Leon was going out of his mind when a guard finally found him with good news.

"We found him! Your highness, we found him!"

He all but ran toward the voice. Leaning over a hallway balcony that overlooked the gardens, Leon spotted the guard, and behind him, Summer and Ari.

Leon had to blink several times. He'd never thought he would see Ari and Summer together, at least not before he introduced them. But there they were.

She was carrying Ari on her back. The thought had Leon shooting toward the steps. Why was she carrying him? Was he hurt? Was he-?

He cleared the staircase in four leaps and came to a stop in front of Summer.

"Your highness, how lovely to see you," Summer said. "I would curtsy, but as you can see, it's a bit difficult right now. Ari is heavier than he looks."

His son peered at him from over her shoulder, his face weary. Leon finally felt like he could draw a proper breath. Summer crouched down to let Ari down.

"He must've wounded his leg," she said. "You might want to take a look at that."

Ari looked fine. Leon scooped him up, and Ari wrapped his arms around Leon's neck.

Glancing at Summer, who walked beside him with her hands clasped behind her back, Leon asked, "how?"

She and Ari exchanged a look. Only after Ari nodded did she speak.

"He's a friend. We've been having fun every morning ever since I came to the castle."

Leon didn't even know where to begin. He shook his head. So Ari had been sneaking past his valet every morning, and no one had any idea. That simple thought twisted Leon's stomach in knots. So many things could've gone wrong, and Summer had known all this time but kept encouraging him.

He kept his peace until he reached the castle infirmary. They found Felix in his office, a messy space with stacks of books and scrolls. It reminded Leon of Robbins' office. Perhaps scholarly minds thrived in chaos.

Felix led them to a side room with a simple cot, shelves full of all sorts of potions and herbs, and a table with steel gadgets, sharp ones and wicked ones that Leon wished his son wouldn't see.

He put Ari on the cot and stood by the window, Summer strolled along the shelves, scanning the names written on every potion and glass jar.

Ari didn't make a sound while Felix examined his leg. There was a gash on his shin. The sight of the blood on his son's pale skin tightened Leon's throat.

Ari didn't freak out, though, and contrary to Leon's expectation, the torture table right beside him didn't seem to bother him.

"It's not deep," Felix said, going about cleaning the wound. "I'll wrap it up and leave some instructions with his highness' valet. You'll get better soon, but you must rest, your highness."

Ari clearly wasn't enthused about the idea of staying still, but he nodded. Leon needed to have a talk with Ari's valet to keep a better eye on him. The only reason the man wasn't fired was because he'd been with them since Ari's second birthday, and Ari's mother had personally picked him up.

The man in question burst through the door of the infirmary right then, breathing heavily, hair disheveled and jacket askew. Seeing Ari, he slumped against the wall and wiped a forearm across his sweaty forehead.

After receiving instructions about the injury, Leon saw Ari and his valet to their wing before escorting Summer out to the nearest balcony where they could speak in private.

"You didn't think to tell me you knew my son?" Leon asked as soon as they stood by the balustrade. "He's not supposed to be sneaking out and meeting strangers with no supervision."

"I didn't know he was your son until this morning," Summer said. "I thought he was one of the boys running around the castle."

Leon rubbed his forehead. True, his son didn't bear a great resemblance to him. And there were children out and about in certain parts of the castle, mostly children who attended the same class as his son or children of the staff who couldn't find people to look for their kids, an allowance the new queen made for the servants but the old queen frowned upon.

Summer cocked her head aside. "You're too protective of him."

Leon frowned. "He's my son."

"I know. My statement still stands. Just because he's your son doesn't mean you should treat him like fine porcelain. It can be stifling."

Leon felt defensive. "He's second in line to the throne. He shouldn't be wandering about on his own. Besides, he's been through a lot."

"That's precisely why you shouldn't treat him that way." Summer sighed. "Look, it's just an impression I got from speaking to him-"

Leon's heart soared. "He spoke to you."

"He wrote," Summer clarified. "He feels he's being babied, more than other boys his age. You said it yourself. He survived. He's strong. Much stronger than you give him credit for, believe me. Don't take away the pride of his survival by treating him as a fragile, easy-to-break child."

Leon felt like he'd been slapped. He'd never thought his actions could belittle his son's strength and dignity.

A breeze blew a stray curl to Summer's freckled cheek. Her eyes seemed older somehow. She had been through so much, as well. Perhaps, more than anyone, she could understand his son better than he could. She had once been a child, misunderstood, belittled, hurt. Though she had had it worse than Ari.

"I will... try," Leon said, already feeling the panic of something befalling his son. "It won't be easy. But perhaps you're right."

He remembered his son's joy when he suggested they train together because Leon couldn't trust his swordsmanship instructor not to hurt him. Of course he would be hurt in some way. That was part of learning. Leon had been through it himself.

He smiled. "I'm taking parenting advice from you when you're not even a parent?"

She grinned. "What can I say? I'm versatile."

Leon chuckled. Then remembered. He pointed a finger at her. "Stop sneaking past your guards."

Her grin widened. "Why not when it's so much fun?"

"I'm serious Summer."

"Yes, yes, your highness." She turned to look at the sprawling scenery before them. The greenery stretched over until it met the city below the hill, an ocean of colorful buildings and winding streets humming with life.

"What happened to Ari?" she glanced at him. "If you don't want to tell, it's okay. I'm just too curious for my own good sometimes."

Leon sighed and leaned his elbows on the balustrade. When was the last time he spoke about that incident? He couldn't remember if he ever had. People around him all knew about it, so he never had any reason to.

He closed his eyes. He couldn't sense Summer's presence. Perhaps that was why finding the words seemed easy. Or perhaps he had longed to speak about it to someone he could trust.

"A few years back, there was some trouble along our border with the Snowridge kingdom."

"The mines, right?" She asked.

He gave a nod. "Yes. They're in our territory, but the Northerners claim that they stretch underground to their land. Anyway. Victor thought I should deal with it. I had a certain reputation."

"Oh, yes. I heard all about the ferocious second prince," Summer said, her eyes twinkling. They looked darker than usual in the shade.

Leon smiled. "Then you know why my brother hoped my presence in the Northern borders would be a deterrent."

"Did it work?"

"It did, for a while. And even when trouble arose from time to time, it didn't last long. The Northerners wouldn't want to escalate a conflict by harming the second prince of the Springwood kingdom."

Leon lapsed into silence. Sometimes it felt like it had been ages since Ria's death, other times the memories felt so fresh he could remember the pain and the panic with so much clarity.

"Ari and Ria remained in the castle. It was safer here for both of them. They sometimes went to visit me there, but more often I'd travel here because Ria hated leaving the castle, especially with Ari so young."

Leon's heart twisted. He screwed his eyes shut. "It was in one of their travels to see me in the North that they were attacked. Ria died along with her escort. Guards and everyone. Ari was the only survivor."

It had been a bloodbath. When news first reached him, they said everyone was dead. He only discovered his son's survival on his way to the location of the incident.

"Who?" Summer asked, and Leon opened his eyes at the fierce tone of her voice.

Her irises looked brighter, almost lit up from within, when only moments ago he could've sworn they were a dark violet. And she was angry. For what happened to Ari. She must be more fond of him than he thought.

"Bandits," Leon said. "They were caught and tried and hung."

And yet Leon burned everyday with the guilt. Because Ria had been against sending Leon North. But she knew she couldn't argue with the king, and neither could he.

It had been Leon's turn to travel and see them that time. But he had been busy and asked them to travel over instead. If he hadn't gone off to the borders. If he hadn't asked them to travel to see him. If. If. If. So many regrets. But none mattered. Ria was dead and Ari was traumatized.

"Ari had hidden when the attack happened. It was a miracle he wasn't hurt. But I think he saw it happen. Felix believes he'd been shocked to the point of muteness at the horror he'd witnessed. And I don't even know if that's true, I don't even know what Ari had seen, because he refuses to speak to anyone about that day."

Leon felt a fleeting touch on his knuckles. Summer's hand was surprisingly gentle. She touched his white knuckles for a few precious seconds before retrieving her hand. Leon found it easier to loosen his grip on the stone after that. The sharp edges of his guilt softened.

"Ari is a good kid," she said. "He's talented and hard-working, a great combination. He managed to track me a few times and I couldn't even see him."

Leon frowned. To track Summer? If Summer wanted to go unseen, it would take a miracle for her to be tracked. Was she simply flattering? She must've read the doubt on his face.

"I'm sure. Kids are more resourceful than you give them credit for, believe me," she said. "If you want to harvest his talents, you have to nurture them and encourage his efforts, otherwise they will be stifled to death."

Leon straightened and crossed his arms. He hated being told that he was stifling his son's skills. Yet he swallowed his pride and listened to Summer. "What do you suggest?"

She shrugged. "Hey, don't ask me. The type of training I went through won't work on him, because Ari and I are essentially meant for different things. Boyd trained me for survival. Those types of skills are useful, but Ari is a member of the Royal family, he needs to have training in other areas to complete it."

Leon shook his head. "You give yourself too little credit, Summer. Boyd didn't simply train you for survival. He taught you about politics and war tactics and military sciences."

"Yeah, well, It's not like I would ever be in a position to use them."

"Oh but you have, on our trip here," he told her. "And even if you don't realize it, all that you have learned will become useful if it hasn't already."

She hummed. "I suppose you're right. I do give myself too little credit. Such a talented individual, am I not? No one ever appreciates me."

She put her hand on her heart with a self-martyred expression. Leon chuckled and thumped her forehead, his heart lighter than it had been in years.

"Come on, you talented Lady. We have a meeting with a criminal."

*** **** ***

Before leaving the castle, Leon made a stop to the underground wing where the artifact had been stored. The guards were exactly as he'd left them. As he walked past all those security personnel, he became more certain no one could've stolen the artifact in plain daylight. Which only meant one thing; that the artifact had, indeed, found its way to Summer.

Leon found no trace of Robbins, and that was a relief. He didn't want to tell anyone about Summer's reaction to the artifact, or the fact that the old medallion seemed fond of her. Not just yet. He couldn't trust that knowledge with anyone he wouldn't trust with his own life.

So he put the artifact in its spot and left, wondering how he might find out more about it. Perhaps a visit to the castle's old library was in order. He should take Summer there later.

After checking on his son, Leon, along with Summer and Ida, made their way to the meeting location. Conan and Al waited for them in a building on the outskirts of the city. Leon didn't want Conan anywhere near the castle. At least not yet. Conan had been smuggled here during the night, and the prison supervisor would spread rumors that Conan had escaped.

Leon, Ida and Summer pulled the hoods of their cloaks over their heads. They took a forgotten side road that wound around the castle and the city limits, so they met very few people. Still, they couldn't be too careful.

The trees on either side of the road turned sparse as farm lands stretched across the terrain in front of them. Buildings popped up on the fields. Horses, cattle and herds of sheep grazed throughout the endless pasture.

Following Ida, who was familiar with the place, Leon turned his horse to a dirt path that branched off the main one. Clouds sprinkled the sky, sparing them the harsh sunlight in intervals. Leon took a deep breath, feeling the stretching greener heal his strained eyes. It felt good to be so far away from the castle, with nothing but flat green land as far as the eye could see.

Ida raised her hand and pointed at a house that stood in the middle of a fenced-in, outgrown field far down the road.

"That's the place," she said.

"It's quite far out," Summer noted.

"This would be our base while working with Conan," Leon explained. "I don't want him anywhere near the castle for the time being."

"He still doesn't know who you are, does he?" Summer asked.

"No, and it will stay that way until I deem it safe to do otherwise." His lips quirked. "Why? Do you sympathize with him?"

Summer snorted. "Ah yes, we both are criminals, and we both have been deceived by the second prince of the kingdom."

Leon played along. "Except he's on a higher level. You need to catch up and upgrade from petty theft to kidnapping, extortion and murder."

She giggled, then sobered. "He really killed people?"

"Did he do it personally? I don't know. But his group has done it. And that makes him responsible, even if he hasn't killed them with his hands."

Summer hummed. "Fair enough."

A few guards, dressed like civilians, greeted them at the entrance. The house had seen better days, yet it was clean and dust free. A guard led them up a creaking flight of stairs to a room on the second floor, where they found Al, Captain Holloway and Conan.

A shaky table surrounded by wooden chairs sat in the middle of the room. No other furniture. A window poured in sunlight, next to which Conan stood.

He turned to look at them, and Leon was sure of his decision to keep the man at arms' length. He looked different under the light of the day. Bigger. Harder.

Conan saw Leon, saw Summer and looked over their shoulders at the empty doorway.

"Where's the tall beauty?" he asked.

Ida walked through the door then, and Conan grinned. Next to the table, Al rolled his eyes. Ida simply ignored Conan. The man didn't look the least repentant.

Captain Holloway nodded at Leon. "Sir."

They congregated around the table. Conan tried to stand next to Ida, but Al was there first, giving the criminal a dark look.

"Conan will send word out to his acquaintances that he's out and about taking commissions again," Captain Holloway said. "We vetted the notes, and the messenger will be in our pocket."

Conan rolled his eyes at that. "I'm hurt, Captain. You don't trust me? I have no intention of crossing you. Your esteemed lord made a generous offer I have no intention of missing out on."

"Thank you for your honesty, but let's just assume I'm too paranoid to trust you," Leon mumbled, checking the notes himself, then giving them to Summer. Her sharp eye could pick up on things he might miss.

"Wise man. So am I going to be stuck to Mr. Sunshine over here?" Conan asked, nodding his head towards Al next to him.

"Yes," Leon replied.

"If I am going to be stuck to someone, I'd much rather it be you," Conan told Ida with a grin.

Ida spared him a bored look then addressed Leon. "The search party for Oakly, the man who bribed the servant to put the note in Summer's room, returned fruitless. They searched his living quarters for any clues, but we only found some money and gems."

"Gems?"

"Yes. Uncut. Most likely from the mines in the Northern border," Al said.

Leon frowned. The mention of the Northern border always put him ill at ease. This time more than usual.

"First, Lady Mauve and her people disappeared. Then Oakly," Captain Holloway said. "And now gems from the northern mines?"

Leon arrived at the same conclusion. "They must have a person here. A person to hide them, with enough influence to have access to the northern mines and enough riches to doll out those uncut gems as payment for menial tasks."

"How do the Northern mines work, exactly?" Summer asked.

"They're under the control of the government. A committee is voted in every five years to run them. The proceeds from selling the gems are split into two, the first part goes back into developing the mines and its environment, the second part goes to the public fond of the treasury."

Conan snorted. "Oh, please. We all know the king and his cohorts have access to the gemstones before they go off to be sold or whatever the hell they do with them."

Summer raised her eyebrows. Leon sighed. "Just like any trade, there is smuggling. He's right, a few lords have been caught paying off some of the mines' staff to have access to rare gemstones and treasures before anyone else."

"The mines committee is in constant war with the smugglers," Ida said. "But it's difficult with so many people involved, from miners to guards to the lords of the committee. That's part of the reason why the committee changes every five years, so that no one has full monopoly of the mines for too long."

Summer hummed. "So it's going to be difficult to figure out how Oakly got the gems."

"We should also consider that he might have gotten them from his Northerner allies. Even if they are rare, the Snowridge kingdom has some mines along the same mountain ridge as well."

"Possible," Holloway said.

The meeting ended after a few more discussions. Conan eyed Leon the entire time.

"So you're a lord?" he asked once they were finished.

"Something like that," Leon said, reminded once again by a time when Summer hadn't known his identity. It seemed like such a long time ago.

Conan narrowed his eyes, but his attention was once again stolen by Ida, who was whispering something to Summer.

"Are you going to stick around, my Lady?" Conan said with a grin. "I'm great company, if I do say so myself."

Ida looked at him. From the top of his hair to the tips of his boots, taking her time. Everyone quieted down. Finally, she made a face and went back to speaking with Summer.

Despite himself, Leon felt a twinge of sympathy for the other man. Ida's looks could be ruthless. But Conan the Ripper only seemed more amused. He laughed under his breath, his eyes never leaving Ida.

Al thumped the stack of documents on the table and straightened.

"Let's go," he told Conan, who sighed and followed Al out of the room. They were staying in the house until they received news from Conan's contacts, under lock and key and heavy guard.

Summer chuckled, looking at the closed door.

"What?" Leon asked.

Her eyes were filled with delighted laughter. "I think Al finally found someone he hates more than me."

--- ---- ---

Hello guys! Another chapter! I hope you enjoy it!

Leave me your thoughts in the comments!

If you notice any mistakes, please let me know. I appreciate it. And don't forget to vote <3

Also, happy Ramadan for those of you who observe the month! The year went by sooo fast TT

Much love <3 <3 <3

M.B