The Prince's Curse

Chapter 27 - The Plan

~Chapter 27~

*The Plan*

"I can't believe we're giving them the throne room," Luke scoffed, palms flat as he leant against the table. "We can't just let them be."

    "We do not have a choice, Sir Luke, we cannot remove them." Archie said, shrugging helplessly. "They have magic and we do not,"

    "Why haven't you, in the past 18 years, looked into wielding your own magic so you could combat her? She literally told you she was going to be coming back to destroy Ash," Luke cried. They should have been planning how to combat her when she came back for years! They should be so much more prepared, that way they wouldn't have to give the throne room over to control of a witch, and even worse, lose Ashton.

    "Magic is evil," another advisor said. She was sitting across from Luke in one of the chairs that surrounded the table. "The queen did not want anyone to dabble in dark magic because she was unaware of the negative repercussions. Prince Ashton agreed with her stance, so no, Sir Luke, we have not attempted to replicate magic."

    Luke glared at her.

    "Yeah, a simple "magic is evil, we can't" would have worked just fine, Margaret, thanks."

    Margaret shrugged, turning away from him.

    "Okay, so we can't use magic, how are we going to get rid of her?"

    No one seemed to have an answer. No one could tell Luke anything except what he already knew. There seemed to be no answer except to just let things happen and have Luke figure something out in the moment.

    If Luke had known, truly known what he was going to be up against, he would have been doing as much research as he could about the witch and the magic she used so he would know what he could do against it.

    These idiots here had 18 years and limitless resources at their disposal and they did nothing. Nothing! And now Ashton was missing and it was going to be Luke's fault. He would get punished,—severely—and worst of all, Ashton could get hurt. Luke hardly slept at night, only hearing the witch's words on repeat, "He is hidden, and perhaps he may be returned to you after the coronation. What is left of him, anyway," Those words haunted him the moment he closed his eyes until the sun rose and he got up. Some nights he stayed awake in the library, reading books on magic and military strategies, hoping that something would jump out at him and he'd find some magic solution.

    So far he hadn't.

    All he had was a conference room full of unprepared douche-buckets.

    "Okay, well let's try something else. How is the search for Ash going?"

    One of the PI's for the castle stood.

    "Sir Luke, there has been no headway on the search for His Highness, Prince Ashton." With finality, he sat back down. Luke blinked.

    "What kind of update is that, stand back up, mate." He snapped. The man looked confused, as did some of the other officials in the meeting. "Where have you been looking, what have you been tracking? Where are you going to branch out and search, have you gotten any leads?"

    The man startled at all the questions, taking a moment before nodding.

    "Yes, so we have looked in the area surrounding the castle and in the towns adjacent to the property, as well as inside the castle of course,"

    Luke blinked.

    "Any leads? Where will you be looking next?"

    The man pursed his lips.