Ashton Flare

Thw wanderers say heaven is a hard place to find. But laying on the bed in my room, I can say I have been there already. The castle is stripped of any valuables. All the paintings, jewels in the furniture and even the silks which were abandoned are probably sold off for coins or weapons.

I am glad the beds were untouched. After sleeping on hard metal rocks for almost a week, they are nothing short of heaven. If only my mind was not in rage about Arieon going after Leona like a lovesick kid.

If Arieon had only listened to me for once in his damned life, we could have already been at the castle without being named traitors. I could finally have my crown, our little brother would be safe, the Lone Shadow would be forced to turn into a myth once again. He just had to make things complicated.

As I start to compare all the times Arieon messed up and the times I did, I hear a sharp knock at my door. I am too exhausted to deal with more drama but I put my feelings aside as I yank the door open. If Arieon is outside, I can just slam the door for the dramatics.

But Leona waits behind the door, her beautiful long blonde hair now barely reaches her shoulders. I can tell she cut it herself because of the uneven edges at the back. My royal instincts kick in as I blink at her confused. "What the hell happened to your hair?"

She shrugs, barely caring about it at all, "It was too dirty and sweaty because of all the flying. Colonel Astra is going over the next plan of attack, be at the east salon in an hour."

"There is something called water to clean it." I mutter under my breath as she walks towards Katrin's room. I can not even fathom anyone at Evercrest court to cut their hair because of that reason. The Wanderers are truly strange.

Exhaustion knocks me out as soon as my head finds the bed. Sleep does not rid me of my problems, dreams can not all be wonderful I suppose. The brunette haired prince with gold staining the roots, does not stop as I beg. He walks away from me, oblivious to my cries. He walks away, shattering the crumbling crown. He walks away towards the blonde woman I have come to fear.

~~♡~~

I mock Arieon as I lean against the wall closest to the door. Luca had the decency to tell me he was coming. As much as I did not want to see his face, it is perhaps important. The courtly mask of ignorance is too convenient to let go.

The room is rather small, just a few steps would let me reach the other end. But that was expected, all the salons towards the east in Flare castles are ment for people who are from the low families at court.

Colonel Astra sits on one of the two couches in the room while Leona takes the other. Luca and Katrin stand behind Leona, while two of Colonel's own gaurds flock him. I learnt that the man with broad shoulders and greyish black hair is Cory while the tall lanky woman with a scowl etched to her face is Jade.

They seem way too relaxed to indicate that any threat coming our way. Or maybe they are putting on a show, to reassure us that nothing can go wrong while it already has. The lack of information and the absence of my brother trying to make sense of it makes my head hurt.

A few moments later, after Cory and Luca face off Katrin and Jade to see who embarrasses who more, the door besides me creaks open to reveal a very disheveled looking Arieon. His hair is honestly a mess and his clothes look like they have been through the waters of the Dark Creek.

He meets my eyes for a moment before he mouths something I do not understand. I just stare at him confused before I tear my eyes away from his. We may be twins brother, but we are not psychic. Not one Unscathed can tell what is going on in someone else's mind, I do not know how he thought I would.

"Am I late?" he coyly looks at Leona. Katrin rolls her eyes and mouths "here we go again" to Luca. Leona just steels her eyes at the sight of him, not his hair or his clothes, his general presence seems to annoy her.

Leona replies with a simple yes before turning her head back to Astra. "Now that we are all here, what's the mission Colonel?"

He just waves her off, almost yawning at the question, "It is what it always has been General Agnor. Get in, kill the royals, get out." Leona does not look even slightly offended at the words. I would have be struggling to control my flames if I was her.

I have a burried fear in my heart that she would be the reason I lose my brother. But I have also come to . . . respect her. I know little about Wanderer culture but the one I hate most is that women are are considered inefficient to do anything important. I feel a familiar fire in Leona, she must have had to prove herself to men, her own father, to achieve this. And in the short while I have known Colonel Agnor, I can say he did nothing to help her through it. That does gain her some points from my side.

"In case you have not noticed, the security has been rapidly increasing at the Xerta castle we are supposed to attack. The process would involve more dying on our side." Leona snaps. But her scowl quickly slides into a smirk as her notices something outside the window. "-Unless, there is a war looming on the horizon."

Colonel chuckles, "Got it in one General. We are ready to distract them from the castle. You will know soon enough where the boy king will be. For once, they are they prey."

The rest of us just stand there dumbstruck, watching them name their allies and their escape routes with ease. Katrin clears her throat to catch Leona's attention, "How many of us are entering the castle?"

Leona looks at each of us before simply counting with her fingers with each name she says, "Luca, Cory, Jade, Katrin, Ashton, two other loyal men from Colonel Astra's team and you."

Katrin scowls upon hearing my name. She still blames me for Rory's death, just because she needed someone to blame. "Either she goes or I." Katrin simply states. I almost laugh at her words, a soft jab that hurts no more than baby's touch but affects my family and crown anyway.

Leona thinks for a while and I see a flicker of doubt flash in her eyes. "Alright Ashton, watch the base. Got another soul to spare Colonel?" she asks. She chose Katrin over me, Arieon chose Leona over me, my parents chose Azela and Axel just refuses to choose. I am nothing. No one trust me and I give them a good reason not to.

"I'll go." Arieon spakes up. The gravity of the situation settles upon me then, it is the same situation from a week ago. Arieon or I have to be there or Axel dies. How convenient. "Some friends and I found a secret passage way at the Xerta castle that leads to the ballroom. The heirs usually used to stay close by, judging by the security.

This time it is Colonel who replies, giddy with excitement, "Alright, we strike two days later. By dusk, The Shadows shall rise."