Austin and I walked side by side, with our arms linked. In Ice Peak's castle, hierarchy was immensely important, King Deron always situated himself on front while everyone stood a step behind him. He was the main figure, the most powerful one.

In Kaerndall, hierarchy was regarded in matters such as seating dispositions but we believed that even though kings or queens were the most important people in the room they wouldn't be there without the support of many other people, those people deserved recognition and respect. That's why Austin always walked by my side and never behind me. He was my equal, and I refused to treat him as less.
"I need you to promise that you won't engage in any bickering, Austin. If anything happens, I will handle it myself. I murmured.

He closed his eyes and sighed. "I know, I know. I've been messing up and saying the wrong things ever since I first stepped into this Court. I should be the one helping you keep your composure, not the other way around, I know better than this, I am trained better than this."

"It's okay, you are okay. We just have to adapt like we always do. Just because I act defenseless doesn't mean that I am. I know you aren't used to see me like this, and you feel this weird male urge to be my knight in a shining armor and save me, but I don't need that."

His face lowered in shame. "I'm sorry, Lyn. I know you struggle with being impulsive, and I'm just making things worse by picking up fights."

"Austin low self-stem doesn't look good on you. We have always succeeded in our missions, and that won't be changing anytime soon. Just focus on me, okay, stop thinking about what everyone else does." He nodded.
"You know me better than anyone, Austin. You know my tales, trust them. Intervene accordingly to them, if I can handle the situation remain quiet. If I get too overwhelmed or I'm about to snap, that's your cue to either calm me or get me out of there."

His eyes gleamed as he raised his chin and gave me a thankful smile. When we arrived at the door of the Great Hall, we stopped, it was opened but we didn't venture into the room. We both lifted our faces, cleared out throats, cracked our knuckles and let in a deep breath.

We both had established early in our training a routine to prepare before each meeting, battle, fight and even in training. It allowed us to put our heads in the right place and leave everything behind. Starting always with a routine created consistency, which was crucial for success and gave us a sense of confidence and familiarity in every situation we came across with.

We relinked our arms and walked inside, together, side by side. The room was packed. The ladies and maids giggles and batted their eyelashes, trying to get Austin's attention, as we walked towards the throne we heard some scoff at the fuss, stating that Austin was not that handsome. I couldn't help but let out a small chuckle.

The Royal Council frowned their eyebrows when they observed Austin's position. I avoided looking in Dylan's direction. Ryder, Alyssa and Kasper were in the first row. Alyssa's face sported a seemingly bored look. Kasper was an open book; contempt and disgust irradiated from every pore of his body while Ryder's face was blank.

When we stood before King Deron and Queen Eloise, Austin bowed completely, while I bowed with my head. King Deron's held the smug smile that always seemed to appear when I was around.

"Greetings, Your Majesties." Austin and had unclamped our arms, but remained close to each other, nonetheless.

"Princess Aelyn, in my kingdom all visitors are expected to announce their arrival in advance, is there a reason why your knight decided otherwise?" Deron's cold voice reverberated across the room. I sensed Austin tense, while I fought against the urge to play with my rings.

"Your Grace, my right hand sent a messenger. Said messenger was assaulted by unidentified rebels, they probably thought attacking someone with the royal seal of House Silverhall would move them up in the ranks. Duke Silverhall unaware of this attack and thought the palace had been noticed of his imminent arrival." King Deron pursed his lips but remained quiet.

"Those are blatant lies, Your Majesty, they surely planned all of this." accused a member of the Royal Council.

I tilted my head in his direction. "I may not be your princess, but I am still royalty. You shall treat me with respect. Unless you have any proof, it would be wise not to accuse me of lying. I'm merciful, but someone else might take offense. If I were, you I'd choose my words more carefully in the future. I am here to try and make peace between our kingdoms, not to create conflict." His face paled, his lip trembled as he tried to apologize.

"I'm sure the incident was just a very unfortunate coincidence, I hope the messenger has recovered." A sweet voice spoke up.

"He has, Your Grace. He was bruised but no major injuries were inflicted in the attack. Your wishes and concern are greatly appreciated." I thanked Queen Elodie.

King Deron looked in complete awe whenever his wife spoke. As despicable as I thought him to be, I couldn't deny how much adoration he showed for his wife. His face softened whenever he looked at her.

"I would like to request to extend Duke Silverhall's stance in Ice Peak's castle. He'd be here along with the rest of my household as my advisor. Due to his position as my right hand and most trusted advisor I humbly request for his bed chambers to be in the South Wing." I noticed Dylan trying to get my attention, but I ignored him.

"I'm sure that can be arranged. Duke Silverhall, your household will be able to move your belongings when your new room is ready," announced Queen Elodie.

Austin bowed his head and smiled. "Thank you, Your Grace, you are very generous."

I noticed how the king allowed Elodie to take the lead when it came to the guests in the castle, yet she reminded quiet when anything's about politics or economics was discussed.

"Princess Aelyn, in honor of my birthday, my sweet husband is organizing a week long celebration for the occasion. As a sign of good faith, I would like to formally extend an invitation to your parents, King Malcolm Thornwell of Kaerndall and Queen Florence Thornwell of Kaerndall, along with an invitation to your little sister, Princess Vivian Thornwell, to attend the main celebration."

I was taken by surprise, but improvising had always been one of my strengths. "I'm certain my family will be honored to attend such a magnificent celebration."

I turned my head towards King Deron. Your Majesty, I'm sure you are aware that insurgents have been actively attacking both of our kingdoms recently. At Kaerndall we find this type of revindication distasteful, and we don't condone such behaviour, I'm sure this is something we both can agree on. I would like to request a private audience with you and the Royal Council to find a solution for this issue. Together." I requested.

It only took a quick glance towards Austin to notice that he was gone. His mind already planning strategies, calculating the different outcomes of different actions, trying to plan out next step.

This wasn't supposed to happen like this. I was supposed to come here and find military secrets of the Highlands I came here with the mission of finding enough leverage to defeat them at war. I came here to destroy them. But that plan was long gone. Austin and I had adventured into a new path, to improve The Highlands, not with violence but by changing its retrograde system.

A system in which I could never had been trained as a spy and assassin. I system in which I would never had been allowed to wear anything besides dresses. A system in which, if my sister little sister had turned out to be a boy she would have been first in line of succession.

Changing The Highlands was very noble and exciting, until we realized it was a plan far more dangerous. Playing tricks and manipulating Alyssa and Dylan would not be easy, even more so with Kasper's obvious disgust of my kingdom's traditions. The Ice Court was filled with Kasper's.

We needed to adapt, and fast. Developing a strong bond with Alyssa, Dylan and Ryder was important, but Court politics and games were to become a priority. Between improving my relationships, political games and pleasantries and training sleep would become quite scarce and valuable.

"Your private audience has been granted. May our countries unite to fight against a common enemy: Rebels." King Deron's scowl after he spoke his words was barely visible, lasting only a split of a second. But I saw it. I didn't know yet if it was because the idea for working together was unpleasant or if there was something else.

I noticed a set of guards approaching the Royal Council. They apprehended the young councilman that had spoken out of turn, that had attacked me. The escorted him out of the Great Hall. He whimpered and cried, but he didn't dare to speak up again.

"If Your Highness pleases, my Duke Silverhall and I would like to be excused."

"You two may leave." King Deron said.

I bowed my head while Austin, once again, bowed with his full body. Adrenaline pumped through my veins, as it did before a new mission began. I tried to keep my face features as calm as possible, to keep up the facade I had created. But, I couldn't control the feeling. Austin offered his arm and I grabbed it, the exit looked too far away. I tried to pick up our pace, but Austin didn't budge.

We were in front of the entire Ice Court, I couldn't run out of the Great Hall after speaking to the King. They would twist my actions. Threading this imagine in their heads that I was some scared little girl; that I couldn't handle asking for a private audience without freaking out. I was trying to make myself defenseless enough to not be suspected of, but I still needed to respected.

It was going to be hard enough to make my voice heard as a woman in the court, I couldn't give them any more reasons for them to think I was not a capable. If they sensed I would be a weak ruler, my kingdom would soon be invaded by The Highlands. Perceptions were dangerous and when you played with them, sometimes deathly. As Kasper had demonstrated several times, they already underestimated me as a woman; I wouldn't let them think I was a scared little girl.

We crossed, at last the door, finally free from the scrutiny. Once we turned the corner and were outside of the guard'sight, I let out a little squeal of excitement and a wicked grin appear.

When we got to my room, we both were laughing, Austin opened the door for me. "What a gentleman."

I smirk appeared in his face, "I can be naughty if you want me to." I burst out laughing, until I saw we weren't alone.

Two of my maids were in my room, cleaning it up. "Mary, Silvy, thank you for cleaning. You may leave us alone."

Both girls bowed, they looked at each other and left the room giggling.

"Aren't you gonna to say anything to them?" Austin inquired.

"What's the point, they will believe whatever they want no matter what I say."

"Your prince won't be happy."

I shrugged, "my prince will get over it. Now, we have more important matters to discuss. Austin, you won't be attending the audience."

His nose crinkled and his brows furrowed. "Excuse me? You are out of your mind if you think I'm not going to go."

"I'm not out of my mind Austin. You will be attending, they just won't know about it."

His face light up, "The grilles!" We both sat down in my bed.

"Exactly"

"Good, I will get there before the meeting; I'll be able to know what they think of you or if the have knowledge about our army. I'll analyze their behavior during your meeting. I'll find out if they plan to betray whatever you two decide in the meeting," Austin announced.

"I love when you figure things out, you look so cute," he closed his eyes and made a quick cute pose, we both laughed.

"Austin, try to wait until the king of the Council leaves. I want to know if they trust each other. We need to know how united they truly are. If we can pit them against each other, the system will fall into chaos swiftly."

"What entrance should I use, and how are we going to explain my absence?"

"Use the gardens. The library is too risky, the librarians will grow suspicious if you repeatedly go there and remain unseen for hours. Same with the ballroom, during the day there are guards in its entrances. If you take too long they'll go inside and alarms will go off when they noticed you disappeared. About your absence, I will just say you are dealing with Kaerndall matters."

"Perfect, but Lyn, this new plan of ours. Getting Dylan and his inner circle on our side, manipulate them into gradually changing the system, is going to take longer than just learning their political and military secrets and defeat them at war. We need to continue training, or we'll become undisciplined."

"I got that covered. A few weeks ago, I broke into the armory and stole some weapons. I have a small stash hidden in the ballroom and library entrances. Its not much just a bow, a sword and twenty-three arrows."

"You never cease to amaze me. Master Adler would be proud of you."

Master Adler is Kaerndall's most feared assassin and most dangerous spy. He was our mentor, he taught us everything we know.

"I also stole an extra sword and bow for training. They are hidden in the forest that surrounds the castle. I usually go there before sunrise to practice."

"I'm thrilled for training. I can't wait to beat you." Austin puffed his chest, jumping out of the bed and standing with his hands on his hips.

I followed suit and stood next to him. "We'll see Ash, only time will tell."

Asher was Austin's middle name. It's the fake name he used in missions. Austin only allowed his a brother and me to call him by that name.

"Whatever you say, Lyn." He playfully stuck his tongue out. "I know you are usually the one who is incapable of keeping this to themselves, but I will burst if I don't."

I furrowed my brows. "Ash, can you quit being cryptic and just tell me?" He laughed it off and shushed me.

"Well, our anniversary is coming up, and I got you something."

Austin and I had decided years ago to celebrate an anniversary of our friendship, we always spent that day together and made a competition of who would make the best gift. I squealed and started jumping excited.

"Last year, you and your magnificent blue cape won, but this year it's my turn to shine, darling. I know you were crushed when you left Oleander behind -" I interrupted him mid sentence.

"I swear to God, Ash. If you are joking about this..."

"I'm not, I'm not. I swear in on my honor. Turns out no one really pays attention to how many swords I carry with me. I didn't really have to put much effort to smuggle yours." I jumped into his arms; he caught me and we laughed as we held each other

The biggest smiles rested on both our faces. "I love you, Ash. Thank you so much."

"No need to thank me, I'm glad you liked it, but I just wanted to win." I knew he was lying. Whenever he did it, he started to blink faster.

I let out a excited squeal, "You are the best!"

As my words left my mouth my door opened. A strawberry blonde girl who wore a red velvet dress appeared to be socked.

She stumbled a few steps back as she mumbled. "Sorry! I didn't mean to bother. I'll leave you two to whatever thing I interrupted." Alyssa excused herself.

Author's note:

And that's a wrap! I really hope you are enjoying the story so far. If you are a long time reader I suggest that you go back and reread chapter 5 (Discoveries and Theft) as really important plot information was revealed.

What are your thoughts on Aelyn and Austin?
What do you guys think of Deron's and his wife relationship?
What are your thoughts on Alyssa and Austin?

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