King Alfonso XI of Vantauge (two days prior to the kidnap)

That was it. I have had enough.

This Diego seemed to be intent on killing off the members of his illicit organisation, began by my good-for-nothing Uncle Ferdinand - both in Monrique and in Vantauge - so that I would not apprehend him. For the past three months, I had been racing against time to find at least one member in my own country.

However, every time I did, they turned out to be long murdered, or simply vanished into thin air.

It drove me to frustration. My wife was nearing seven months along with child, and I hated it that danger in the form of Diego was lurking in every corner around her at such a critical time.

This was the first time she had been with child in the last decade of our marriage, and I wanted nothing to go wrong.

Nothing.

Julia had kept me updated on all throughout these three months, and I was also most especially concerned for her, Nicholas and his new-found brother. I was aware that she and my own Council were doing their very best to round up this syndicate that was threatening the peace of both our countries, but I had been doing investigations of my own as well.

And at long last, I had managed to locate one member. The last one standing in my country.

I was fast approaching the tavern that was my destination. Throwing myself off my stallion, I strode towards the tavern and flung its door open with every ounce of energy that I had in me. Almost at once, the crowded, noisy tavern fell utterly silent as I stood on the threshold, trembling with fury.

They would never recognise who I was. I was in disguise. However, the one man whom I had hunted down for weeks now, who was cowering away with a whiskey bottle in the other end of the dingy, stinking room, was now gazing at me with absolute terror, as if he knew exactly who I was and why I was here.

His eyes flickered to the exit, clearly contemplating escape, but before he could even finish that thought, I had sprinted towards him and lifted him up by the collar. The double helix serpent symbol branded on his right shoulder blade caught my eye, and I knew he was the one.

Dragging him out of the tavern none too gently, I strode with the vermin towards a dark, deserted alley by the corner where no one could hear us, and pushed him up against the wall.

"You are part of the Order of the Serpents, are you not? You are employed by a Master Diego?" I demanded in Spanish.

Struggling for all it was worth, he mumbled something unintelligible under his breath, which reeked of stale cigar, whiskey and more cigar.

"Speak clearly!" I banged his head against the wall, keeping an iron grip on his neck.

"Aye, I am," he muttered a little more loudly, slurring his words due to the whiskey he had consumed.

I glanced at the bottle of whiskey in his hands, and without a thought, I grabbed it and aimed it over his head.

"You will answer some questions of mine," I snarled out each word such that he could hear me well and clear, "and if you do not, I will inflict such agony that you will wish you never lived. Do you understand?"

I broke the whisky bottle against the wall beside him, and held it out towards him threateningly, letting him know that I was in no mood for resistance on his part.

Fear dilated his pupils, as they travelled back and forth between my face and the bottle. "Master will kill me if I say anything, Sire," he whispered piteously, his eyes becoming glassy with unshed tears, "please, Sire, be merciful..."

I burst into mirthless laughter. "If your Master does not kill you, Lord Madriga, then I will," I assured him viciously, "have you any idea how many lives you and your Order have played with this last decade alone? And after all that you have done, you are hiding behind your whores' skirts in a cheap tavern like a coward? You will answer my questions, and you will answer them truthfully, or else you will pay with your life this very instant. Is that clear?" I yelled, becoming unhinged.

He flinched at the ferocity in my voice. "Y-Yes, Sire," he agreed, shaking, afraid for his own life.

"What is your Master planning for the twin Princes of Monrique?" I lashed out harshly, "why is he intent on harming them both?"

"He...he means to become King of Monrique in the future, Sire," he mumbled, looking fearfully left and right, "upon the twins' deaths, when King Frederick has no male heirs left, he intends to become King. Initially, your late Uncle King Ferdinand intended to take over Monrique for himself when Master became King of Monrique, but now that he is dead...." He stopped, looking at me, terrified.

"What? What now that my Uncle is dead?" I shook him, "what now?"

"Master is destroying the Order, destroying all evidence of it. Ensuring no member is left alive, so that you cannot arrest him on any charges if he gets caught before his plans come to fruition," he trembled, tears pouring down his face, "'tis why I am hiding in this corner of the country. He will never find me here."

"And the twin Princes?"

He hesitated. I held the broken bottle close to his throat, informing him silently how close I was to slitting open his throat.

That convinced him.

"He still plans to kill them, and charge into Bordeux with his army when they die, in order to murder their father and take over his throne," he answered swiftly, "that is why he is going to kidnap them in a couple of days' time."

A couple of days? Lord, it would take me a couple of days to travel to Monrique from Vantauge. By then, the Princes would already have been kidnapped. I could not even warn Frederick or Julia in time.

Surely Julia would be able to prevent the kidnap from taking place?

Who was I jesting with? Julia only had six army officers with her and Prince Nicholas on their Potential Quest journey. How would she be able to prevent the kidnap with such a small number of men, when the two Princes were going to be kidnapped from two different places?

But she could save them. "Where does he intend to hold them hostage?" I growled.

"Red Fort. It is a Castle ruins that is situated in between Bordeux and Louvre in Monrique. May I go now, Sire? I need to flee before Master finds me," he pleaded, trying to free himself from my hold.

I stared long and hard at him. "Lord Madriga, you and I have a long journey to make."

***

King Frederick V of Monrique (now)

"Your Majesty, three Captains have arrived from Anchorvale, requesting a private audience with you and His Grace the Lord President with all haste and urgency," Piers bowed to me, looking troubled, "they are terribly injured, Sire."

Henri and I exchanged puzzled glances. What were they doing here in Bordeux? The Potential Quest was still ongoing, with a fortnight and a half to the end, with Jules and her Captains, who were supposed to be guarding Nick.

Yet, I remembered sending six of them with her. Why were there only three?

"Allow them to enter," I commanded.

Almost at once, three men staggered into the room, bleeding and perspiring profusely onto the antique carpet, their uniforms torn and tattered, struggling to breathe properly as they held onto one another for support. Henri and I rose simultaneously, horrified beyond words at their state.

"Morrison? Everard? Dupont?" Henri strode towards them, greeting his old colleagues from his time in the Army in shock, "what happened to you?"

"Ambushed on our way here. A rogue group, planned attack," Captain Everard answered shortly, clutching a hand to his bleeding head, "Captain Evans was travelling with us too, but he was killed in their midst."

"Please fetch them chairs, Piers!" I ordered, following Henri towards them, "and send for the physician while you are at it."

Piers hurried to drag three chairs from across the room and slid them under the Captains moments before they collapsed from exhaustion and pain.

He then sprinted out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

"Your Majesty, we do not have much time," Captain Morrison panted once we were alone, "the Princes and Ma'am have been kidnapped. Not only the Crown Prince, Sire, but his brother Prince Richard as well."

I stilled at once in disbelief, as did Henri. "What in the world – "

"'Tis a long story, Your Majesty," Captain Everard interrupted me, "in short, a month or two ago, Ma'am had discovered where Prince Richard was being held captive, rescued him, and she hid him with a friend of hers for his own safety. But he has been kidnapped two days ago along with the Crown Prince and Ma'am – again."

I pinched the bridge of my nose, unable to believe my ears. Quite suddenly, an extremely heavy load in my mind seemed to lift after ten, difficult years.

My son Richard was alive. He was impossibly, maddeningly, disbelievingly alive. I had lost all hope, and fated myself to believe that he was never returning to my family again. But now, now that hope had been renewed. I felt lighter than I had all decade.

However, the happiness was immediately doused by the fact that he was in captivity.

Again.

Henri had other concerns, however. "Who had your ma'am entrusted Prince Richard to?" he tensed, "who is this friend of hers?"

Captain Dupont tilted his head. "Lady Jacqueline of Limoges," he shot me an uncomfortable look, "the late Crown Prince James' widow."

I grew ice cold. "The ole' Jezebel still lives?" I went deadly pale.

"Papa?" James hovered over his young wife protectively when I entered his chambers, "why are you here?" His red-headed bride peeked at me from behind James' frame, seemingly frightened of me from my outburst earlier.

She was pretending to be frightened of me, that was. However, my son was much too besotted by her to see her truth, her madness.

I took a deep breath. "I am sorry I yelled at you both earlier in my study," I chose my words carefully, "I was simply astonished that you would marry without your mother's and my consent and blessings."

James' grey eyes filled with hope, and I saw the red-head's eyes narrow slightly at my apology. "Do you mean it, Papa? In truth?" he asked, "you will not force us to divorce?"

"I cannot guarantee that. It depends on the Crown Council," I smiled sadly, "but I do want to become better acquainted with my new daughter-in-law in the meanwhile. May I?" I glanced at the girl with my kindest smile.

She eyed me in return with deepest suspicion.

However, James nodded happily, as if he could not believe his ears. "You will love her as I do, Papa," he assured me fervently, "she will make a wonderful Crown Princess Consort. You will see."

I highly doubted that. "Could I speak to her in private, please?"

He nodded again, like a child who had realised that Christmas had come early. "I shall go and practise duelling with Nick and Richard in the meantime," he grinned at both me and his young wife, before he strode out of the room, whistling.

When the door shut behind him, I faced the girl, who was staring at me now in open contempt, all traces of the fear and shyness she had displayed in front of her husband gone.

She knew that I knew all. There was no need for her to keep up her , and she did not.

"My dearest daughter-in-law," I drawled out the word mockingly.

She smiled at me just as falsely, as she leaned back against her chair, and crossed her legs. "Father-in-law."

It was my misfortune that I had known Dame Jacqueline De Cruz and her family longer than my son had. There was a certain madness that ran in their family that caused their rational thinking to mutate and grow into instability. This young girl showed all the signs of history repeating itself.

How could I not know? Her mother, Dame Yolande De Cruz, had been the same. She had caused quite a scandal many years ago, in my youth, by trying to trap me into marriage. She had sworn to everyone who had ears that I had dishonoured her, when in truth, I had not even seen her before, let alone touch her. She had cried and begged me, with the wild desperation of a madwoman, to marry her to save her ruin.

She herself had known they were lies, and she had still pursued with them with a crazed fury. She had filed a case in Court of the Lady Justice, and proceeded to accuse me of things I had never even done to her in the first place. It had been a rough patch for my wife and me, but Dame Yolande had been proven false and an insane woman in the end.

However, the memory was still fresh. Now her only daughter, Dame Jacqueline, was doing the same to my son. Only, she seemed to have succeeded in marrying James.

Nay. Never. Not as long as I live.

"Let us be frank with each other, shall we, my dear?" I crossed my arms and sat opposite her, "there is no need to lie, since we already seem to have known each other so well over all these years."

Indeed I did, enough to know that she had been once courted by her village head's son, a simple-minded fool - until James had come along during the customary touring of the dukedoms as a Crown Prince.

Almost the very next day, the village head's son had tragically tumbled down a cliff while riding alone.

What a coincidence.

She smirked at me now. "All right."

"Why have you married James?" I wanted to know, "it cannot be because of the fact you love him. Your family is incapable of loving."

Her eyes flashed in irrational anger, as she shot forward. "Silence!" she screeched, "I know what you did to my mother, and how you labelled her an insane woman only so that you can escape your crimes. Dare not take that tone with me, you filth."

I levelled her with a calm look, well aware it would be no use trying to convince her that her mother had concocted that story on her own for her own addled mind. "You have yet to answer my question."

She glared at me for a moment, before she burst into laughter. "'Tis every girl's dream, is it not? To meet her charming Prince, allow him to sweep her off her feet and carry her to his Castle, and live together happily ever after," she winked, "in my case, my Prince is real."

Her sudden change in mood unnerved me. "You admit it, then. You married James only for the position he brings with him, for the throne of Monrique in the future. Not because you love him."

She eyed me playfully, leaning back against her seat. "Does it matter whether or not I love him, Father?" she chuckled, "will it change anything?"

My fists clenched. This wench did not deserve James, my pure, innocent, trusting son, who seemed to love her with all his heart.

"You will not remain married to him, girl," I growled, "not while I live. I am going to get you both divorced as soon as the Crown Council agrees with me."

She laughed again triumphantly. "Oh, my dear Father-in-law," she crooned softly, "how naive you can be sometimes. Do you truly think James would consent to a divorce?"

"I was not planning on asking his consent."

She continued to smile. "He will despise you forever if you do such a thing," she whispered, "and when he becomes King one day, who will stop him from marrying me again? You seem to forget he loves me, truly, madly, deeply. He will wait for me, as long as he has to. You cannot keep us apart."

"You dare - "

"Aye, I dare, because I can," she laughed again, "and what more, you cannot do anything about it. He loves me. He loves me to distraction. I will become Queen of Monrique one day, whether you like it or not."

Her mad laughter still haunted my ears to present day. Almost straight after our conversation, she had convinced James with her false tears that I had hurt her, both emotionally and physically, and that I had been nothing but cruel to her while she had been kind to me.

Of course my son had believed her over me.

He had eloped with her that very night. My army officers had managed to find them before they could go too far, and brought James back home. I had not known where the Jezebel had run off to after that, and I frankly did not care.

But what was this about Jules befriending her? Enough to trust her with Richard?

In the meanwhile, Henri had gone deadly pale at the information as well. For a long time, his mouth merely opened and closed several times, as he fought to force out the thoughts and emotions that were clearly troubling him within.

This man, whom I had seen charging forth towards the enemy with no hesitation whatsoever at the head of the Army at every battle during his successful career, whom I had known not to have shed a single tear even when his parents and his wife had perished within weeks of each other, who truly knew not fear was, currently seemed as if he were going to collapse to the ground any second.

Indeed, for the first time in many years, I saw true, palpable anxiety enter his eyes.

When he spoke next, his voice was a mere whisper. "Your Commander General has been kidnapped as well?" he repeated faintly, "Julie?"

Sir Dupont stared at him oddly, surprised at his concern. "Aye, Your Grace," he sighed tiredly, "mayhap it would also interest you to know that these kidnappers are the very same men responsible for the string of violent murders that occurred in the last few months. They killed three of the Captains who travelled with us."

All life seemed to drain out of Henri, as he processed Sir Dupont's words. "We need to run a search throughout the country," he decided, composing himself with great difficulty, "immediately. By the Lord, if we only knew where they are being held - "

The door flung open once more that day, to reveal a towering, olive-skinned man in his riding attire, holding a scruffy, filthy rogue by the collar. The guards by my door watched on helplessly, as the foreign man threw his hostage onto the floor at my feet, tired and unkempt.

Had it not been for the crest on his riding attire, I would never have recognised him.

"Alfonso?" I queried incredulously at the Vantaugian King before me, "what in the world are you doing here? The Potential Quest Ball is not for another two weeks." I tilted my head, frowning.

Truly, he could not have picked a worse time to arrive early for the ball I had invited him and his wife to.

"Nay, I am not here for the Ball. And we have no time to waste," he strode into the room, past the wounded Captains, past the surprised Henri, "gather an army of your men. This piece of filth will bring us to where your sons and Julia are being held." He kicked at the rogue at my feet viciously.

"Alfonso - " I began in bewilderment, but Henri had already crouched down beside the rogue on the ground, and pushed aside the collar of the latter's shirt to observe something on his right shoulder blade.

His fingers traced the green double helix serpent symbol branded on the pale skin, his eyes wide with shock.

He then looked up at Alfonso, who was watching the both of them impassively. When Henri met Alfonso's gaze, they seemed to exchange glances full of dark meaning, and simply like that, I knew their plans were set in place.

***