Chapter 9

Flynnagan Rider smiled. Megan would get him into the castle, meet the King and Queen and make his intentions known. He looked enough like his competition to fool them into believing that he was Eugene Fitzherbert. Everything would fall into place after that. He had one more thing to take care of and all would be well. He was convinced that his distant cousin was well out of the way and as far as he was concerned, would rot away in the basement of the tower, while he would marry the Princess and take over the kingdom. The rightful heirs would come to the throne and revenge would be his!

Flynn had thought about different scenarios, but after much thought he had settled on this one. He would meet Megan as usual, but this time he'd use her to get into the castle. Once inside, he'd let take her to the Princess herself and Megan would have to be gotten rid of. That's what the Stabbington boys were for; they'd get the blame for the robbery and the kidnapping. But Flynn would get the Princess. He'd have to make nice with everyone, which he was planning on doing, up until the stroke of midnight. That's when he would, single handedly, take over everything. His plan to poison the King and Queen had merit; it would be right after his marriage to Princess Rapunzel during the toast. His inside men would see to that.

He wasn't exactly sure what he would do with her after that, but he'd figure it out. He'd play it by ear. Of course, the deaths would be blamed on Eugene, Megan and the Stabbington boys, that's the way he'd planned it, and he'd be the savior. Rapunzel would be all alone and just begging for her killers to be brought to justice. And he would be her savior, he'd come to her rescue.

They'd be married one year and she'd have a son so Flynn could raise him by himself. Rapunzel would die accidentally on purpose, probably in childbirth he had decided, and all would be right with the world. He'd have the heir to the throne and the Gothel's would rule once again; simple and easy as that. The bards would be singing his praises for years to come and the Gothel family would be exactly where they'd belonged. The rightful family would be on the throne and Flynnagan Rider would rule jointly with his son and heir.

His ancestors would be proud.

XXXXXX

"Have you heard anything?" Gabe demanded, landing beside his brother.

Mike nodded, faced his brother and held up a finger to his lips for silence. He turned back toward the door of Rider's tiny cottage in the middle of a small sandbar. If it wasn't high tide and the river didn't flood, you could reach it by foot. Most of the time however, you'd need a small raft to get back and forth. Gothel's family had lived in this house for years.

Gabe understood and nodded to himself. All he could do was stand silently and watch until Mike finally turn to wave at him. "Disappear," he mouthed and the two of them vanished into the mist that always shrouded the cottage.

The brothers watched as the door opened and Flynnagan Rider stepped outside with a smile on his face. He carefully looked from east to west; then south to north. When he saw he was quite alone; he rubbed his hands together in glee.

"Well, well, the tide is down. I should really bring the raft with me as usual, but I won't need it tonight. I don't think I'll ever need it again." Rider laughed, it filled the air and echoed through the forest."

Mike and Gabe watched Flynn Rider fade into the mist. As soon as he was gone, the two reappeared and stared at one another.

"We've got to stop him," Mike said and repeated everything that he had heard to his brother.

XXXXXXX

The King angrily paced the floor of his study. He couldn't believe that he had been wrong, that there actually was a thief name Flynnagan Rider and it wasn't Eugene after all. Not only that, but he looked enough like Eugene to be mistaken for him all those years and had pretended to be a swashbuckling rogue who had his own island and enormous piles of money to do as he pleased.

Not to mention he was the last surviving relative of the Gothel's.

The King looked over at his wife and daughter on the plush red velvet chairs watching him walk nervously back and forth; wondering what his next move would be. He knew there had to be one and he knew that time was running out. Tomorrow was the ball and if he didn't strike first, that idiot Rider and his cohorts would do so.

"I need some time to plan alone, my ladies. I know that this is not the normal procedure, but I will let you know in due time what my intentions will be. You two will be included, I have you two to thank for letting me know."

"You have Rapunzel to thank," the Queen said, turning her attention to her daughter. "She knew the difference between the two cousins and I'm sure she won't make a mistake now, husband."

The King smiled at his daughter. "You've always known from the beginning, haven't you? It's true, then, you and Fitzherbert were meant to be together."

"And if the curse holds," the Queen continued, "the minute Rider touches Rapunzel's hair, he will turn to dust as his ancestors before him. It won't matter too much."

The King smiled. "I know, my lady, but we've got to get him to that point as soon as he enters the castle. We can't let him outsmart us, which he is counting on."

He looked over at his daughter. He cupped her chin in his hands and smiled. "You and your mother might as well share your plan with me and we'll figure something out together, just give me some time."

Rapunzel nodded, looked and her mother and repeated what the two of them had worked so hard to devise.