The Prince's Fiancée | ✔

Chapter 11

Chapter 11 is dedicated to A_Fearless_Soul

Thank you for your support ❤
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Another long three weeks drew by. I hadn’t gone back to the palace. I still hung out with Kevin, although he was a lot busier lately.

I texted Jun about updates to the plan and made sure that I talked with Micah and Bianca often. She was seven months pregnant now, and was happily counting down the days until she could bring her children into the world.

She was hoping her due date wouldn’t clash with whenever the mission would take place. Of course, she wouldn’t be there, but Beau wanted to be present to witness the birth of his children.

Raúl and Kristof had made bets to see how soon he would faint.

Beau still wanted to propose to her and he wanted to do it before the babies were born. He was thinking about doing it at the annual soulmate party. It was a party that would celebrate everyone who had found their soulmates during the last twelve months.

Callie and Daniel would be special guests and so would Kristof and Diana. I wanted to be there for Bianca during her big moment, but it would feel awkward going there just to see Ashton and Hailey being all lovey dovey. Nevertheless, if Callie wanted me there, I would put aside all personal feelings and go.

Jun had texted me, asking if I could come over today. He wanted me to tell him everything I remembered about Demetri, including his unique ability.

He also wanted to see if I remembered hearing anything else about Cyrena. I racked my memory, but I only remembered hearing the name. Everything else had been clouded by pain and dizziness.

I called up Kevin to let him know that I would be coming over in an hour. His voiced was stressed and strained and I couldn’t wait until the extra hour to go to the palace. He sounded seriously drained and I needed to see if my best friend was okay. Ashton would just have to put up with seeing me for today.

I got in my car and sped off- not actually speeding- to the Royal Realm. I entered the eerily quiet house, wondering if I should start ringing the doorbell again. Kevin had said he would be in the meeting room. I hastily climbed the two flights of stairs, my worry escalating by the moment. I knocked once and then pushed the door open.

Kevin sat at his usual desk, poring over some papers that looked ready to topple over at any moment.

Even from where I stood, I could see the visibly dark circles that formed rings around his eyes. CaVaughn and Beau were there too, signing documents. They also looked way overworked.

“Hi guys,” I frowned as I entered the room.

I received some dejected responses. Kevin took a moment to stretch, his joints popping with each movement.

“I want to go for a run,” he sighed.

“I think you guys should take a break,” I suggested. They looked like they desperately needed one.

“The other guys are on their break time right now,” Beau yawned. He stared at the mountains of papers. “No wonder Jackson left.”

“Ha ha,” CaVaughn retorted drily.

“Let me help,” I offered.

“If you want to help, then please get Ashton.” Raúl’s voice sounded behind me as he and Kristof came in.

“Not sure that’s such a good idea,” I said, sitting beside Kevin. “Where is Ashton? Is he with Jun?”

As if on cue, Ashton stepped through the doors. His eyes were tired and he had lost a lot of weight. His face was more angular and he was the palest I’d ever seen him before. His cheekbones were so sharp; I was wondering how they weren’t piercing his skin yet. They looked like glass. He looked like he was on his last percent of energy. If exhausted was a person, it would be him right now.

His eyes caught mine and he frowned. “Why are you here?”

I didn’t expect him to actually talk to me. “I’m meeting with Jun.”

That earned another frown. He looked completely out of the loop. He was so tired, he forgot that he was supposed to be ignoring me.

“Ashton, get some sleep,” Kevin warned.

“I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”

“That might happen sooner than you think, if you keep this up,” Beau lectured him. “We’ve got things covered here.”

“Hmm.”

“Were you drinking again?” Beau frowned and leaned in to sniff his breath. His expression became confused and then his eyes widened in alarm. “You-”

Ashton clamped a hand over his mouth. “Don’t say anything.”

Beau’s face glowered with anger and he turned to Kevin. “You said you talked to him!”

“I did,” Kevin groaned. Then he paused. “Are you talking about that or that?”

“Both.”

Kevin facepalmed himself and sighed irately.

“What’s going on?” I whispered to him. “I thought Ashton couldn’t get drunk.”

“Easily. He can’t get drunk easily. It’s not impossible.”

I frowned in Ashton’s direction, but he was calculating figures and writing a report at the same time. He seemed to be functioning well.

“Is he drinking?”

Kevin hesitated. “Yeah…”

“What the hell is your problem?” Ashton yelled.

I looked over in surprise to see CaVaughn leaning over Ashton’s desk. His green eyes were electrifying with rage.

“Why did you make a deal like that if you know it’s going to destroy you?!”

“Nothing is destroying me!”

“Keep telling yourself that.”

Ashton growled and stalked out of the room angrily. CaVaughn stared after him, his mouth set in a hard line. What the heck was going on here?

My alarm rang, which signalled that it was time for my meeting with Jun. I flashed Kevin a confused look and then hurried off to go meet him.

Jun listened carefully to everything I had to say. Every piece of information was valuable if we really wanted to get Jackson back on our side. I could almost see the gears turning in his head as we talked.

“Thanks. This might be more complex than I thought.” He circled the word ‘Cyrena’ in his notes. “I feel like she might be really important.”

“I’ll try again and see if I can remember anything else.” I stood up to leave as Jun toyed around with a checker piece.

“Hey, do you know what’s wrong with Ashton?” I asked softly.

Jun looked up in surprise. “Ashton?”

“Yeah. It seems like something's bothering him. Where’s Princess Hailey?”

“She's on a tour of the kingdom.” He placed the checker piece on the board in front of him. “You could just ask him.”

I frowned. “No, I can’t.”

“Well, he’s been doing a lot of weird stuff. He got into a fight with Kevin too.” He winced. “That’s one fight I didn’t find exciting.”

They’d fought? I frowned as I left the room. Something weird was going on.

I decided to shake off the feeling. I had brought up the no-caring rule three weeks ago. I wouldn’t break it. But still…
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