Perryn’s POV:

My heart had sank when I had seen Louis. I knew why he was here, I knew why he had tracked me down. I didn’t know how he had, and this scared me.

“Who was that?” Elizabeth asked.

“Perryn’s…brother…” William replied slowly.

Elizabeth gawked at me, “Like…another prince?”

I nodded miserably, “He wants the throne. He wants to get rid of me.”

Instantly a thought burst up inside of me. I quickly turned to William, “Wait. Wasn’t Louis the one who suggested we go on that stupid ship to ‘view’ the future kingdom?”

William nodded thoughtfully.

“And he and Cedrick have always been plotting things together.”

“So you’re thinking Cedrick sank the ship on purpose to get rid of us?” William asked, catching on.

I nodded, “But now Cedrick’s out of the picture, so Louis came to finish the job—“

“Oh. You’re dead.” Lydia suddenly interrupted.

“What?” I asked.

She pointed behind me, “I think Cap’s a bit angry.”

Immediately I whirled. Serah was storming towards me, her eyes flashing and her hands balled into fists.

“Who. Was. That?” Serah snarled into my face as she stepped towards me.

Elizabeth and William both recoiled from us, exchanging nervous glances. It made me nervous that Elizabeth, who was supposed to be Serah’s best friend, was afraid of her anger.

I took a nervous step backwards, “It’s not my fault he tailed us.”

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“You could have said something about the fact that your brother is trying to murder you.”

Suddenly her anger seemed to drain, and was replaced by something that scared me even more: Fear. She took a step away from me.

Her eyes glazed over slightly and she seemed to drift to another world before whirling on Tanner, “Get him back.” She ordered.

Not questioning, Tanner nodded and molded into the crowd of people to find Louis.

Serah began to pace in front of us impatiently, muttering to herself and sweeping her eyes over the crowd of faces.

“So…I take it lunch is cancelled?” Elizabeth asked warily.

Serah sent her a dry glare and continued to inspect the crowd, before Tanner appeared out of nowhere. He shook his head as he approached, “He’s gone.”

Serah looked panicked, “We have to find him. Soon.”

Tanner nodded grimly.

“Why?” Amber asked suddenly.

Serah stopped pacing and looked at her. Her eyes were icy cold, and she seemed to be taking time to think about what she was about to say, “He’s…a liability.”

“To what?” I asked.

“First of all, your life. But that’s not the most important thing right now—“

I frowned.

“—And second…our…reputation. He could have royal guards swarming this island in a matter of days. We could all die.”

“Die?” Amber asked.

Serah nodded, distracted, “Tanner. You, Henry and Elizabeth need to immediately begin looking for that prince. Lydia, Scarlett and Kat, watch these royals.” She nodded at us, “And Colten. Come with me.”

The earlier, light mood had vanished from the group as Tanner, Elizabeth and Henry split away from us, faces set grim.

“So…we aren’t going to go live with Serah after all?” Amber asked.

Lydia shook her head, “Nah. She has too much on her plate.”

“I feel sorry for her.” Kate sighed, “It is her birthday after all.”

Lydia didn’t answer, she glanced at Kate, a look of gratitude on her face.

Serah’s POV:

“Don’t stop running Serah! Don’t look back!” Samantha’s voice echoed through my brain. Twigs, leaves and branches slapped my face as I ran through the woods. Samantha was right on my heels, “Don’t let them see your face. Don’t let them recognize you!” She hissed into my ear.

‘The princes will recognize me.’ I thought. My parents had always been intent on getting my name out there. They wanted all the kings and princes to know about me. And now they all knew what I looked like. This escape with Samantha was going to be hard than I thought.

“Serah.” Colten’s voice jolted me out of the past and my eyes focused on his, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” I replied shortly.

“We’re away from the royals.” Colten noted.

I sighed, “I think he recognized me.” I told him.

Colten seemed to go rigid, “That’s why you want to get him. Otherwise he’ll return to his kingdom…”

“And tell all the royals about how he found the missing princess of Arcadia.” I growled.

“What?” A sudden voice demanded.

We both whirled around, shocked. Lydia had snuck up on us.

“The missing what!?” She demanded.