half an hour ago, alongside with your brother and your friends. Don't worry they're in a safe place. We only came back to help the maids and you two."
"Where is this safe place? And who are you?"
"We're just acquaintance who wanted to lend a hand in the rescue. And they're all at the royal doctor's home with Elite class guards. Don't worry about them."
The other guarding boy replied.
"And how did you know there would be an attack here?"
"We didn't know there would be an attack here. We were coming to Ryotle to meet your parents for some urgent matters. But we encountered this seriously grave situation."
The all authoritative guy replied instead.
"Where are you coming from then?"
"Kiyansy."
The one whom that Steven called Henry answered with a small cautious tone.
"The Kaisers! Nanny why did you even trust them? They're the ones who attacked!"
I wanted to scream but I was helpless.
"No no no, your highness. We didn't send the assassins here."
That Henry guy hurriedly replied.
Then pointing at Steven, he added, "this person is the crown prince of the Kaisers. We all came here only to help, nothing else. We didn't know about all this. Trust us."
"If the Kaisers didn't do it, then who are those people out there? And Why are you helping us?"
I met with the supposedly crown prince Kaiser's eyes with the same determination.
"Since you're really the second prince of the Lawrence royals, I should be honest with you. I'm here to help only because I want revenge for my mother's death and for that I want the Lawrence royals as an alliance." His eyes ignited with hatred so unyielding.
"That, I'm not in position to give you. Afterall..."
"The Khirighans."
Cutting me in mid sentence, he answered for my first question, with much more venomous tone.
"What? The Khirighans? You mean the assassins are sent from the Khirighans?"
Disbelief spread over my face, as I countered, "no no no this is impossible! There is no way, they would take action this soon! Unless... unless they followed prime minister Lynn all the time!"
My voice trembled as realisation struck.
They didn't know about mom and grandpa yet, right? Prime minister Lynn and grandpa already had left for grandpa's residence in St.Loire. They won't be in any kind of trouble, right?
As my mind ran through these whirlwind of doubts, crown prince Kaiser dropped another question, "by prime minister Lynn, you meant the Khirighan prime minister?"
As I nodded, he tensed up as he informed, "he also visited our kingdom just a few days ago and then the Khirighans attacked our palace. In that very attack, we lost our queen, my mom."
His eyes ignited with the same inferno of vengeance.
"What does he want so desperately from us?"
That Henry guy pondered.
"A ruler for the Khirighan people. The current king is too much cruel and tyrant."
I answered with an emotionless face.
"Then the Jensens, Yeagers and the Hammonds would be attacked too! Henry, do you think we're too late to fix it."
Crown prince Kaiser's words became so desperate.
"Steve, don't say that. We are here for the very thing. I hope his and her majesties will understand."
"What do you want them to understand?! They both are gravely injured! So is their crown prince, not to mention that they're still unaware of their son's death!"
Crown prince Kaiser's tears broke free again.
I felt myself tearing up again and I couldn't find myself to let it happen, at least not from now on.
"Take me to my parents. I want to see them and I'll talk about this with them. Don't worry neither of my parents will just sit back and watch, at least not when mom's own people betrayed her again!"
My voice though hoarse, sounded as much assuring as possible.
"Her own people? What do you mean by that?"
Crown prince Kaiser looked really confused there.
Our nanny who was silent all the time spoke instead.
"Her majesty is from the Khirighan royal family, one of the very Chase that we despise so much. She is the former Crown Princess to the Khirighan throne. As per Khirighan tradition, the oldest among the royal offspring will become the ruler, thus she was chosen. Despite being the daughter of the younger brother of the ruling king at that time, Theodore's father. Her cousin brother, Theodore almost annihilated her kinsmen and her in order to claim the throne and the king totally gave a blind eye to this incident. Her majesty and her parents barely survived and with the help of his majesty, the King Lawrence, they were rescued. Since then they had been hiding, the queen Lawrence, though a famous noble figure, no one clearly even knows how does she actually looks neither about her kids, except for the crown prince. Her parents took refuge in the humble shelter of the government of St. Loire. That's why no one particularly knows about the background of the queen, neither about the twins." She seemed to have more to say, yet she might've felt it too overwhelming to carry on.
"Nanny, how do you know so much details?"
Giving a soft understanding yet sad smile, she replied "I had been with your mom since her childhood, of course I know everything about her, including about you. When they were escaping, I decided to follow them no matter what and here I'm right now, taking care of you. Prime minister Lynn might've regretted his decision to support Theodore back then and that's why he came seeking for alliance from these kingdoms. It's a pity that the kingdoms has to suffer for this single decision."
"So you're telling me that this boy right here is the future heir to the Khirighan throne." Pointing to me, that commanding boy concluded.
Nanny's face became more distraught as she looked at Frank's unmoving body one more time.
Then whispered with a shaky voice "it was him...the prime minister and his highness the Second Prince Chase chose him...he was so determined after knowing the decision...he bragged to everyone about it...he was so eager to be the best version of himself..." She finally broke down.
These information were new to me, the pain hit hard again as raw tears rolled down my cheeks again and I couldn't help but cling to my nanny's shaking body.
Minutes passed, maybe an hour too, when one of the guarding boys came to inform that everything was cleared outside, and by that he meant it was safe to get out of there. When did he leave to check the outside, or when crown prince Kaiser treated that big gash on his shoulder or when our nanny covered me with a rag; went like a blur to me.
"Your highness... your highness, let's go to your parents. The outside is safe to proceed." Crown prince Kaiser's soft voice brought me out of my trance.
As I looked at them, their eyes only gave me assurance, courage and condolences, my eyes eventually darted to the lifeless body of my twin brother resting on Henry's strong arms and my whole resolution dissolved again. If it wasn't for the crown prince Kaiser's strong hold on me, I would've collapsed.
With a soft tone, he assured me "if you want to cry more, you can. I'm here. We all are here. And I promise you that we all see to the end of all these. Together."
As much as I wanted to listen to him and cry my heart out, I didn't dare cause I knew I needed this pain. To remind me of my brother's death. To remind me of the lose of people. To remind of this unsettled vengeance I needed to settle down.
Frank, you can take rest now. As long as you want. Your brother is here. He'll make sure those people pay for your death.