What To Do

At the sight of the King of Eos, both Charles and Katherine froze. Katherine realized that she had no idea how to approach trying to convince a dictator to give up his power, wealth, and security.

She was mad at herself for sleeping the last five hours and not strategizing with Charles. He knew his father best and would know the right things to say to him to get him to understand and agree.

Thankfully she would have Charles with her when she spoke to Marcus, and she could only hope that between the two of them, they could persuade him to give up his throne and crown.

Marcus studied the pair as he started to descend the stairs. He looked down at their intertwined hands and laughed before he asked, "Did you come to tell me that you two have decided to honor your marriage contract earlier than expected? I'd be glad to hear it, but children, that could have waited until the morning."

Feeling self-conscious, Katherine dropped Charles's hand and took a few steps forward. "This isn't about me and Charles, it's about my mom."

Upon hearing that, the smile instantly dropped from Marcus's face. Katherine noticed that he and Charles looked nearly identical when they were worried. They had the same chocolate eyes and hair, as well as a similar square jaw that tensed when they felt a negative emotion.

The freckles that ran over his nose danced as he scrunched his face. His eyes met Katherine's and he asked in a serious tone, "Did you find her?"

"We should go discuss this somewhere private," Charles said from behind Katherine.

Marcus's eyes darted from his son back to Katherine, and he paused in front of them for a moment before he tilted his head to the right and said, "Follow me, this way."

He turned and immediately started walking quickly down the hall that stretched to the left wing of the castle. Katherine looked back at Charles and saw the nervousness in his eyes.

Charles put his hand on her back and applied pressure to give her the signal that she needed to start walking too so that Marcus did not get too far ahead of them.

The stone hall echoed their footsteps as they made their way through the castle. Katherine could also hear her own heart beating in her ears, and she found it so distracting that she brought her hands up to her temples and rubbed to help ease some of the tension that was bombarding her senses.

Her head was still pounding, and she had never felt so anxious in her life. Her entire future was right in front of her, in Marcus's hands.

When they reached the room, Marcus held open the door for them to enter. Katherine entered and turned to see Charles and Marcus exchange a serious look before they both followed and joined her.

Marcus had taken them to a room with all white walls. There was a large television with an eight person conference table in front of it.

Katherine watched him as he extended an arm towards the table and invited her to sit. She hesitated for a moment before she sat.

Charles joined her, but Marcus remained standing. He kept tapping the toes on his right foot, and Katherine could tell it was his way of getting some of the nervous energy out of his body.

"What's going on with Lia?" Marcus asked, staring intently at Katherine. He and her father were the only ones to ever call her mother by her name, and hearing it made Katherine's heart ache.

Marcus and Katherine's mother had always been close. While the King and Queen of Selene typically also joined when there were important meetings about Titanus, they weren't as familiar as Charles and Katherine's families were.

Long after the King and Queen of Selene would return home after business had been discussed, Charles's parents and Katherine's parents would always make an effort to stay together a couple of extra days to spend time together and enjoy each other's company. They had become great friends over the years.

It was a wonder how Katherine and Charles never became good friends as a result of it. Although, as Charles had pointed out, Katherine had never found Charles particularly interesting and always ignored him when he was around.

"She's alive," Katherine replied, "And I'm here because I want to ensure she stays that way."

Marcus's brow furrowed and he came and rested his hands on the edge of the table as he looked between Charles and Katherine.

"You're going to have to start giving me a lot more details a lot faster," Marcus said in frustration.

Knowing what she had to do, Katherine reached into her bag and pulled out the tablet so that she could show Marcus the video from the rebels.

"What's this?" he asked as she handed him the device. He glued his eyes to it, and hit play.

Unlike when she had shown Charles the video, Katherine kept her eyes on Marcus to gauge his reaction as he watched what the rebel had to say.

She watched as he went from curious, to worried when he saw Katherine's mother, to angry when she was dragged away and the rebel gave his terms for her release. When the video ended, he placed the tablet on the table slowly as if it were a bomb that could detonate at any moment.

He turned away from Charles and Katherine and ran his hand through his hair as he started to pace back and forth throughout the room. The pair watched him as the tension grew to a point where it became unbearable.

Finally, Marcus looked back at his son and the Queen and angrily asked, "So, I assume the two of you came here to ask me to give in to the traitor's demands and give up my status and throne?"

"It's the only way I'll get her back," Katherine said firmly. She had to be strong and match Marcus's large energy.

"If you honestly believe that, then I have some bad news for you," Marcus said as he let out a sarcastic laugh. "The second you step down and give away your power and the rebels take over, they will have you and your mother executed for the world to see. And not only you, but me and the King and Queen of Selene as well, and probably their children and Charles too. They will make an example of us and torture us the way they feel we have tortured them. We will be completely at their mercy, and none of us will survive."

Deep down, Katherine knew he was probably right. It was basically what Eric was trying to tell her earlier, but she was too blinded by hope to think with reason. Her heart sank, and she felt utterly hopeless.

"There has to be something we can do," Charles cut in. "If Katherine declines, they will kill her mom. We can't let that happen."

"They won't ever stop. They will hunt us down one by one and pick us off until none of us are left. Either way, we lose," Katherine said as her voice started to raise. She was so mad at how out of control she felt.

"Not if we hunt them down first," Marcus said.

"I tried that with my soldiers, and they knew we were coming, killed nearly forty of my men, and left that message for me. It's too late, they have already won."

"How did they know your men were coming?" Marcus asked, eyes wide, confusion riddling his face.

Katherine felt her face flush in embarrassment. She hated to admit that her power had weakness, and that she did not know how to fix it.

"There's a spy somewhere in my castle who is leaking information to the rebels. It has to be how they attacked my castle and hurt my parents, and then with them knowing my soldiers were coming, it can't be a coincidence."

"Damn it, Katherine, why didn't you tell me sooner? What happens in Helios affects all of Titanus, not just you! It affects Eos and Selene!" Marcus yelled at her.

Charles stood up quickly and went to stand between his father and Katherine. He put a hand on his father's shoulder and looked between the two of them as he calmly said, "Enough. We need to work together. Yelling and bickering won't help anyone, and it especially won't help Katherine's mom."

At the mention of her, both Katherine and Marcus looked to Charles before they looked down in shame. Neither of them wanted anything bad to happen to her, so they had to work together to solve this.

"Alright, let's get to work," Marcus said in a calmer manner. He removed his son's hand from his shoulder and walked to the table to sit down.