Author's Note: I love this art of Ridley and Vandel by @dorkii_stuff on IG so much!!! I always adore their art style and they both look so adorable here. I especially like the fact that it looks like Vandel's just said something that's pissed Ridley off. Thank you so much to everyone thats sent me fanart. It's all incredible!
Annette
Everything was dark. I tried my best to calm my nerves, trying to focus on my breathing and the rhythmic creak of the wheels beneath me. Suddenly I felt everything screech to a halt. My heart almost immediately began to pound frantically in my chest, my stomach turning to ice water. Had we been caught? Had Stefan sent soldiers to stop us? That's when a gentle voice cut through the wave of doubts and fear that was building up in my head.
"Princess, it's safe to come out now." I felt a hand grab mine and suddenly I was being pulled out of the darkness and into the light...into Ridley's arms.
The knight looked me over now, relief coming over his features. "Oh thank goodness," he said softly. "I was worried you might have gotten hurt after being stuck under a pile of hay in a bumpy cart for so long."
I shook my head, brushing some of the hay from my hair. "Trust me, I definitely prefer it to being burned at a stake."
Ridley gestured to a small stone cottage in front of us. "Alright, I know it isn't much but this is a secret weapon post for the royal guard. We keep some back up ammunition here in case we ever lose access to the castle and armory during an attack. It's far away from the outskirts of the city." He smiled kindly. "As you can probably see there's not another house in sight. No one ever comes here, the knights in training are just informed about it in case of emergency. That makes it the perfect hiding spot for you. No one will ever think the 'dead' princess is actually here."
"It still amazes me that you were able to sneak me out and switch me with someone else while the guards were distracted." I looked down at my hands now. "You said the person switching with me had a way to get out safely. Was she really alright? I don't think I could ever forgive myself if something happened to her."
Ridley gave me a small nod. "Yeah, they're alright. In fact the whole plan was their idea. Oh and speak of the devil..."
And that's when I suddenly noticed a small raven zooming towards us. It kept moving forward, as if it was going to fly directly into us when suddenly right before my eyes the bird transformed into...
"YOU!" I practically screeched, my eyes growing wide.
A small smirk tugged at the corner of the demon prince Vandel's lips and he gave me a small bow. "A pleasure to see you again princess." He took a step forward, going to give my hand a small peck but I quickly yanked it away.
"Don't touch me," I snapped. I frantically looked to Ridley for help, expecting him to already have his sword out to fight our worst enemy but he was just standing there, doing nothing. "What the hell are you doing here?" I stammered. "AND WHY THE HELL ARE YOU NAKED?!?"
Vandel chuckled under his breath. "Now now princess, why all the hostility?"
"You KIDNAPPED me and and then tried to make me MARRY you!"
"Okay, that's fair."
"Ridley what is this...this deviant doing here?"
"Deviant, okay that's a new one," Vandel said, arching a brow.
"Oh would you shut up," I snapped.
Vandel snickered under his breath. "My goodness princess. Is that any way to treat the man who just saved your life?"
I stopped, slowly turning to look at Ridley who gave me a small nod. "It's true. The entire plan to rescue you was his idea."
I felt dizzy, there were so many questions and so much confusion buzzing about that my head felt like a beehive.
"But you're our enemy..." I said slowly. "Why would you ever want to save me?"
Vandel shrugged. "It's simple really. I may hate your kingdom but I hate Stefan even more. If he's king it's going to mean a lot of problems for me (stuff which I obviously can't tell you because we're enemies). Hence making sure you were rescued so we could still challenge Stefan's legitimacy was crucial." He grinned at me now. "Don't fool yourself into thinking I did this for you princess. I'm acting purely to satisfy my own interests."
Honestly hearing that was almost a relief. Vandel doing this for himself made much more sense. That I could wrap my head around.
My gaze darted to the ground. "Well...no matter the reason I suppose I should still thank you for helping rescue me. But now...for the love of the Gods can you please put on some pants."
Vandel snickered at that. "Oh come now princess, give a demon a break. Sometimes it's nice to keep the equipment a little breezy-"
"CAN YOU STOP?!?" Ridley and I both said at the same time.
With his cheeks an obvious pink Ridley practically hurled a parcel of clothing at Vandel who easily caught it.
"Aww how sweet of you, you brought the clothes you bought me."
I looked to Ridley now. "You bought him clothes?"
Ridley shifted awkwardly. "It's a long story."
Vandel started talking as he was pulling his shirt up over his head. "And speaking of clothes. Princess I think I looked quite stunning in your dress. Shame it had to get burned to a crisp, quite unfortunate. Still I commend you on your taste."
My eyes widened and I could practically feel my mouth drop open in shock. "YOU were the one who switched with me."
Vandel's head finally popped through the shirt hole. "Why of course I did," he said, proceeding to mime doing a hair flip for Gods knew what reason. "No one even suspected a thing."
"You over acted a bit near the end," Ridley cut in. "Was the sobbing really necessary?"
Vandel glared at him. "First off it was ONE sob okay. And it was for dramatic effect. If anything it made my performance even more realistic. Did you see the look on Percival's face? He looked ready to cry. I SOLD it with the performance of a lifetime. You should be counting your blessings that acting is one of the many skills in my repertoire." He glanced to me. "The audacity on this one, I swear." His gaze flickered back to Ridley. "Honestly, If anything I should be the one criticizing YOUR performance. You looked so nervous I thought you were going to shit yourself."
"How else was I supposed to look? What if something had gone wrong with your spell and you had actually gotten burned?"
Vandel smirked. "So you were worried about me? That's cute."
Ridley's gaze quickly darted away. "I wasn't worried," he stammered, his cheeks turning pink once more.
"Yes you were, but don't worry Ridley. There was no need to fear. Fake fire is one of the first spells young demons learn. I just added a little oomph to it to make it look like an explosion for dramatic effect. I think it worked well, everyone seemed to think Annette had just burst into flames. I wish I could have added some screaming to really pull it all together but I think that might have been overkill."
Ridley crossed his arms. "And on the subject of your grand escape from the flames, why did we get here before you? I had to attend the entire execution, find time to grab the cart of hay we hid Annette in, and then drive it all the way here. Didn't you flying here directly?"
Vandel laughed awkwardly. "Yeah I may have gotten a little lost."
"How did you get lost?! My directions were crystal clear!"
"Well do you know what else was crystal clear?!? The bird seed some kids outside the palace were throwing."
"You have got to be kidding me! You got lost because you stopped to eat birdseed?!"
"Come on, like you wouldn't have done the same thing!"
"Stop to eat birdseed?! I have never been more confident in my response when I say I most certainly would NOT."
Despite their bickering there was a strange comfort and playfulness to the way the two talked to each other. I had known Ridley his entire life and even then I had never seen him like this with anyone. So at ease and so...well...normal. Why the hell did they seem so comfortable with each other? How had they gotten so close? I couldn't help but feel a little prick of something in my chest. What was this...jealousy? I shook my head, attempting to smother the feeling.
"So," Vandel said, "now that part one is out of the way we have to move on to part two of the plan."
I glanced to him, arching a brow. "Which is?"
"Find proof that Stefan was the one who used the corisathium on you."
My eyes widened. "You think my brother was behind this?"
Ridley nodded. "As much as it upsets me... he's clearly the most likely suspect. Growing up he always felt like an older brother to me so I suppose I blinded myself to the possibility but once you told me about him serving you tea it all clicked together."
"The big issue is we can't prove the princess is innocent until we find actual evidence. We need to prove without a shadow of a doubt that Stefan was behind the king's murder, not Annette."
Ridley thought for a moment. "We know the corisathium was stolen, right? Stefan must have hired someone to track me when I was sent to search for it. There was no way he would have gone himself. If we can find that person maybe he'll be able to testify that Stefan hired him."
I nodded. "That might just work. It's at least a place to start. My brother is pretty meticulous with his books and paperwork. He almost never throws anything out. If you could break into his private chambers you might be able to find the information for the people he hires to do his dirty work."
"Right...he'll be busy these next few days with the coronation which means this might be our one opportunity to break in undetected." Ridley's gaze fell to Vandel now. "What do you say Vandel, you up for yet another mission?"
The demon prince smirked. "You know you don't even have to ask."
Ridley looked to me now. "I stocked up the cottage with enough food and supplies to keep you from needing to venture out for at least a few weeks." He offered me a small smile. "Stay safe princess. Soon you'll be the queen, I promise.""
With those words he gracefully climbed up onto the cart and Vandel clambered up next to him, almost immediately turning back into his bird form. I watched the two of them leave now, never letting them out of my sight until the cart was finally gone.
Who would have thought the fate of our kingdom lay in the hands of such an unlikely pair.