A/N: I own nothin but plot and OC characters. Enjoy!

Princess Alana paced back and forth in her room. Once she had arrived back at Kiran, the king had reprimanded her harshly behind closed doors. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Alexander had been praised for defusing the situation between Mandol and Eldoris.

Naturally, Alana was incensed. She had worked so hard to pull the prime minister down, but now they were nearly on equal footing once more.

That stupid fool from Mandol! Alana gnashed her teeth. He didn't do his job properly and had even pulled her in.

As soon as the Kiran procession had exited Eldoris, she had ordered for the death of the Grand Duke of Mandol. Now that fool was probably on the boat to hell.

Hardly anything she had planned had worked in Eldoris. Her half-blood sister had barely flinched when Sir Luke was there. Alana's light magic seemed to bear no effect, but Annabeth wasn't supposed to have any magic at all. Alana had made sure of that. After all, the royals of Kiran were losing their magical bloodline until Circe had married in. Annabeth was only the product of the king and a lowly foul maid with no magical power to offer.

That bastard Annabeth hadn't seemed to face any humiliation at all. As a final punch to the gut, the crown prince of Tynan didn't seem to have any interest in Alana. All talks of unity between Kiran and Tynan had stalled.

Alana bit her lips. Her soul was still failing to adjust in this body. Her original body had almost woke up with her daughter's soul taking control.

What was going wrong all of a sudden? Everything in her life had gone her way.

"Your Highness, a letter has arrived for you from Barinia."

"Give it to me."

Princess Alana snatched the letter in a foul mood. Reading the letter, she felt her eyebrows raise.

The current king of Barinia had decided to select his daughter as the reigning crown princess over her older brother.

The elder prince wanted to hold hands with her in partnership. Alana snorted. Who did this piece of scum think he was?

Barinia was on the other side of Tynan and was a much smaller country. What resources could the now deposed prince of a weakling nation provide for her?

Alana curled her lips in disgust. But she did need more power now. Not to mention she was still waiting on word from Eldoris about the dowager queen's exploits on undermining the Eldoris king's authority.

Finishing the letter, Alana threw the letter into the fire.

It pained her to know that she would have to rely on these kinds of lowly people.

"Call for my knight," Alana ordered.

She needed some comfort tonight if she were to make her bed with the Barinian prince.

The next morning, the secret that a female body with caramel colored hair was carried out of the Eldoris palaces became quiet and small gossip fodder for the nobles. Those with deeper connections found that the dancer had been a noblewoman from a small family distantly connected with the dowager queen.

One rumor went that the queen herself pretended to be noble but had the dancer eliminated. Other rumors went that the king was dissatisfied with the dancer and had her killed before having the queen spend the night with him. Either way, the message was sent out. Any woman sent to the Eldoris palaces was in danger of losing her life. The people wanting to prop their relatives into the king's bed were beginning to have second thoughts. If the king or queen had no qualms of killing a noblewoman, then their lives were at stake, too.

Still, even those rumors were small compared to the more exciting rumors that the dowager queen's maid had been caught in such a compromising situation on the day of the dowager queen's banquet. It did not speak well for the dowager queen's management.

But the king currently did not care about such rumors flying about in private tea parties and business discussions. He was only focused on the sleeping figure of the queen next to him in bed. Memories of last night flooded his mind.

Both of them had been fatigued. After stroking his hair and murmuring words of comfort, it was the queen who started to fall asleep first and the king who ended up being the one to pat her back like a child.

The night held a hint of light chill, so Percy decided to let the queen stay in Gardenia Palace. It was not the queen's first time to reside here, anyways, and it would be more trouble to wake her up and send her back to Dahlia Palace.

He had been so afraid that she was affected by the poison. There was no telling what others may do to her once she left his sight. So until his heart was calm, he would make sure that she was safe beside him.

The queen was still asleep, her hands curled up by her face. She was firmly excused from swordsmanship training for the next few days until Percy was convinced that she was fine. He gently brushed her hair off her face and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

Sir Grover, who had to wake the king up early to report on the prisoners from last night, decided to be selectively blind at the moment.

Entering the secret dungeon, Percy stared down at the bodies of the maid and the male from the birthday banquet. The physicians had been called here as well, but only Solace was able to do anything about the poisonous incense that had permeated the bodies. The male had been in the room for too long and could not be saved. The young maid from Magnolia Palace could only have her life extended temporarily.

"The dowager queen is vicious as ever," Percy said coolly.

Had Amphitrite's plan succeeded, the queen would not have only been disgraced as she would have been seen with a man from Kiran, she would have died. Even if the nobles of Eldoris understood that the queen had been schemed upon, in the hearts of commoners, the queen would have been someone whose loyalties lay with Kiran rather than with Eldoris. He himself as the king of Eldoris would also have his reputation stained. Then, to tie up loose ends, the queen planned to have this simple maid from her own palace killed.

"Brother…" Prince Triton's eyes were unfocused as he cradled the head of the maid in his arms.

Percy observed the scene with a blank expression. Triton was only nineteen years old, just barely a man of age. That young maid was only eighteen but had served Triton for ten of those years. Yet, the dowager queen had disliked the budding romantic relationship between her son and this maid, and cruelly forced the relationship to be cut off like that.

The young maid had only lived for six hours longer than the Kiran male. It was barely long enough to sneak Triton out of Marigold Palace and have a last conversation with his lover. Percy had given them some privacy, but with the hidden ears and eyes in this place, he supposed his brother's conversation would float into his ears regardless.

"She was forced to do so because she was being threatened by the deaths of her family. I will take care of her funeral, as well as protect her family as best as I can." Percy said to Triton.

That was the only thing he could do.

Triton let out a bark of laughter bitterly. Even before his brother became king, Percy could do so much more than Triton could ever do. Everything Triton could eat, wear, do, or breathe was being controlled by his mother. For a while, Triton had been jealous of his older brother who seemed to have more freedom. But Triton knew in his heart that his own mother was only secretly trying to control his older brother from the shadows.

If it was not his lover lying in his arms, then the situation would be reversed with the king of Eldoris holding the broken body of his queen. How could any man forgive the person who had aimed a spear into his heart and destroyed it utterly?

But Triton felt like he was a coward. That person who had so precisely ripped the person who made his dull life feel vibrant was his own flesh and blood mother. Part of him couldn't understand why his mother would do such a thing. But the other part of him knew that his mother intended for Triton to inherit the throne so he would never be used by anyone in the world. Just like his mother had been used, forced to be on the queen's throne of Eldoris by her own father. But didn't Mother realize that what she was doing was exactly what his maternal grandfather had done to her?

What could Triton do about it? He was a powerless and ill prince who had only a title but no other status. He had failed to keep his own love safe. A coward, one could say.

So Triton did the only thing he could think to do. He kneeled down before his brother.

Percy reached for his brother to bring him up from his knees, but Triton refused his help.

"Please, brother, spare my mother's life." Triton lowered his head onto the ground. "I beg of you."

Both siblings knew the one behind this was the dowager queen Amphitrite. Even though the evidence had not been all gathered, the day of reckoning was coming.

"You are a prince of Eldoris," Percy said. "Quickly, get up."

Triton shook his head. "I don't deserve that title, and I know I certainly don't deserve asking to spare my mother's life. Least of all to you."

After all, it was Triton's own mother, the dowager queen, who had not spared Percy's mother's life. Even if Amphitrite had not wanted to assume the throne, she had still chosen this route.

"Even though she has killed your lover?" Percy asked. "Even when she has plotted to kill my own mother?"

Triton bowed his head even lower. Percy knew it was a difficult choice for his younger brother. Committing matricide was not innate in humanity. It was the children of murderers who often bear the burden and stigma for long generations after.

"I will take Mother away in exile, brother. I will make sure that she will not hurt another innocent soul again. I swear this on my life." Triton could only say.

He had already lost someone important to him. Though his mother was in the wrong, he was too selfish and wanted his mother to be alive at least.

"I know that I am selfish in asking this, brother. My mother is not perfect, and she has hurt others. This is undoubtedly true. I do not wish for her to continue hurting another human being."

Percy let out a sigh. Triton kneeling and bowing his head was a pitiful sight. What kind of fucked up royal family was this that brother fought against brother, son against mother? But all the royal families were like this.

"Please, I can help in whatever ways I can!" Triton pleaded.

Triton offering an olive branch to be a spy within the dowager queen's inner circle could be useful. But Percy also knew that his half-brother was complicated as well. Even though Triton was ill, he would have still heard of some plans or information dropped carelessly around him. Who would deem an ill prince a threat? Yet Triton could not or would not pass on the information even if it harmed Percy. Triton was only forced to take this path because he was personally affected by his mother's disastrous actions.

Percy knew that exile or imprisonment could be a worse punishment than death for the queen. It was far more painful for one to live many more years and see others living well while one was living in the dredges. Still, if it was up to him, Percy would rather the dowager queen be buried six feet in the ground by now if it wouldn't cost such royal upheaval in the court. Both he and the dowager queen knew this. The only ending they could have was the death of the other. But of course, Percy could not tell this to Triton.

"We'll talk about this later," Percy said gently. "The sun is rising, and you must return to Marigold Palace."

Triton stared at the face of his lover woodenly as if trying to commit to memory her features. At last, he stood up and swayed slightly. Even when her body was carted away to be buried, Triton's eyes never strayed until he could not see her anymore. Finally, he staggered back to Marigold Palace, clutching the little golden ring he had given to his lover.

Percy brooded for a while. He had seen love take form in many shapes and sizes. His own father was insane enough in his love to take in a second queen who was similar to his first wife just to indulge in the fantasy that his first wife was back once more. Then, Queen Annabeth's experiment had shown that Princess Alana's and Crown Prince Jason's great love had been nothing more than a case of adrenaline, hormones, and lumokinesis manipulation of emotion. And here he had an example of when love went wrong to the depths of hell. Wasn't Triton now a mere shadow of himself after he had lost his lover, driven on the path to betray his own mother?

True love didn't exist for royals like him and Triton. Everyone had said King Poseidon's love had been the greatest fairy tale of the century. Yet, Percy's mother had vanished just like that. It all made Percy not want to believe in love.

But even as Percy thought that, a memory of a blonde young woman in his arms whispering words of comfort pierced his thoughts. The fragrance she had left on him was still there.

Percy found himself touching the handkerchief she had embroidered for him.

A/N: Ah, morals and ethics in this story. Even Triton is all shades of gray morality. Not actively participating in violence and looking the other way doesn't absolve one of sins.

I actually meant for this chapter to be a surprise update, but it totally slipped my mind. Woops...

But somewhat on the bright side, I procrastinated studying for my exam and finally finished chapter 40 and half of chapter 41, lol. Cross my fingers and hope I don't fail! My body's been reacting pretty badly to stress these past weeks since school started, so it was nice to take a little bit of time and just do a little creative writing for a change. Hope everyone's been doing well, as your comments were absolutely uplifting~

As always, stay safe and see you all next week!