Eugene didn't feel right leaving the others in Old Corona, but if there was one thing he'd learned from leaving Rapunzel's side for the journey back to Corona it was that he needed to prioritize the needs of the whole over his own selfish desires.
There was a lot he could do to help keep Varian safe, but he knew that the best method would be to spend most of his time at the capital. As long as Eugene could keep King Frederic convinced that there was nothing wrong, and there was no reason to send guards to Old Corona to investigate anything happening there, then the others would be safe.
Eugene and Lance would stop by Old Corona at least once every other day, partially to check on the others and bring with them some supplies they might need, but mostly to reassure Edmund that Eugene was, in fact, okay. One of the last things they needed was for him to get concerned about Eugene and storm the capital, stirring the waters before they were ready to handle the storm.
Eugene wasn't used to acting responsibly and selflessly. He was sure that if his past self could see him now he wouldn't recognize him at all.
It had been a few weeks since they'd come to Corona, and King Frederic was getting antsy. They'd yet to hear a word from Rapunzel. Eugene was sure that she was on her way. She could take care of herself, and if there were any weak spots Adira would be able to cover her. Eugene was just a little concerned because he didn't want to see what King Frederic would do if his own concern got too strong.
Finally Eugene got word that Rapunzel had been spotted coming towards the island. She was finally home. King Frederic had his entire day schedule cleared so he could go and greet his daughter himself. Eugene wanted to join him, but first he slipped into the Demanitus chamber where Lance was hiding out.
Even after all these weeks neither of them understood a word of any of the books they found, but Eugene's father and Varian were starting to piece some things together, and they wanted some new material to research. Eugene and Lance's job, on top of dispelling suspicion, was to see if any of the dozens of books and notes held useful information.
When they weren't grabbing new books they were exploring the tunnels under the castle, trying to navigate them better. Eugene knew that Varian was insistent on coming to Demanitus' chamber himself, and the only way that Quirin would allow that to happen was if they had safe passage into the chamber. The less chance there was that they would be caught by the guards, the better.
Today, because Varian wanted some new books, Lance was sticking to the Demanitus chamber, so Eugene was able to find him really easily.
"Look alive, bud." Eugene said. "Rapunzel's back."
"Really?" Lance smiled broadly. He looked more excited than Eugene was. Eugene was far too worried about their plan going forward, and keeping everyone safe, to be excited to see his girlfriend.
"Yeah, she'll be here soon." Eugene said. He began to just grab the thickest and most confusing looking books he could find. He shoved them into Lance's hand. "Go back to Old Corona. Make sure everybody's okay, keep an eye out for trouble, and keep everybody inside."
"Eugene, relax." Lance said as he packed the books into a bag. "Nobody suspects anything. Everything's fine."
"I'll relax when this is all over." Eugene said, though none of them knew exactly when that would be. There was just so much that was happening, and even more that needed to happen.
"Just promise me something, Eugene." Lance said seriously. "Your girlfriend's home. It's the first time you'll see her for months. Allow yourself to have fun with it, just a little bit. I know you feel like you have to be responsible all the time, but you deserve a break just as much as anybody else."
Eugene gave his friend a small smile. "I'll see what I can do, but I make no promises."
"Give Rapunzel a big hug for me." Lance said.
"Now that I can do." Eugene said. The two of them left the Demanitus chamber. Everybody in the castle was darting around. The servants and staff were frantically preparing for a large party that night, because how else would Corona celebrate the return of their princess after she was gone for a year and a half? With as much staff as there were, Eugene saw barely any guards. They were probably either escorting the King to meet up with Rapunzel, or they had gone ahead to meet her to keep her safe.
When they left the castle Eugene was ready to join the crowd that was rushing to greet Rapunzel. Before he could though Lance grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
"One more thing." Lance said. "What are we going to do about Cassandra?"
Eugene narrowed his eyes and seethed. Cassandra. Eugene had once considered her a friend, though he'd been reluctant to admit it to anybody. They were far from friends at this point. Cassandra had betrayed Rapunzel. She'd tried to steal the priceless and dangerous moonstone, just because she was throwing a pity party for herself and refused to see that people respected her.
Eugene's dad had dedicated his life to protecting that thing. The moonstone was the reason why Eugene's mother was dead, and why his father had sent him away. Eugene wouldn't have been raised as an orphan if it weren't for the moonstone's unpredictable powers. How was he supposed to be fine that Cassandra had tried to take the thing for her own selfish desires, endangering everybody around her?
And Eugene couldn't forget the way that she had heard Zhan Tiri's whispering. He had seen for himself just how much Hector struggled under the demon's influence. Hector and Cassandra were similar in many ways, but where she was full of ambition he carried undying loyalty. If Zhan Tiri could weaponize Hector's loyalty, Eugene didn't want to think about what she had been doing with Cassandra's ambition and pride.
Eugene didn't know if Cassandra had been hearing anything more from Zhan Tiri since they had parted, and he didn't know if she had calmed down after all these months, but he wasn't going to let his guard down around her. Too much was at stake for him to take the chance.
"I'll figure something out." Eugene practically growled. He would personally see to it that Cassandra dealt with at least some consequences for her actions. Lance gave him a concerned look. Eugene was not in the mood to hear his friend try to convince him to forgive Cassandra. He would love to forgive her, but Cassandra had to earn it.
"Everything will be fine, Lance." Eugene said as calmly as he could manage. Lance seemed satisfied. He nodded.
"Everything will be fine in Old Corona too." Lance said. "I'll make sure of it." He nodded at Eugene one more time before he went on his way. Eugene watched him go for a minute before making his way to meet Rapunzel.
The crowds were thick, but from his thieving days he had a lot of practice navigating crowds and finding shortcuts. It wasn't long before Eugene found his way through. The very first person he spotted was Adira. Her height and white hair were hard to miss. Immediately after he saw Rapunzel. Just seeing her brought a smile to Eugene's face.
"Sunshine!" Eugene called out. Rapunzel turned towards him, beaming broadly. Seeing her smile, it felt like the clouds had parted after a long storm. By the sun and moon above, had he missed her.
"Eugene!" Rapunzel pulled away from her parents and ran to embrace him. Eugene held her close, spinning her in his arms. He swore that he would never let her go.
"I missed you." Eugene whispered into her ear. "I missed you so much."
"Rapunzel." King Frederic came over to them. He put a hand on Rapunzel's shoulder and pulled her back. "I don't want you going far." Eugene knew that he felt like holding Rapunzel for the rest of his life, but the king looked prepared to return to his previous idea of locking Rapunzel in the castle. Rapunzel seemed to notice the same thing.
"Dad, I didn't even leave your sight." Rapunzel said. Eugene was pleased to hear her standing up for herself. He'd been a little worried that Rapunzel would let her happiness of seeing her parents get the better of her. She was allowed to be happy to see her parents, of course, but that didn't mean that they had the right to control her life.
"I just worry about you." King Frederic embraced her. Rapunzel leaned into her dad's hug, but pulled away after a moment.
"I appreciate it, but I can take care of myself." Rapunzel said.
"Of course you can, dear." Queen Arianna put on Frederic's shoulder, giving him a pointed look. "Why don't we return to the castle where things are a little quieter?" She was probably right. They wouldn't be getting a lot of privacy out here.
"That's a great idea." Rapunzel said gratefully. She clung to Eugene's arm before looking over her shoulder at Adira, who was glaring daggers at King Frederic. "Adira, are you coming?"
"I said I'd stay with you, and I intend to." Adira said coldly. "Somebody has to speak in the self-interest of my people."
"For once I think we're on the same page." Eugene said. Adira looked at him in confusion. Eugene glanced towards Cassandra, who was reuniting with her own father. Adira followed his gaze and a look of understanding came to her eyes. Eugene knew that she would understand the need to see Cassandra face some justice.
Queen Arianna led the way back to the castle. King Frederic ordered that all of the guards escorted them. He was definitely incredibly paranoid. This wasn't going to be fun, but at least now that Rapunzel was back he might not hurt anybody.
On their way back to the castle Eugene held Rapunzel's hand and enjoyed her company, but he kept one eye on Cassandra. At first she was focused completely on catching up with the captain and enjoying being back home after so long, but eventually Cassandra noticed that Eugene was glaring at her. She met his stare with one of her own.
"Do you have a problem with me, Fitzherbert?" Cass snapped.
"You haven't given me any reason to not have an issue with you." Eugene said. Cassandra actually had the audacity to look shocked. Rapunzel gave Eugene a concerned look.
"Eugene, it's okay." Rapunzel said quietly. "We talked and I think…I think me and Cass better understand each other now." She looked at Cassandra. "Right?"
Cass gave Rapunzel a small smile. "Yeah, I think so."
"We've forgiven each other." Rapunzel said.
"And I'm happy for you." Eugene said, and he meant it. "But Rapunzel, what Cass tried to do didn't just hurt you. She hurt my dad, my kingdom," He glanced at Rapunzel's parents, who were watching them curiously. "Moonbeam."
"Don't flatter yourself, Fitzherbert." Cass said stiffly. "It never had anything to do with any of you."
"Oh, don't even start that." Eugene stopped in his tracks and whirled around to face Cassandra. She stood her ground, looking like she was standing up for herself against a heartless bully. As though Eugene was the one in the wrong here.
Queen Arianna cleared her throat and turned to face the guards. They were inside the castle now, just barely. They had probably intended to talk in a private room, but Eugene and Cassandra weren't letting that happen.
"Can you give us some space?" Arianna said. Her words were a question, but everybody could hear the order in her tone. The guards all looked to King Frederic. He sighed and nodded.
"Leave us." King Frederic said. All of the guards retreated, save for the captain.
"With all due respect, your Majesty, if this involves my daughter then I would rather stay." The captain said.
"Very well." King Frederic said.
"Great, now, where was I?" Eugene mock thought about it. "Right, I remember." He took a threatening step towards Cassandra, who infuriatingly stood her ground. "Don't you dare say that this didn't have anything to do with any of us. I may not know why you did any of this, aside from your inferiority complex, but that doesn't change the fact that you tried to steal the moonstone, something that definitely doesn't belong to you, and when you were stopped you tried to attack a child."
The captain looked at Cassandra in shock. "Is that true?"
"No!" Cassandra said. She sounded offended, like Eugene was making up disgusting lies about her. Hearing her so offended just infuriated Eugene.
"Oh, it's not?" Eugene seethed. "So you're saying that you didn't try to take the moonstone for yourself?" Cassandra said nothing. "And you weren't about to attack Moonbeam to take the moonstone from him when he got it first?" Once again, there was no answer. "So what am I missing?"
"Try context." Cassandra said. "You have no idea what I've been through."
"It doesn't matter." Eugene said coldly. "I get that you feel hurt, but nothing gives you the right to make it everybody else's problem."
"Eugene, calm down." Rapunzel said gently. He took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry, Sunshine." Eugene said. "But I can't. I know you've forgiven Cassandra, but you can't forgive her on my behalf." Rapunzel looked confused. Eugene had to think of how to say it in a way that she would understand. "Okay, look, I've forgiven Moonbeam for all the ways he's wronged me, but how would you feel if I decided that just because I forgave him meant that nobody else could be mad at him for what he had done?"
Rapunzel was quiet for a long moment. She looked conflicted. "That…that's not the same thing."
"I know it's not." Eugene said gently. But it's the same basic principle"
"Who is Moonbeam?" Arianna asked curiously.
"And who is this?" King Frederic eyed Adira suspiciously.
"My name is Adira." The warrior introduced herself. "I am a Knight of the Dark Kingdom."
"She's been helping us on our quest." Rapunzel said cheerfully. "We can trust her."
"That's debatable." Cassandra muttered.
"That's rich, coming from the traitor." Eugene said.
"Oh, so we're talking about traitors now?" Cassandra crossed her arms. "Then why don't we talk about your new best friend, Moonbeam?"
"Don't you dare." Eugene growled. This was not a good place to talk about Varian. Eugene had not spent weeks keeping Varian's return to Corona a secret only for Cassandra to ruin it all because she wanted to make somebody else the bad guy.
"Who is Moonbeam?" King Frederic repeated Arianna's earlier question. Eugene didn't like the protective look in his eyes. "Is he a threat?"
"Yes." Cassandra muttered.
"No." Eugene said loudly. "Absolutely not." He glared at Cassandra. "I travelled with the others to make sure that Moonbeam wasn't a threat, and after all this time I can tell you that he's not."
"I trust you." Rapunzel said, and she sounded sincere, which Eugene appreciated. The others weren't quite convinced.
"If he's not a threat, why would Cassandra say he was?" The captain asked.
"Moonbeam is the host of the moonstone." Adira said. "Similar to how the princess is the embodiment of the sundrop."
"The moonstone has the potential to be dangerous in the wrong hands." Eugene said, repeating something he'd heard his dad say multiple times. "I don't think Moonbeam is the wrong hands. Not anymore."
"Does that mean that he used to be?" King Frederic raised an eyebrow.
Eugene needed to tread carefully. He knew that he needed to say something before Cassandra took it upon herself to say more than they should reveal, but he couldn't rush it, or else he might mess everything up accidentally.
"Moonbeam made some mistakes about a year ago." Eugene said. "But he's just a kid, he's still learning, and he's gotten a lot better. I promise, he doesn't want to hurt anybody anymore. He only acted out because he was scared and alone, but we're getting him help."
Arianna frowned slightly. She looked at Adira, an odd look in her eyes. "Is Moonbeam from the Dark Kingdom too?"
"His father is." Adira said. Arianna smiled and nodded to herself. There was an almost triumphant look in her eyes. Eugene didn't know how he felt about that.
Arianna put a hand on King Frederic's arm. "Darling, I think that Rapunzel is really tired after her long journey. We should let her get some rest."
"Yes, of course." King Frederic looked at Rapunzel. "I'll take you to your room."
"Dad, I can get there myself." Rapunzel said. She sounded both amused and impatient. She was handling her dad's protective nature a lot more than Eugene would.
"Humor your old man." King Frederic said. Rapunzel gave a small chuckle and took the arm her father offered to her. They continued further into the castle.
The Captain gave Cassandra a stern look. "I think the two of us need to talk."
"Yeah, you're probably right." Cassandra sighed. It was hard to tell if she was dreading the conversation or looking forward to it. They left as well, leaving just Eugene and Adira with the queen.
Arianna gave Eugene a soft look. "So Eugene, tell me, how is Varian doing?"
Eugene stiffened and Adira automatically reached for her blade, though fortunately she didn't pull it out.
"I, uh, how would I know?" Eugene tried to keep his voice even. "Isn't he still in the dungeons?" His best plan right now was to play dumb. He was usually pretty good at it, as most people considered him a fool anyway, but the queen wasn't most people. Arianna gave him an unimpressed look.
"Eugene, give me some credit." Arianna said. Her tone was just shy of scolding. "Varian was broken out of the dungeons by what the guards described as a feral beast of a man. Years ago Quirin described one of his siblings the same way. The other one he described as being an Amazonian warrior with hair as white as moonlight. I'm guessing that was you."
Adira crossed her arms. "I didn't think that Quirin talked about us."
"He didn't tell us a lot." Arianna said. "I'm sure Frederic has forgotten everything, but I haven't. And I know how to put two and two together. The way you describe Moonbeam, he's Varian, isn't he?"
Eugene swallowed thickly, exchanging glances with Adira. "So what if he is?"
"Can you tell me if he's alright?" Arianna asked. She actually sounded concerned. "Is he safe?"
Eugene was quiet for a moment before he decided to take the chance. "Varian's just fine. His dad's keeping an eye on him."
Arianna closed her eyes and tilted her head back slightly. "Thank the heavens."
Adira finally relinquished her grip on her sword. "You're worried about him? Even though he kidnapped and threatened you?"
"Of course I'm worried about him." Arianna said fiercely. "He's just a child. I saw him when he was at his lowest, and it was heartbreaking to watch a smart and kind boy fall so far. I wanted to help him, but Frederic wouldn't let me anywhere near him after he was arrested."
Arianna sighed. "Frederic was furious when Varian was broken out. He nearly sent the entire Coronan army after the boy, hunting him down like a dog."
Adira took in a harsh breath. She looked like she'd just been hit. Arianna gave her a concerned look, but Adira said nothing. She didn't have to though. Eugene suspected that she was thinking about Hector.
Eventually Arianna continued. "I was just worried about the boy. I didn't want him to be caught. I just hoped that the dangerous man that took Varian was the brother that Quirin had mentioned. I thought that if Varian was with family then he'd be safe, and maybe he'd finally get the care and support that he desperately needed."
"Well, he did." Adira said.
"Good." Arianna said. "He's not in Corona, is he? It's not safe here for him."
"I know." Eugene said. "But we have something important to do. When we're done, I'll personally see to it that Varian gets somewhere safe."
Arianna gave Eugene a suspicious look. "This wouldn't have anything to do with why you and Lance have been sneaking around the castle, would it?"
Eugene smiled sheepishly. "Maybe."
"Just be careful." Arianna said. "I'll help where I can, but there's only so much I'll be able to do if Frederic finds out about Varian."
"If he tries anything, he'll have the entire Brotherhood contending against him." Adira said. "It's difficult to convince my brothers to not get revenge, or justice, or whatever they're trying to call it."
"Well, we wouldn't want that, would we?" Arianna adjusted her dress. She gave Eugene and Adira a small nod. "I'd better go make sure that Frederic gives Rapunzel some space. Goodness knows he'll smother her if given the chance."
Arianna left. As soon as she was out of sight Eugene slumped in relief. "I swear, this family's going to be the death of me."
"You'll survive." Adira said. "Do you have everything covered here? I want to see my brother." Adira looked towards where the king had walked off with Rapunzel. "And we may have to come up with a new plan. The princess said that she would come by Old Corona when she could, but seeing her father I don't think that will happen anytime soon."
"Oh, no, absolutely not." Eugene agreed. "If he lets Rapunzel leave the castle at all, it'll be with a massive escort, which isn't really what we want when we're trying to keep them from finding out about Varian."
Eugene took a deep breath and straightened his hair. He was far too stressed. "Yeah, go to the others. As stupid as this sounds, and as risky as it will be, I think that now is as good a time as ever to sneak you guys in here to check out the Demanitus chamber for yourselves." There were guards everywhere, yes, but they were distracted with Rapunzel, and, more importantly, so was the king.
Whether they were ready or not, it was time to move forward.