Chapter 16

Damien watched John as he looked over the edge of the royal airship. He was watching the ground with a blank expression on his face. In his hand was Nyline's music box, the part that goes into her ears between his fingers as he fiddled with them.

Turning he looked at his scouts that were all currently sitting around a table looking at them. When they had arrived back at his castle, they had hopped on the closest airship and had set off almost immediately. His father was most likely going to string him up by his toes when he got back but he had weighed the options, and this had been the best one. Thaul was in the far north and an airship was the fastest way to get there.

"Poor guy, first he lost his master then his new charge up and vanishes right in front of his eyes; seems like he has some pretty bad luck." Rebecca's eyes were downcast as they went to John then back to Damien as she spoke.

"It's not that he has bad luck," Angelica spoke softly as she shook her head. Ryan looked at her for a moment with a slightly confused expression before he patted her knee.

"John doesn't see it as bad luck. He saw it as an opportunity to pay a great debt back to an old friend." Ryan translated for his mate.

"How do you know that?" Damien's words were for Angelica as he looked at her.

"After we fought with the darkling, he touched my head. That's just the feeling I got; John is incredibly strong. Don't look down on him." It only took a second before a smile cracked Damien's face.

"I don't think that any of us would think otherwise." Angelica blushed and looked down at her hands that were under the table.

"So how long is it going to take us to get to Thaul?" Jake asked.

"The captain said it would be about 3 hours, so maybe… so an hour or so left?" Rebecca answered watching Jake as he stood and walked to the edge of the airship, looking down at the land.

"What's our plan when we get there?" Nathan directed his question to Damien.

Truthfully, he wasn't sure what the next move was. Everything had gone so far into left field at this point he wasn't even sure what to plan for next. He hated sending his scouts into situations that he didn't fully understand, however this was going to be one of those times where his hands were tied, and he wouldn't be able to do much else.

"Since we don't know what the situation is on the ground, I'll have Angelica and Nathan go in first, scout the area and then report back. You two are not to engage in any way, you are simply there to gather information and await orders." With the choice of those two scouts he knew that Nyline would at least not get mad at them since they were soft spoken.

"Whereas your plan shows that you have put some thought into this Prince of Dunhill, it is not the wisest plan of action." Damien focused on the older scout, taking his words to heart, and knowing that John would have more experience than anyone on that came with him.

"Could you explain that to me?" Damien could feel his scouts glaring at John for interrupting their meeting. However, when it came to their lives, he didn't take it for granted to have a senior scout on hand.

"As I told you back in the human world, you are not Nyline's only potential mate. If the other prince has had contact with her then there is a high chance that he will also be there with his scouts. If the scouts end up running into each other, then we'll have a different situation on our hands than just finding Nyline. It would be best if I go in alone. I am from Thaul and know this area like the back of my hand. I can get into the castle and out before anyone, including the other princes' scouts, would even see me." Damien leaned back in his seat at this, lacing his fingers together as he thought and agreed with a good part of his plan. John slid Nyline's music box into his pock while he waited for Damien to speak.

"I could always check if she's with someone before we land?" Damien offered as John's brows scrunched together.

"Again, it is not my position to tell you otherwise, I would like to remind you what happens if you force your way into Nyline's mind if she is already connected with another person." Damien's face fell slightly as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"I will try and contact her prior to landing however, I will not force it. If I am unable to connect with her than we will assume that she is with someone. On the other hand, I would like at least Angelica to go with you to the castle." John raised his brow at Damien only slightly, but Damien knew what he would not say. Your being an idiot.

"It is not my place to tell you what to do with your scouts." John spoke shortly. "Spoiled princes lose their scouts at a young age, and they don't get anymore." The last part was muttered as John turned and walked as far as he could from the table. Damien's mouth fell open as his eyes went to his scouts.

"Well that was some bull," Rebecca spoke loudly enough that he knew that the words were for John.

"He's just thinking of keeping us safe. Princes from other kingdoms are a problem. We don't know which kingdom they are from and we don't know if it could possibly start a war. This is not just between you and Nyline anymore, this is political and could be escalated to a much higher problem then it already is." Angelica words were spoken fast and soft as if she were upset about it. Damien just gaped at her; he hadn't heard her say so many words at once in a long time.

"Can you guys get in without being noticed?" Damien asked after turning over her words in his mind. She was right, this could become a political issue extremely quickly. They were headed into another kingdom, uninvited.

"If they put up a barrier around the castle then they will even notice John walking in. He knows that. That's why he wants to go alone." Nathan answered as he crossed his arms, clearly not happy with the situation that they were going into.

"Would Nyline try and protect anyone other than John?" Rebecca's voice was softer than normal making the table focus on her.

"We would all hope that she would, though I can say that we surely didn't leave a good impression on the girl." Ryan shook his head.

"Not to mention all the problems that we had at her house," Nathan continued as he rubbed his face with his hands.

"And the fact that she really hates Damien." Rebecca added.

"None of you understand who Nyline actually is. She may act callous on the outside, but she isn't like that at all." Angelica's eyebrows were drawn together as she glared at her hands. It was as if she was mad at everyone for not understanding what she did.

"How do you know that?" Rebecca half shouted at Angelica who turned her glare up and into her face. Damien raised his hand signaling for silence.

"In truth, the witch at the fairy gate warned us… me, that she wasn't interested in coming back and that I should have taken a moment to think about it. We did simply show up out of nowhere and expect her to completely change her life just because I was her mate. I didn't consider how any of this would affect her, nor did I think about her feelings on the matter. We were also warned that us going through would open her to the aether world, and again I ignored that. She did in every action, have the right to be angry with us." Damien's voice was soft as he reflected on his actions.

"Many of the things that she did when we arrived were also defensive mechanisms." Nathan spoke a little after Damien had finished, his eyes on Angelica. He was translating for her and after a few minutes had passed it was clear that in this moment even Nathan was having problems understanding what his mate was trying to say.

This was something that happened occasionally. Nathan was essentially Angelica's translator for most of her words. As Nathan had put it, Angelica saw mostly in pictures, feels emotions, and understands things in a completely different way. So, when it comes to translating those into words, sometimes she had a difficult time forming the sentences.

"When she saw the darkling on the football field, she sent the boys to go back to the classroom, right? She wouldn't have been affected by the meld skill because of her aether levels, so she didn't even know them. If she really didn't care for strangers, then why did she put the extra effort into making sure that they were out of the way?" Angelica smiled as Nathan finished translating for her.

"She's not wrong, it's just easier seeing her as a bad person right now." Rebecca crossed her arms looking unhappy as she spoke.

"Well, we can't see her as a bad person completely," Ryan reminded her, "We are currently going to Thaul to find and bring her back." Rebecca shrugged and Damien knew the words that she wasn't speaking aloud. Doesn't mean I have to like her…

"Ryan is correct. In this current moment we are on our way to find the Princess of Thaul, my mate, and return her to my kingdom. You don't have to like her, but you need to remember why we're going there." Damien shot Rebecca a look.

"What are you going to do when she gets there and rejects you all over again?" Rebecca shot back without missing a beat.

"John said you had another mate waiting for you," Jake spoke not looking at the table from his place at the railing of the air ship. "How long are you going to let her reject you before you just go home?" Damien looked at him for a long moment, feeling as if his heart was squeezing tightly and painfully.

"I think that we've come this far, I think it'll be a waist to turn around now." Damien's voice was a mutter as he tore his eyes from Jake.

"We'll follow you until the ends of the earth," Nathan's voice was serious, "Just tell us what you want us to do." Damien sighed.

"You guys are not pawns for me to control on a chess board. You are living, breathing, friends of mine. Sometimes I wish you guys would remember that as well." None of them responded. "Now as my friends, I want you guys to think about what we are walking into and decide what you guys think is best. I want to hear your opinions on the matter, not just mindless answers of 'we'll do what you want us to.'" He used air quotes as he spoke looking around at them. Then, he stood, "Have an answer by the time I get back." Turning he walked towards the opposite end of where John was currently standing looking grumpy.

Taking a breath, he looked down at the ground as all the colors blurred together with the speed that they were going. One of his favorite pass times was flying and he had always hoped that his mate would be the same. Someone to go on adventures and experience life with.

Sitting down he pushed the thoughts of flying around the Aether world with his mate to the back of his mind and focused on Nyline. Whenever he had tried, he had never really had much success in connecting with her, however that was before, when they were in different worlds. Now, they were in the same and it might be different… he hoped that it would be.

Focusing on his aether he reached it out with Nyline in his mind. It took a little but his aether was able to pinpoint her location then focus on him. He sharpened his mind and was able to see out of her eyes. Nyline was extremely fatigued and as he looked a hand covered one of her eyes and she fell to the ground. After a little, she was lifted and forced to look into a set of ice blue eyes. He was speaking but Damien wasn't able to hear him, then as the ice blues continued to search Nyline's mind, it focused on Damien. There was a pause and Damien braced as their connection was snapped and he landed back in his body so hard that his head smacked the railing behind him.

"You okay?" He looked up to see Jake walking towards him. Damien shook his head again as he tried to clear the mental strain.

"Yeah I'm fine," He muttered as he pressed the heel of his palm into his right eye. Jake only glanced at him before he sat directly in front of him.

"Did you get to connect with her?" Jealously burned in his stomach as he thought of how close that boy was with her. She hadn't even let him so much as touch her.

"I did, she's with someone, but I didn't see anyone but him." Damien let out a low breath as he looked up at the night's sky. Only someone of royal blood could have that much aether to snap a mind out of another. He frowned, not wanting to think who the mysterious boy was.

"So, what are your orders?" Jake questioned as he also looked skyward.

"I wanted your opinion on the subject, I wanted all of your opinion."

"I gave my life to you long ago. I will follow any order that you have for me." Damien clapped him on the shoulder.

"That doesn't change the fact that I would like everyone to tell me what they think about the situation." Then softer, "I would never want to end up killing any of you." Jake took a deep breath in before he spoke.

"I think we should send in our own people, it's not that I don't trust John, it's just that he already has mentioned that he favors the other prince. I don't want him to run away with Nyline and us have to start searching all over again. We are on a time limit and I want to make sure you can get what you want." Damien clapped him on the shoulder before he walked back to his scouts, Jake followed behind slowly.

"Have you formulated your opinions yet?" He asked as soon as they had all looked at him. Rebecca frowned as she turned towards him.

"We spoke about it and agreed that we would follow whatever order you want us to do." Rebecca spoke quickly.

"That changes nothing, I want to hear what each of you have to say, now out with it."

"The opinion has been a little less united. Angelica thinks that we should go with John's plan. The rest of us think that you should send us in to ensure that things swing in our favor." Angelica shook her head.

"This is not going to end the way you want it to," She spoke softly as she looked at Nathan, who again was patting her leg.

"Nathan, you usually agree with Angelica. Why do you disagree with her this time?" Nathan paused for a moment as he turned and looked at Damien then back at Angelica.

"She has her reasons, but how she feels and how I feel is different in this instance. She is taking into account what she has observed and formulating her opinion. I see the same information and I formulate a different opinion." Damien thought for a moment as he looked at his scouts. He didn't want to lose any of them, and something told him that he should listen to what John had to say. As much as he hated it, John was much more experienced in this area than he was.

"I think, it would be best to do a mix of the two. We will send Angelica and Ryan with John and he can leave you at the barrier when you hit it. Everyone else will follow slower and stop once we hit the barrier. At that point we will assess the situation and go from there."

"Your words are suddenly much wiser Young Prince. Knowing the situation you're in before you rush in will always give you the advantage." John spoke from his place on the side of the ship where he wasn't looking at them.

"John, are you going to be okay?" Angelica stood and walked towards him, her face set in concern.

"I'm sure that I will be fine. Plus, if the boy has any scouts with him, they should be about your age. It shouldn't be too hard to get past them."

Damien looked at him for a moment and was suddenly reminded of a time that he had seen his father's and his scout's train when they had been much younger. His father's scouts knew battle that his couldn't have had the years to understand. One of his father's scouts could take down all of his in just a few minutes. Damien shook his head, that was years ago, and they had gotten much better. Damien smiled as he looked around and wondered what the last sparring match had looked like; he hadn't gotten to go because of his studies. He opened his mouth to ask right as the captain shouted that they would be docking soon.

"Well it looks like its show time," Damien spoke as the airship started to descend. He walked over to the captain and the first mate. "Pay for docking fees and relax, I'm not sure how long this is going to take, but this is our way home. So do not leave the dock without my permission."

"Yes sir!" The first mate spoke loudly as he put both of his fists together and bowed. Damien turned and back to the table; they were pulling up their masks so only their eyes shone through. Damien looked at John who was standing with his mask on looking down at the ground as if he was going to jump at any moment.

John looked at Damien with just his eyes, "I'm guessing that you will be able to tell when the barrier starts?" John nodded looking forward, "Please, leave my scouts there." John jumped the second he was close enough with Angelica and Ryan on his heels.

Damien crossed his arms as they vanished with their movement. He waited for the airship to dock before he stepped off and looked around. Not a single soul was in the deserted town; a shiver ran up and down his spine. The entire town looked as though it had simply been abandoned. Every door to the houses were closed and the windows were caked with dust. Damien looked around at his crew. They had all stopped what they were doing and were staring into the ghost town their mouths open slightly.

"Well this place is creepy, guess there won't be a docking fee." Damien muttered to himself.

"The entire country is deserted; they say this land is cursed. My prince I advise not staying here for too long." The first mate spoke from the deck.

"Thank you for your advice, I have no intention in staying here for very long, I assure you."

"Prince, we will not be leaving you today, however you make it back alive or it's our skins on the line." The captain spoke as he walked down the set of steps that lead to the bow and over to him. The captain then only bowed his head slightly before he turned to his crew and started shouting orders.