Casper waited in the western corner of the Castle grounds. He was sent a crucial message and was waiting for Dominic to show up. The information needed to be passed along, and the longer he waited, the more Anxious he got, and Casper was not an easily anxious man. He rolled the black soot left after burning the paper that the message was on, using the visual reminder of its importance.

Dominic showed up when the hour struck. His stroll seemed casual, but he knew it was to keep from alarming anyone. "I apologize for being late; my brother pushed breakfast over with his annoyingly long lecture and chores list."

Casper only nodded at the information, not having much else to add to that, so he quickly jumped into why he was there. "We got a message in from the eastern alliance."

"I assume it is dire."

"They intercepted a letter with the royal's personal seal on it, not the nations." Casper straightened up, "It was coded; we have people working on it currently, though they got part of it uncoded, and it was asking about troop numbers."

Dominic swayed, "That is dire. Could they tell who wrote it?"

"No, it seems that the letter wasn't written by anyone in the royal family or the royal scribes; we cross-referenced the handwriting already."

"Possibly one of the Castle servants?" Dominic asked, trying to eliminate as many people as possible cause what Casper was saying could easily cause much danger for many people.

"Not that we know at the time, Milovan is heading over the search. We had to let this information slip to the King; we know that it wasn't him for that much, or we believe it isn't him. But, unfortunately, we had to neglect to inform him where it was heading nor who sent it. We need this to see his reaction, and well, it seems that he had no prior knowledge." Casper took a few steps forward and leaned into Dominic's ear. "You need to be careful; if you are found in this ring, your brother won't hesitate to end one of his own."

Dominic patted his friend on the shoulder, "I am quite aware, you focus on that letter, and I will focus on my brother. I should warn you. King Naqi is coming for a visit; we should post some people up to watch him while he is here after all."

Casper nodded; he left after that, leaving Dominic with that new bit of information. King Naqi's nation was east of Naoria. Suppose the eastern alliance was the one that intercepted the data. In that case, the foreign King is here to defend or possibly take Nicodeme out or possibly Dominic himself to keep throne rights in check before an attack.

Stolen novel; please report.

Dominic pulled his hair back from his face, quickly wrapping it up into a bun on the back of his head. He used a small band that would keep around his wrist under his long sleeve to help hold it up. The heat from his hair was getting to him, making his thoughts fuzzed.

He went to the one person who would answer something for him and give him an insight into this King visiting—his mother.

The Queen Mother Mira was enjoying a stroll in the rose gardens when she caught sight of her youngest son approaching from the western wall. She could tell before he even got to her that something was wrong and he needed something.

"Seems a mother job is never done," She said to her lady-in-waiting, who often joined her on her walks.

"Of course not," The woman whispered back as she came to a stop next to Mira's side.

Mira lifted her hand to greet Dominic as he approached, "My baby, how are you doing? I didn't get to talk to you much after you met Tacitus."

"I am doing fine," he quickly said, wanting to get past this and into the topic at hand.

"Your not avoiding things again, are you?"

"What? No, no, no. I am not avoiding anything; I am just swamped with responsibilities." He refused to let her rework this conversation with him, as he was too focused on his current job.

The Queen walked around him, looking him up and down; Dominic hated when she did this. He stood up straighter, letting her look him over and over. Her eyes flickered with an unnatural glimmer. She then stopped and wrapped her arm around his upper arm.

"You are doing too much; you and me around going out, and we will be bringing your Shïra."

"He isn't my Shïra yet," Dominic said without thought.

Mira crossed her arms. "It is that attitude that is why I am bringing him." In her mind, she would make this situation better, but many know that rarely happens.

"Mother, I need to discuss something with you."

"I will not answer a single thing until you do this."

"Mother, you are ridiculous!"

"Do not mother me, boy. Your number one focus right now should be that boy that is up in the castle right now and nothing else."

Dominic was done; she had pushed a button. "I don't want to! For months now, this is all anyone wants from me, I do not know him, and I met him yesterday. I did not ask for him; I did not want him." He pushed past his mother, "I just go talk to Nico,"

He stormed halfway across the courtyard before he stopped and took a moment to reevaluate what he just did. He felt like everything was felt tight around his face and his arms. He looked down; his skin was tinted grey, and blue started to streak down his arms.

With a deep breath, he moved forward. There was no point turning around and facing her right after what he just did. There was a sense of lightness in his arms after a while and a high to his mind. The anger sometimes felt this way, like an addiction, but he always felt sick afterwards. It always felt like overeating sweet until it hurt.