Chapter Three
Prince Urban was tired. Very tired. The kind of dog tired that made everything blur thogether in a black haze. As he and his friends were horsebackriding, he lagged behind, if only to doze off every once in a while.
"Come on Urban!" goaded Mavros as they neared the forest. "Race me to the river!"
"How old are you? Seven or seventeen? No I'm not racing you to the river! I'm tired as it is!" Urban replied, annoyed.
"I'm seven if it gets you to stop being such an ass!" Mavros shot back.
"Fine, to the river, and I'll beat you only to make you shut-up." Urban relented.
Mavros turned his horse, a fine dappled silver, towards the forest and rode off at top speed. Urban heeled his white mare and tore off after him with a grin on his face. Even though he had snapped at Mavros and been annoyed at his challenge, the truth was that he liked to horse race. As he and his favorite horse (affectionately named Audovauld) tore through the forest at top speed, he forgot how tired he was and pushed on. After about two minutes he spied Mavros' horse and pulled up beside him. After passing Mavros an ego-saturated grin, he pushed Audovauld to her highest speed, leaving poor Mavros in the dust. He and Audovauld were speeding their way to the river, dodging around trees and creatures and bushes as recklessly as they could without risking the prince's life. They reached the river a full five minutes before Mavros.
Mavros was walking his horse as he neared.
"Now that I've got you alone I have a question."
"Shoot." said a slightly lighter minded Urban
"Why in the Hell would you invite the slut to the ball?"
"Huh?" The question caught Urban completely off gaurd.
"The dancer. The traitiors' kid. Amethyst! Why would you invite her? Do you have any idea what they say about you? They say that you're a fraud and that you tricked your brother into giving up his inheritance. Meaning that you can't go about doing anything questionable."
"You don't believe any of that crap do you?" Urban asked. He had heard nothing of these concerns.
"No but the point is that I can't deflect any of those beliefs from spreading anymore! There are too many people that believe them. And I'll tell you now that going to the nest was a damn bad idea."
Well. That was a suprise.
Amethyst said that no one should have known about that... That the nest would keep it a secret!
"How did you find out about that?" He asked quietly. Whoever leaked that was going to be force-fed their own entrails.
"I saw you with that dancer on the outskirts of the palace. If you were going to go, why didn't you leave her at the nest?"
"Who else knows about this?" He asked, ignoring the second phrase.
"I told Ellisa but that's it-"
"Mavros! Ellisa? Are you insane? If you were truly trying to help me why would you tell her?" Ellisa was Mavros' betrothed and notorious for her big mouth. If you wanted to know something from her all you needed to do was ask.
"Ellisa is my best friend. If I tell her not to tell anyone, she won't."
"Unless given the right price! Mavros of everyone in the entire Demon realm, why Ellisa? Better yet don't answer that. Let's just hope she hasn't gathered an entire mob to dethrone me before I even take the throne at the gates." Urban remounted and raced off to the palace. There was no telling how far Ellisa's invaluable information reached.
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When Amethyst woke, she woke to a whispered argument in the front of her home. Curious as to what was being said, she walked the the door, careful to stay hidden out of sight.
"-why allow him to live? He's screwing around with her!"A woman's voice. Not familiar but from the way it sounded she was one of the prince's acquaintances.
"Because he hasn't posed a threat yet. If we get rid of her, he'll get angry and dethrone himself." A male's voice. Okay, they weren't with the prince but one of the many who wanted him dethroned... and if she understood correctly they would use her to do it.
"She will soon be out of the way in any case. The dancers are very angry that they brought the prince to the nest. Anabel said that she would speak to her but... I don't think she can hold the whole nest back."
Who the hell leaked that? The no one in the nest ever went ignorant but there are rules. No one ever takes information out of those walls.
"There is no need for you to hide. This is your house. I know you're there." The man's voice came again. It took a moment for her to realize that he was talking to her.
She stood and adressed the couple. She didn't know them, but their clothes confirmed them as well-to-do and not part of the dancers' crowd.
"Who are you and what are you doing in my home?" she said with more confidance than she had.
"We actually want to help you-" started the woman. Amethyst cut her off.
"By ending my pathetic life? I don't think so. I want names."
"I am Gavin. This is Angelic. We don't want to kill you." answered the man. He looked into Amethyst's eyes, and suprised her by not cringing. There weren't many who could look her in the eye without wincing because of the controlling power she inherited from her mother that she couldn't control. She could however control when she struck out with it and did so on Gavin. He remained unmoving.
He must be an upper-level demon. Otherwise he would have felt something.
"It came from your own lips. I'm no simpleton." She told him over her musings.
"I did not mean to kill you. Simply keep you from talking to him." Angelic said.
"I don't think so. I can do that myself." She remarked. She was looking steadily into Gavin's eyes, trying to find the hidden meaning behind it all.
"Then you'll go with us quietly?" She asked.
"No. By the way, why are you arguing about this on my doorstep? Doesn't that defeat the purpose?"
Amethyst was watching Gavin, but didn't realize the trap she was in until she felt Angelic grab her arms and hold them behind her back.
"Oh. Well I guess we'll have to drag you." Angelic whispered into her ear.
Amethyst tried to struggle, and found herself panicking when she found she couldn't tear her eyes away from Gavin's green ones.
Try harder! She tried to throw power into Gavin to throw him into the tree behind him... and found her power frozen.
Force it!
I can't! She realized that everything was going fuzzy. Angelic was doing... something. Whatever it was was making her tired and...
No! Fight it!
No! I can't fight anymore!
With that last painful argument and Gavin's green eyes as the only focused thing in the room, Amethyst fell into unconsciousness.