DAMIEN

The halls of the Golden Palace were oddly quiet. Most of the servants were kicked out in an effort to weed out the spies which left only the most essential servants to pick up the rest of the work. They must've been exhausted, but we didn't have much of a choice. As far as we could tell, it certainly helped, but we were sure there were still a few spies left who served many different factions.

I wished it was noisy, chaotic. I wished there were more people to talk to, distract myself with. Even Dom had left my side for his break, replaced by a new guard that I wasn't quite familiar with. I finally had time to think. Too much time to think.

But the time was necessary, wasn't it? I had spent well over a year refusing to be left with my thoughts, always finding another problem to solve, another invention, another person to talk to or torment. But I had barely ever spared a thought about the car crash. And the one time I had, the one time I had even dared to touch the subject, to mention it to someone new, it was a mistake. A foolish mistake.

But I needed to think about it, didn't I? To come to terms with it. I thought that I was fine, that I would survive, that I had moved on. But if I had, why did I react so badly in the Raven base? I was incapacitated for god knows how long. I could've died. Xavier and Arielle could've been killed. All because I was a coward. All because I refused to admit that I truly, desperately, needed help.

I shook my head. This had gone on long enough. My ignorance nearly got us all killed. It couldn't happen again. It won't happen again. Perhaps I should get myself checked up.

But who would I go to? Any one of the psychiatrists could be moles, moles that I would be practically listing all of my weaknesses to. My father and Xavier, despite their infinite wisdom, could never truly help me. They were capable of identifying my problem, yes. They could give some advice. But they could never help me fix it. The one person in my family who could've was my mother. My mother who was dead. Which meant I had to seek people outside of my family. Arielle would want to help and do her best to try, but I doubt she would ever truly understand. Nydia would. After all the things about her mother, Nydia would understand without me even having to utter a word. But Nydia is...

The enemy.

Nydia is the enemy.

And she always had been. She had been a spy the whole time. Or maybe she wasn't. Maybe she decided to join the Rebels later. But if that was the case, where did the real Nydia end and the cunning spy begin?

Nowhere. Nydia had never been real. She was a spy all along.

I would have to remind myself of that. She was on the other side of the war that was to come. On the side that wanted to kill me and my family. I couldn't spare her sympathy or doubt. And if I saw her on the battlefield...

I will kill her.

The thought made my stomach turn.

Because without Nydia, I had nobody. Not a single person.

I was practically alone.

I sighed. For now I would focus on the main issue at hand. I will deal with my personal problems later.

I turned the corner and pushed open the first door, immediately being greeted by the sound of a violin playing. The music room was vast, with one side carrying multiple instruments which were stored behind a glass door. The rest was shaped as a semicircle large enough to perform an opera. Xavier leaned against the far wall. In the center stood my father, playing his violin.

There was no sheet music before him as he had already known it by heart. Afterall, it was a song he wrote. I was familiar with the song too, familiar enough to almost hear my mother singing along. Without her voice it sounded hollow.

With one final, accented stroke of his bow the song came to a close. The final note resounded across the music room before it faded away, basking us in silence.

I stepped further into the room, letting the door shut behind me as my guard joined ranks of the three others already posted outside.

"You're late," Xavier said, breaking the silence.

I opened my mouth, about to apologize, when I checked my watch. "No, I'm not. I'm early."

"You usually are," my father said as he took a seat in one of the chairs lining the room.

"With all due respect, I'm pretty sure I'm always late. Xavier always says that when I—" I blinked. Xavier and my father shared a knowing look. I realized I never really cared to check my watch before when he commented on my tardiness. I glared. "Seriously?"

"I'm surprised it took you so long to realize," my father mused.

"Just as it took you so long to realize the Ravens are using Nefarian technology."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Respectfully," I added for good measure.

He gave a simple look that said "That's what I thought" and turned to Xavier. "Are we sure the tech's straight from Nefaria and not a copy?"

"Not for sure."

"So," I began, "they could've merely stolen the information required to make the cloaking technology a long time ago and are replicating it to cover their tracks. That's why we've barely been able to track them down, even when we were looking them right in the eye.

"But," I continued, "they could also be actively stealing the tech every time they need to cloak some new piece of equipment. And, since we just blew up their Concordian headquarters and destroyed one of their invisible helicopters—"

"They will need more invisibility tech," my father said. "And they would need to steal massive amounts."

"They could steal it all at once or in much smaller increments. Stealing it all at once would be much more noticeable and could lead to them being actively hunted by the Nefarian government. Stealing it in smaller increments would garner less attention, but increase the chances of making an error and would require repeating the same avenues of stealing the tech. Either way, both methods would eventually leave some sort of trail for us to track."

"But that poses the issue of Nefaria itself," my father argued. "We currently don't have the means to track them in any way, thanks to their cloaking ability. In order to track the Ravens' activities within Nefaria we need Nefaria's information and aid. And Nefaria has not reported that any form of their technology had been stolen. So either the Ravens had managed to go unnoticed by even Nefaria, or Nefaria had kept it quiet. After all, the greatest insult to the Nation of Thieves is getting robbed."

"So we have to request Nefaria's aid and access to their highly relevant information," I surmised. That would require us to go there physically since the information at hand was too valuable to risk being hacked.

"Except this could possibly be exactly what the Ravens want," my father said. "After all, it was far too easy to find and access their databases. Even the guards were dead, perhaps killed by the Raven Ruler herself in order to clear the way and allow you to access the information. Perhaps she wants us to leave the country so that she may assassinate us and take over the Crown for herself."

Xavier jumped in. "She won't be able to claim the crown through assassination if there's an official declaration of war."

My father was silent, looking up at the ceiling. Finally, he nodded. "It would be difficult to create a declaration of war against a conspiracy, especially when we don't even know the name of the person who leads it, but it must be done for everyone's safety. And I suppose we could simply create a declaration against the Rebels instead. It would certainly be easier to make and more legitimate since we know much more about them."

Makes sense. After all, declarations of war could be ruled invalid if any information contained about the opposing force is false since it shows that the war was declared by uninformed groups. If its ruled invalid, then if a Crown was assassinated before then, the assassin will have claim to the crown—which is exactly what we're trying to prevent.

"So that gives them less motivation to attack you guys, but they still might," I concluded. "They could easily just want you dead, crown or no crown. It would certainly send the nation into disarray, making it easier for them to take over no matter who claims the crown. You and Edsel can't go to Nefaria."

"But the information is too valuable to be given to our messengers," Xavier said.

"And the King of Thieves might not take it seriously or perceive it as an insult if one of us doesn't attend," my father added.

Xavier met my eyes and an understanding passed between us. I said, "So send us."

Our father considered it. "It would be dangerous."

"Do we have an option?"

He sighed. "No. No, we don't."

"Then the three of us go to Nefaria this afternoon," Xavier concluded.

"Indeed. I will notify Edsel but advise him not to send word of your meeting. The Ravens may already know where to attack you, but we can't let them learn when as well. You two, get ready and take your weapons. You won't be allowed to take them inside Palace grounds, but you could still leave them in your pod as a precaution."

Xavier and I nodded. Our father paused as Xavier turned off his Tab, letting silence fill the room. Of course, we all knew what was coming next, what must've been haunting my father for the past two days. Finally, he spoke them aloud.

"And, of course, there is the business with Ace Kingston."

Xavier sighed. "Ace had attempted to murder me in the Raven base before escaping with Indigo Fluor and Nydia Raphaella. He most likely knows about Fluor's parentage and used Nydia to spy on us during her time at Evandor."

"A shame," he said. "I rather liked Nydia. Your mother too."

Didn't we all?

Xavier continued. "He must be using Nydia and Indigo to lead the Rebels to finally start their rebellion. But, while the Rebels are comparatively weak, with the Ravens rising as well, they could be a genuine threat. We cannot fight two wars at once. We need to eliminate the rebels."

"We need to eliminate Ace," I summarized.

The words hung heavy in the air. We may not have seen our cousin in years, but I was still fond of him. And I doubted this was something my father ever wanted to do. He didn't have a choice in killing his own brother, and now he was being forced to kill his nephew for seeking revenge. It was exactly what he had been hoping to avoid by letting both Phoenix and Ace go all those years, pretending that they were both dead even though we all knew better.

My father plucked a discordant string on his violin. "We know their base is located in Orleans, but we have no specifics. The Ravens, however, do. We need to learn what the Ravens know and what they plan to do about the Rebels. They are probably waiting for the Rebels to launch into war first and attempt to weaken us before attacking whatever's left, but perhaps there is a way to get the Ravens and Rebels to fight each other first."

"If we pit them against each other we could squash both of them," I surmised. "But we could run the risk of motivating large groups of the Rebels or the Ravens into joining the other and strengthening the remaining side."

"That's why we need more information about the Ravens," my father said. "We need to know how many of them are left, how many would still be willing to fight, and how many would possibly join the Rebels. And then we use that information to figure out just what crime the Ravens would not forgive the Rebels for enacting, and lead the Rebels to commit that very crime."

"Or frame them," Xavier said.

"Precisely. These are all things we can gather only if Nefaria agrees to offer their intelligence and aid. They are our sworn allies, but they may decide that providing aid isn't worth the trouble. You two must gain Nefaria's cooperation."

"We understand," I said. Xavier simply nodded.

"In the meantime, Edsel and I will visit our...prisoner. No one knows of his whereabouts or even his existence so we should be safe."

"Unless the Balkers spoke," Xavier argued. That would be a huge issue considering the fact that we were hiding the prisoner in their secret basement.

"They haven't."

"Amelia Balker's mental state is only getting worse."

Xavier and I both knew that quite well considering the fact that I stole Amelia Balker's meds after my mother's funeral, though Xavier simply returned the untouched bottle.

"And the only thing holding her together is the promise of revenge for her son," my father said. "She has not spoken."

"That's great," I said, "but we've already pulled out as much information as we can about the Ravens from our prisoner. Anything he has left to say is probably useless."

"That's why Edsel and I will be visiting him one last time. Then the Balkers may do with him as they wish."

"Perhaps it would be wise to set him free," Xavier said. "He offered us all the information he could. Set him free, he wouldn't dare approach the Ravens as they know he would've betrayed their secrets in exchange for his freedom. The Rebels won't trust him. He could spill what he knows to the public, but then we could just release him after we take care of the Ravens and the Rebels, when it would hardly matter. He wouldn't be a threat to us if he remained alive."

"I agree. Unfortunately, Edsel already promised the Balkers the honor of killing him. It is out of my hands."

I sighed. So he dies at the end of the day. Fantastic.

Not that I cared. He was an ass who Arielle had nearly killed months ago. Like father, like daughter I suppose. At any rate, he only survived this long because Xavier thought he could be useful. This day was always coming.

My father patted his leg. "You two should get going. Plan what the three of you are going to tell Nefaria. And let me know if there is something you wish to offer them in exchange for their cooperation. Only as a last ditch effort, of course."

We nodded and stood, turning for the door, but Xavier paused. He looked back to our father.

"I remember our Uncle and Aunt's trial. I remember that they had killed an Intellect, one that was a loyal friend of the Crown Fortier's, without any further explanation. And I know the Crown Fortier thought it was treason, that they were trying to steal the crown, and I know he's wrong. I know they were loyal to us, as loyal as family should be. But I don't know why they truly killed him."

My father sighed. "I don't know either. Both refused to explain why they had done it. Perhaps if they had, I could've reasoned with Edsel and the Court. I could've stated that it was excusable and not an attempted coup. But they never told me, and I was left without a choice. I could only give them the mercy of being executed by my hand and not Edsel's. But I could not help them."

"You did what you could," I whispered.

He plucked his violin again. "I hope so."

We turned away and stepped out the door, leaving him to look around the vast, empty room as he mourned the brother who died by his own hand.

♕ ♕ ♕

We were sitting in a lounge of the Grand Garden when Phoenix walked in.

We were surrounded on all sides by glass walls and a single glass door. To our right sat numerous trees filtering the sunlight. To our left was a view of a courtyard with a fountain in the center. All around the courtyard sat similar glass lounges, though they were all empty. In fact, the usually bustling garden was nearly vacant save for the few gardeners and groundskeeper.

We had just started to fill Arielle in about the plan to go to Nefaria. She seemed annoyed about the fact that the Ravens had managed to infiltrate Nefaria secretly, but she kept it to herself. Shockingly.

And then a loud bang echoed through the tiny, quiet space. I nearly fell of my chair, holding my ears. I looked over my shoulder to find Phoenix standing in the doorway.

"Seriously?!" I shouted. "It takes no effort to treat doors, and my ears, with respect, thank you very much."

"Shut up or I'll take back my offer."

I blinked. "What offer?"

She shut the door behind her and pranced to the other end of the room, towards the control panel. "Something I think I'm going to regret."

She pressed a few buttons on the controls which darkened the windows to a pitch black, leaving us in darkness until a single light in the ceiling flickered on. I knew she had turned on privacy mode which would activate the soundproof feature of the lounge. Whatever this was, it was serious.

Arielle tilted her head. "What is it?"

Phoenix took a deep breath before responding.

"I'm going to claim the crown."

I wish I was drinking water. I would've done a spit take. Preferably all over Phoenix.

The room was dead silent. And then Arielle jumped up and tackled Phoenix in a hug, smile beaming. Phoenix tried to push Arielle off, but to no avail. Arielle held on firm as she said, "I can't believe it. You finally agreed! You're going to do it! I can't believe it!"

"Yeah," I said, slowly. "Uh, me neither?"

I looked over at Xavier who was also paralyzed in his chair, face blank. For once in his life, there probably wasn't a single thought running through his mind.

Arielle pulled away. "This is fantastic! You're going to do great."

"Yeah, just one small issue with that," I said. "How the hell are we supposed to explain this to the Court? And literally everybody else in the entire freaking world?"

Arielle furrowed her eyebrows, looking between my brother and I. "You two don't already have a plan?"

"No," Xavier hissed, eyes narrowed at Phoenix. "Because we never expected this to actually happen."

I'm pretty sure what he was trying to say was, "I never thought either of you two would be idiotic enough to actually want to do this, but apparently I get surprised sometimes," but I guess he was trying to be polite and not ruin Arielle's brief moment of happiness.

The smile in Arielle's eyes seemed to slip, the corners of her mouth twitching back downward. "Oh."

"Well," she said, "I'm sure the two of you can figure something out."

I flung my hands up. "Why are we always the ones cleaning up your mess?"

Arielle ignored my complaint and turned back to Phoenix. "In the meantime, you should probably get ready to join us on our trip to Nefaria. We're going to visit the King and his Court. You could pretend to be a friend or advisor or something."

"Why?"

"It could help reorient you, ease you back into the political maneuverings. And, it would make you a familiar face to the King and the Court so they might be more likely to accept you. Plus, you would fit right in. It's the Nation of Thieves, after all."

"But why do we have to go in the first place?"

"Well, first of all, we should probably offer our condolences in person. The Prince just died."

"That sounds boring."

"And the Ravens infiltrated Nefaria, either by secret or with Nefaria's support. We need to convince them to cooperate."

"Still boring."

"Or, worst case scenario, expose them."

"I'm in."

"Great! Let's go."

Arielle dragged Phoenix out the room in the blink of an eye, and Phoenix relented, letting her. They were both gone before I could even think about protesting.

I sighed. "Wasn't the plan to find Phoenix so that we can show Arielle that she's wrong and should just claim the crown? Especially after she realizes that Phoenix doesn't want it either?"

"Apparently Arielle is far more stubborn than we thought, and Phoenix not nearly as much."

"Well isn't that fantastic," I ran a hand through my hair. "We should probably go find them before they both decide to do something even more stupid."

Xavier merely grunted in agreement and stood up, pushing back his chair so hard that it nearly toppled over. I followed, walking out the door as only one thought echoed through my mind.

We're all fucked.

Hey guys!

So sorry! It's been so long! If you guys haven't seen it already I posted a chapter titled "Code of Thieves" right after the Blood Laws which are the Nefarian Laws. Let's just say they might be very important in the near future...

Also, I already wrote all the way through chapter 62! So that means four more chapters!

That's right. This is a four chapter update!

I will be posting these chapters over the course of the next 24 hours, so stay tuned!

Side note: I might also provide the teensiest bit of bonus content at the end ;)

Anyways, don't die! And don't get robbed either! Unless it's by Phoenix.
-Sreenija Paruchuri