Forming a Plan

Upon hearing an order from the Queen, one of the guards immediately went for the door as he brought his phone up to his ear, presumably to find out the location of the prince.

Eric knew Katherine well enough to know why she was asking for Charles, and he was not happy about it. "Your Majesty," Eric started as he stared directly at Katherine, "I know you want to do whatever you can to get your mother back, but you cannot step down from the throne."

"I can, and I will," Katherine replied in a harsh tone, matching Eric's intensity.

"Even if you do step down, do you honestly think that the King of Eos will step down? That the King and Queen of Selene would step down? I'll save you some time and tell you that they won't. They love their wealth and power too much to part with it."

"I'll convince them. I have to," Katherine said.

"Alright. So let's say you do convince them-- do you actually believe that the rebels will stick to their word and let you or your mother live? Because I know they won't. You are one of the most hated people in all of Titanus and even if there was no longer a monarchy, their hate for you and what you and your family did to them will not go away," Eric argued.

"So either way I end up dead, right? If that's the case, I'd rather spend my last moments with my mother. You saw how she looked. I can't abandon her, she needs me," Katherine said firmly. "I'm not giving her up. Not for anyone."

"By stepping down, you would be giving up," one of the guards said from behind Eric. "Everything your family worked for would be gone in an instant, Your Majesty."

"What do you propose I do then?" she asked the men in the room as she threw her hands up. "Please tell me what you think I should do since apparently you think you all know how to do my job better than I do."

At that, the room went silent again. Although Katherine had proven in her short time as Queen to not be a harsh ruler, Eric and everyone else knew their place, and it was below her. At the end of the day, whatever she said was law, regardless of if she was thinking rationally or not.

No one dared speak, or even move an inch, so Katherine let out a breath and walked over to the table. She pulled out a chair and sat down so that she could rest her face in her hands.

The room was uncomfortably quiet as they waited for the guard to return with Charles. Katherine's head was pounding, and she knew another migraine was starting.

All she could think about was getting her mom back. She would do whatever it took, she had to.

Charles and the guard entered the room, and while everyone turned to them, Katherine remained with her head held up by her hands.

"Katherine?" Charles nervously asked as he went to sit by her. He placed his hand on her back and looked at her with concern.

Had anyone else come into the room and touched the Queen, the guards would have quickly pulled them off of her, but everyone knew that there was a marriage contract between her and Charles, so they did not dare. For all anyone knew, the two of them could very well have had a romantic relationship.

She let her hands drop from her face, but she did not turn to look at him. Instead, she put her hand over the tablet that was resting in front of her, and she pushed it to him.

He looked down at the device, confused, and played the video that Katherine had watched just minutes before.

Katherine kept her eyes fixated on the table in front of her, not wanting to see the horrifying rebel again. When his voice filled the room, Charles stiffened and everyone but Katherine looked at him while he watched the video for the first time.

The message played again, and by the end of it, the room was once again filled with silence. Charles sat still for a while as he digested everything that was said by the rebel man, and then he turned again to look at Katherine.

"Kit," he said, but she still could not look up from the table. The severity of her situation had finally hit her, and Katherine was frozen in fear.

He placed one hand on her chin so that he could turn her face for her, and he placed his other hand under the table on her knee. "Look at me, Kit."

Her face was now facing in his direction, so she reluctantly brought her eyes up to look at him. She could already see the pity painted on his dark face, and she hated it. So many people had pitied her the last week, and she had had enough of her life warranting that emotion.

Katherine wanted to be strong, but it was getting harder and harder to keep a grip.

"My father isn't going to give up being King, I'm sorry," he told her with sincerity and regret.

"If he doesn't, they will kill my mom," was all she could say. She did not have the harshness in her voice that she had had with Eric and the guards. Charles was different because she knew that he would also do anything to get Katherine her mom back.

Charles's mom died a few years ago, and she knew that he would do anything to get her back, so she also knew that he would do anything in his power to help Katherine get her mom back as well.

They stared at each other for a while while everyone else in the room quietly watched the scene unfold in front of them.

Finally, Charles gave in and nodded. "I'll leave right away so that I can go talk to him."

"I'm coming with you," Katherine quickly said.

"Let's go, then," Charles replied as he got up out of his chair.

No one dared to try to stop them as the pair left with Jasper close on their heels.