*Ciana*
The bathroom was locked from the inside. The shower ran full force, and cool mist ca from under the door.
I took a few deep breaths to cool my mind down, but it wasn’t easy. What happened just now played in my head over and over, sending waves of heat through my body.
What was I thinking? Seducing a royal prince while he was drugged? What was wrong with ?
I covered my face with my hands and was mortified.
What would Theo think about ?
Ever since our kiss at Warren’s sumr ho, we barely touched that topic. I felt I’d done enough to show him how I felt about him, and I thought he cared about . But even to this day, he’d never told how he felt about .
Thinking about what just occurred, my heart swelled with both bitterness and sweetness, and I just didn’t know which one I felt more.
I couldn’t bring myself to see him suffer, and I was willing to do whatever I could to provide him relief. Yet, he’d rather bear his painful desire than be with .
On the other hand, I felt respected and sowhat relieved that he chose not to take my virginity simply to fulfill his physical need.
I went to Theo’s bed and sat on the end of it, waiting for him to reerge.
I had no idea how to face him again or what I should say when he ca out, but I just couldn’t allow myself to leave without at least talking to him again—whatever the topic was.
In addition, I did recall why I was here in the first place.
He hadn’t told anything about whether or not his father was going to help with Warren. I wasn’t going to leave until I knew the verdict.
Theo took a long, long ti in the bathroom. Even after the shower stopped running, he didn’t co out right away.
I sat on my hands and waited patiently. Hopefully, he wasn’t expecting to leave.
It took a while, but finally, he ca out of his bathroom with a black towel wrapped around his waist. He looked exhausted, but it didn’t stop my eyes from traveling down his bare chest and solid abs, causing my face to heat up again.
He paused when he saw . Our gazes locked and I could tell his dark eyes were back to their usual calm and collected state.
Without saying a word, he moved past and went straight to his walk-in closet. When he ca out again, he was fully dressed.
“So...” I started.
“So...” he said the sa word at the sa ti as . Then he cleared his throat and gestured for to go first.
“So... did the king agree to help Warren?” I asked, jumping to the safer and most important topic.
He looked very relieved at the subject I’d chosen. Then his eyes darkened and his brow creased.
“No, he’s not going to help,” he replied bitterly. Theo leaned against the wall with his arms crossed in front of him and scowled at nothing.
I clenched my fists and stood up, like that would make a difference. “Warren is his son and he’s not going to...”
I trailed off, shaking my head. How could Sebastian be that callous and cruel and just watch his own son die?
I thought even the most horrible man had sothing to care about. Based on what I’d seen in the Moonlit crystal, I thought there was a chance he’d help Warren. Then again, I had no idea how truthful the illusional world was compared to reality.
Theo confird it again by shaking his head. Then he started to walk away, causing to reach out to grab his arm.
“Wait, don’t leave yet. What are we going to do?”
Theo stiffened in my grasp and I quickly released him, stepping back. I looked down shyly. Apparently, we still weren’t past the awkwardness.
I thought he was about to leave here by myself, but he stopped at his fridge and pulled out two bottles of water, handing one to .
I took it robotically— did the Dark Prince just “serve” ? That thought made snicker.
“To be honest, I didn’t go in with high expectations. I know him too well. Our best bet now is getting the scroll and unlocking its secrets ourselves.”
He took a sip of water. I watched the lump on his throat, and sohow, that made my heart speed up.
“I agree,” I tried to focus back on our task at hand. “How do we go about doing that?” I asked, raising an eyebrow and eting Theo’s eyes again.
“The scroll is stored in a safe. So we’ll have to get the key and unlock the safe.”
“Err... you made it sound so simple, but we both know it’s easier said than done. We don’t even know where the safe is.”
Theo smirked lightly, “You don’t really think I went to my father’s chamber just to have an unpleasant conversation with him, do you?”
I jumped up, “You know where the safe is?”
“Yes. It isn’t difficult to guess. We’ve confird that he has a secret locked compartnt in his chamber, and the scroll is stored there.”
“How did you figure this out?”
“When I told you I needed so ti to think about our plan, I didn’t just sit there and do nothing.”
I froze for a second. I was sure when he said “our plan” just now, I was part of it. This simple finding just made my day.
“And the key to the safe is around his neck and he never takes it off,” I voiced my thoughts, “Your... The king is always cautious around people, not to ntion, he has guards around him all the ti.”
I refused to address Sebastian as Theo’s father ever since I learned what a psychopath he was.
“That’s true.”
Groaning, I pressed my palm to my forehead. When I said it was easier said than done, I should have said it was impossible.
We stood there in silence for a mont. I tried to think of how to get the king parted from his key while Theo just stared at . His gaze was almost gentle.
I felt my face begin to get warm. To avoid any unnecessary distraction, I gave him a nudge, “Aren’t you worried? How are we going to get the key then?”
He looked away and chucked the rest of the water. “Um, we could get him unconscious then the key would be in the room with the safe.”
“True!”I clapped my hands and added on to what he said. “And we could get in, get the scroll, and get out without him even knowing. He’d wake up with the safe locked and key still around his neck!”
However, I thought of another problem, “But doesn’t he normally have guards around him twenty-four seven?”
“So?” he shrugged, “do you have that little faith in my unbeatable reputation?”
Was he trying to lighten the mood for ? I froze for a second, and couldn’t decide whether I should shake or nod my head.
“I have faith in you, of course, it is a good plan. But I’m worried that when the king is awake, he’ll find out from the guards what we’ve done. Stealing the symbols of power is an act of betrayal and treason...”
“What are you planning that would lead to treason?” a familiar voice rang behind us, and I looked around to see Lady Nita coming through the door connected to the side chamber, my old room.
I forgot to lock the door again!
She was poised, elegant, and distant as usual, but her words were sharp and hard to swallow. “I thought you agreed to leave my son alone and never co back here.”
I opened my mouth, trying to co up with a quick explanation, but Theo jumped in, stepping between and his mother.
“Ciana is helping save Warren’s life.”
“What happened to Warren?”
Theo scoffed, “You don’t even care about your own son, why would you care about the son of your hated husband and his mistress?”
“Theo, is this how you should speak to your mother?” she asked evenly.
“You stopped acting like a mother years ago. Now, we’re busy, if you’re not willing to help out, then at least, get out of our way.”
Displeasure glimred in Lady Nita’s eyes, but she didn’t turn and leave. Surprisingly, she didn’t force to leave either.
She and I hadn’t been on good terms, and I appreciated Theo standing by . However, the way Theo spoke to her still bothered a little.
I knew so of their history and could totally understand why Theo kept his distance. However, my intuition told that deep down she loved him, and deep down, Theo loved her back. If there was any possibility, I would love to see them reconcile.
I also wondered if I should tell her about Luther. He was the only family she had, outside of Theo. Maybe it would make her less bitter if she knew she still had family out there. At least, it might give her sothing to hope for.
“Very well, what are you planning to do?”
“We can handle it on our own,” Theo muttered, crossing his arms.
I grabbed Theo’s arm and stepped around him. Quickly, I glanced at him and shook my head. “We need all the help we can get,” I reminded him.
Theo sniffed and stared at for a mont. Finally, he nodded and we both turned back to Lady Nita.
“We believe there is sothing in King Sebastian’s bedroom that has the answer on how to save Warren.” I tried to keep it as simple as I could without giving away too much sensitive information. After all, we’d promised to protect Dottie and not get her in trouble.
“So you need to get into Sebastian’s bedroom and look for it?”
“Yes. What’s more, we also need the key around the king’s neck. So we were discussing how we could make him unconscious without him and his guards finding out what we are doing.”
“Getting a man as suspicious as Sebastian to let his guard down won’t be easy,” Lady Nita comnted flatly.
“And that was the sa conclusion we ca to just as you arrived,” Theo said, his voice tight and unfriendly.
“... but for , it shouldn’t be too difficult,” she finished her words.
“What are you planning to do then?” Theo asked her.
“For years, I’d been denying him to approach , but today, I happened to have a good reason to ‘make it up to him’,” she smiled confidently.
I’d never seen her smile before, but a quick glance of that imdiately made understand why she was called the most beautiful woman in the world when she was young.
The sharpness of her facial features imdiately softened, and her cold deanor was swept clean as light gathered in her gentle green eyes. The corner of her lips slightly curled up, forming an alluring and elegant curve.
No one could doubt a smile like that.
However, Theo’s brow creased more. If Lady Nita had a way to help us achieve our goal, that could save us a lot of trouble. But why was Theo so upset about it?
“No, I disagree,” he said, “We can do this on our own, I don’t need you to—”
I realized he wasn’t upset about it. He was worried about his mother’s safety.
“Theo,” she interrupted him, “I’ll be safe. Don’t worry.”
“I...” He turned his head away awkwardly and murmured, “I’m not worried about you.”
“In that case,” she said, arching an eyebrow, “you guys find a place in that wing to hide, and I’ll be there in an hour.”
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