Song: In the Dark by Camila Cabello
Blank stares, faithless
Vampires at the same places
Shadows, traces
You can strip down without showing skin
I can see you're scared of your emotions
I can see you're hoping not hopeless
So why can't you show me? Why can't you show me?
I can see you're looking for distractions
I can see you're tired of the acting
So why can't you show me?

Glacia had been so exhausted that she crashed on the couch of the plane. It was a longer flight this time, and Asher had gotten someone else to fly it for them. When she woke, she discovered a blanket around her.

Asher was looking out of the window.

"We're here." He told her, just as they touched down.

Home. The air smelled different here. It definitely feels different here. Oh, sometimes Glacia wondered why she even left...

As they walked through the crowds, she could feel Asher's hand only inches over hers, feather-light. An odd thought crept into her mind -- how would it feel if she had grabbed it then.

Unlike her distracted state, his gray eyes were fleeting around, as if instinctively on the alert for danger. She could feel the tension in his stature and bones.

Glacia led the way to her house. The place she was so familiar with, she could close her eyes and still navigate the path to her small house, just past her mother's coffee shop. She recognised the empty plot of land where Luke and her flew kites in the past. The thought of him made her wonder if her mother knew he was a Royallier too. They walked past her favourite pizza shop, the one that was tucked under some basement with the sketchy neon sign. And round the corner was the vintage bookstore where she got many of her books -- including the one that she saw Asher read that day. She wondered if he liked books as much as she did.

Her blue bicycle was still parked at the lot next to a vintage store, with a dried lavender flower at its bell. She smiled at the sight of it, just as someone bounded down the street.

"Gracia!" She whipped her head to see Josh, her neighbour and classmate. They immediately exchanged a quick hug.

"You're back so fast! How's Finland?"

Right, she was supposed to be studying abroad. Not dabbling in some realm in the Centre of the Earth. Glacia thought to herself grimly, then neatly tucking that thought away. "I missed you guys too much, I guess. I'll be back for a short while before I fly off again."

Josh smiled, and then glanced between her and Asher, who was standing behind. His face hardened, just as Asher's seemed to. Glacia shifted awkwardly, finding it hard to explain him. Maybe someone would realise that his beauty had a surreal quality to it, almost as if he wasn't from this world?

In his cap, shirt and jeans, Asher looked deceptively mortal. It wasn't his first time there, so he knew how to dress for the occasion. But his appearance would be impossible to hide...

Asher was watching the both of them with a stony expression.

Josh whispered to her, gaping at Asher. "And who's this?"

"Just a friend I met." Glacia fought a feeling that she couldn't account for.

She looked behind Josh to see a girl in a black top and red plaid skirt with a group of friends that she wasn't as close to. She waved to Carla as a shocked grin erupted across her face. "Chica!"

When she looked over, her eyes flitted to Asher as well, and her eyes widened. In fact, the whole group reacted this way. Glacia tried to hide a laugh as she saw their expressions.

Imagine how they'd freak out if they knew he was a prince, too.

Carla came over with the click-clack of her little heels. "Your boyfriend is ridiculously hot."

Glacia flushed. "He's not my boyfriend."

She prayed Asher didn't hear that.

She reached for Asher's arm, tugging it. They needed to move on, or he would never be back in time to get the throne back from Callum.

"I need to go see my mom. I'll catch up with you guys later, okay?" Glacia bid goodbye, masking the sadness in her heart that that was an empty promise.

She pulled Asher away, while waving goodbye. Dang it, I hated goodbyes. Once they were out of sight, Asher glanced down at where Glacia held his arm.

She flushed again, feeling that weird sensation tingle at where she touched. She retracted her hand quickly.

They walked for a while in silence.

Next, Glacia pointed to a small house that stood behind a tree. They had the most beautiful flora and fauna adorned around it. The trees twined around the house so it looked like a cottage in a forest. It was strikingly beautiful, Glacia noticed now that it would have been a telltale sign that her mother wasn't just a mortal.

She was trying not to run across the road as they neared her house. Instinctively, she was going to fish out her keys, before remembering that she was staying somewhere else now. She knocked on the crimson door, knowing that the doorbell barely worked.

"Mom? It's me, I'm home."

There was mad rushing, before the door was thrown apart, with a Royallier strength that nearly tore it out of its hinges. Standing on the steps was Livia, her face lit up. Without hesitation, Glacia rushed into her arms, that familiar scent of jasmines and lilies hit her.

"Gracia? Oh my god, you're back so soon." She scooped her up, burying her face in her hair.

She savoured that moment until they had to break away. Next, she looked behind Glacia to see Asher, who greeted her politely. Even if he acted unkind at times to certain people, it was nice to know that he kept his manners.

Livia beamed with something like a mother's pride. "Asher. You've grown up so much, but it's unmistakably you. Come in, you two."

"You remember me." Asher smiled a little.

They headed indoors and Glacia couldn't resist running her hands over everything — the teal furniture, the breathtaking paintings that adorned the walls, and of course, her pet dog, Lucky. He ran to her just as quickly, panting with happiness upon seeing her return.

She scooped the golden retriever up. Did he grow up even more? It was a reminder that she had been gone for almost a month now. "Did you miss me, boy?" She stroked him lovingly.

Livia, showed Asher to the dining table, and she quickly cleared up the newspapers on it. Normally, she was a neat person, always making sure the house was kempt and proper.

"Do you want anything to drink?" Glacia asked Asher, but he shook his head. She watched, impressed, as Lucky ran over to Asher's side, sniffing him. It was the first time that he hadn't barked at a stranger. It was as if he liked Asher already.

Glacia had never seen dogs in the realm of Royalliers, but she guessed Asher had played with them before. He scooped Lucky up too, and ruffled his fur with a genuine grin. He looked more like a boy in that second, one that didn't have the weight of leading a kingdom to carry.

Glacia poured herself a glass of milk, the way she always did. She heard her mother cough a little, observing Asher.

"Jeez, I don't exactly know what to do. It's the first time Gracia — Glacia's actually brought a boy back. I mean, unless you count her friends."

"Mom." She felt her cheeks becoming hot again. "If Asher isn't a friend, what is he?" She cast an embarrassed glance to Asher, who simply looked disbelieving at the words.

"I'm actually surprised that she hadn't." He turned to look at Glacia, and she felt something hammering against her. She tilted her head, mouthing to him: what do you mean?

Livia looked at them in turn. "But the Prophetic Royals, they told me that you two would — never mind."

Glacia ducked behind the counter for a second to facepalm the wood. She was reluctant to sit across the table from Asher after what just went on, but went over anyway, paying exclusive attention to her milk. She placed the glass down on the table and sipped it without lifting the glass. When Asher saw this, he had to resist the urge to laugh.

Glacia scowled at the boy. "I know, I drink my milk like Lucky would."

He held his hands up. "I didn't say anything." For a moment, their banter had seemed normal, friendly even.

"How's everything, my girl?" Livia interrupted, placing a hand over Glacia's. Livia's face was creased with age and worry.

"It's... okay, mom. I mean, you've warned me about how brutal it can be. But at least I've made friends there, I even met a friend — Luke, you remember him, don't you?"

Livia nodded. "That was another reason for me to be able to send you away less worried. I was hoping you two would still be on good terms. Luke grew up in the realm when he was younger, so I was able to sense his virtus. I tried to avoid him so he couldn't sense mine, and because I never brought you to the realm before, your own virtus wasn't there yet. I wanted to know how happy you would be when you reunited—" At this, she glanced back at Asher warily, as if she shouldn't have been talking about Luke in front of him.

Asher was paying attention to the furniture around him. His eyes roamed around the house, from Glacia's graduation picture that hung at the fireplace to the rusty television set that they barely used, because they'd rather other hobbies like sports or the arts, only watching the occasional Netflix show.

"It isn't much." Glacia felt the need to clarify. "I know you're used to diamonds and jewels and generally expensive-looking stuff."

"I was going to say I like it here. It's homely." He replied genuinely.

"Speaking of which, mom." She clasped Livia's warm hand. "Now that I went to the Realm as you asked, can you finally tell me why I can't reveal who I am?"

Asher was watching, but he didn't feel like a stranger. Glacia felt like her secret would be safe with him, his virtus was there, encouraging her, linking them together. Livia trusted him too, and answered. She pat Glacia's hand gingerly. "I know you're smart enough to figure out some of it already. I'm connected to the Insurgents — your father was the first leader of the Insurgents. The one to start it all."

Glacia gasped. The first Insurgent. She couldn't help but turn to Asher.

"Did you know this too?"

Asher nodded yes. Maybe that's why he had his hesitations about her, Glacia assumed. Even if Asher didn't believe in what his father did, he was still a Comrade. The Insurgents would want the royals dead.

Livia continued, "Glacia, your father had a very noble vision. I believed in him so very much, that he would make things better. Greed made him go overboard. He soon became a monster I didn't recognize, one that seem bent on killing him enemies and rising to power, rather than trying to make the elements better. I saw him kill his own brother just because he fell in love with a princess. I lost my faith in him, and I fled the Realm with you."

Glacia bit her bottom lip. "Did he ever learn about me?"

"Of course, escape wasn't so easy. He went to find me, and managed to months later. I saw the darkness in his eyes, and I realised he was no father. Then, instead of wanting us back out of love, he told me he wanted us back for another reason..."

"I was bearing the child of a very powerful Royallier. He learned of a way to increase someone's powers. He could extract the powers of dead Royalliers and combine them into a concoction. He called it the Energiser. Virtus flows from the more powerful to the weaker, so they would add on to the virtus of whoever ingests this concoction. He fed it to me just before I left, when he suspected that I was pregnant. He was right, it worked on me to some extent, but most of it went into you. No Royallier should have been able to attain the amount of virtus that you have, except for royals like Asher. Asher was not supposed to have a socius like you."

Glacia put two and two together, gaping. "But if you can artificially inject powers like that, that could be very dangerous, right?" She looked at Asher worriedly. "Whoever receives such powers can overpower a lot of people, even Asher — even us."

"That's right. The earlier belief that people like you and him can never be killed is wrong. Don't worry, they haven't discovered that foolproof a plan. Although it worked on me, others haven't been so successful. Usually, it makes the receiver so sick that they cannot survive it. After I had mine, I became so sick that we almost didn't make it. It was a miracle."

Asher's face was grim. "They're making progress, aren't they? I heard of some disappearances recently — the third prince's socius was taken. She must have been injected by now, but he insists that he knows she isn't dead yet."

Livia nodded sadly. "I know. They're injecting it into Bailey very slowly, but she's probably not going to hold her ground any longer. The poor girl's in a terrible condition. She screams with unimaginable pain every time it enters her body."

Glacia grimaced a little. Aside from that, she realised, "Wait... you mean you've been keeping tabs on Royalliers?"

"Back when I was able to enter the lab your father created, I installed cameras that were well-hidden. It was a top secret technology that your father had used to spy on royals, and I decided to use the prototype to pay him back in his own coin. I was afraid that keeping the observatory screens in the Realm would make it susceptible to someone seeing it, so I hid them in our house. But the lab has expanded over the years, so I can only see a small fraction of it. I don't have much knowledge on what they're up to, most of it is performed in the parts of the lab that aren't captured by the camera."

"We need to save that girl, then. And whoever else is captured. Why hasn't there been any arrest order?" Glacia eyes widened.

Asher opened his mouth to speak, but my mother defended him. "That would mean war. And if the lab was found, they can say that it was Asher who designed it, him who made his virtus artificially stronger. He would lose his Crown Prince position, and Dante would be free to take over and rain down pain onto mortals as he liked."

Glacia grumbled at the gridlock.

Livia tried to change the mood. "I believe you can do it, Asher. You need to win the Insurgents over, and then get rid of Dante. It's not easy, but I know that you'll think of something.

But if I may ask, how are you? You seem to be in a pretty rough shape." She felt the mark where the blade had cut his arm, sighing.

"Because he is in rough shape." Glacia shot Asher a sideways look. "Dante threatened him, and he had no choice."

Livia balled her fists. "It was an old tactic that the Insurgents used. I saw Glen, Glacia's father, do that to his enemies."

"I'll get my mother out. And my siblings." Asher said determinedly.

"Then they'll threaten you with someone else." Livia looked at Glacia momentarily, than back at Asher. "And they can still track them down in the mortal world, where it is even easier to kill."

"There must be a way." Asher insisted. "But that's to worry later. I came to tell you something to. I finally discovered what was killing my father." He said blankly, holding up a vial of red liquid.

"When a person ingests this, it takes their virtus away from them, making them so weak that they become lifeless. Orion had so much that it is past the point of return for him. But we need to stop them from targeting more."

Livia took the vial. "Red Ruby. Glen always spoke of making that. It's a variation of the Energiser. I didn't think it would be possible." She fetched another similar vial with green liquid in it. "So we have the Red Ruby and the Energiser. If only we knew how they made it too."

"I've almost got it uncovered — Glacia, don't you miss your room?"

Glacia looked up. "Huh?"

"I mean, I would like some time to speak to Asher in private, please?" Livia smiled shyly. Glacia grumbled. What would they say that I couldn't hear? Nonetheless, she decided to comply, knowing she would still eavesdrop on the conversation.

She walked up the staircase, closed her bedroom door and rushed back out. She ducked and placed her head between two of the bars of the staircase, listening in. It was tough to make out what they said, but she heard the essence of it.

Her mother's voice. "I'm so sorry about your father."

"Don't be. You wouldn't be sorry, if you knew that he tried to kill Glacia."

Livia gasped. "I thought he'd want her on your side, and would keep her safe. I was wrong. But... you won't let him get to her, would you?"

Asher gulped, remembering how he nearly didn't do that the first time round.

"I will. But if she wants to be protected, you should advise her not to come so... close to me. You know yourself what happens to the people I get in contact with — they get into danger."

"You poor child. The world doesn't deserve you. If only I could go back, if only the future that the Prophetic Royals showed me proved I had longer to live, I would help you."

Glacia nearly fell off at this point. What did her mother mean?

She said that she didn't have much longer to live?