Immured (3)

Nathaniel gritted his teeth as he stopped himself from pacing back and forth. It had been two days since the assassination attempt on his beloved fiancée and second brother. Two days with no clues or leads.

His father had assigned a few knights to interrogate the prisoners, leaving Nathaniel out of it. He had faith that they would have been able to gather some information out of the prisoners, but so far no one was talking. And Nathaniel couldn't take it any longer. His patience was wearing thin.

A knock sounded on the door. "Your Highness, your guest has arrived." A servant informed him before opening the door to the reception room.

"Thank you for taking the time to meet with me," Nathaniel greeted the masked man.

His guest, the 'guild master' of Dor-Shey Da'at, the top information guild in the kingdom, entered. The towering man was dressed in the usual cloak that he wore and a mask was covering half of his face.

Nathaniel found it infuriating at times that this man was the only one Nathaniel had ever been in contact with. Even though he was the Crown Prince, the Guild Master and true leader of the information guild, had never met with him personally. Was there even an actual Guild Master, a hidden mastermind behind this man? Or is it just a rich noble pulling the strings from behind the scenes?

There were many cases where nobles had started up their own business with a figurehead in place while they ran things from behind the curtains. There were also many instances where nobles acquired businesses while having no say in its personal matters and just wanted to have the bragging rights.

Nathaniel mentally shook his head, ridding himself of that thought. There certainly had to be an actual Guild Master and there was no way that it could just be some rich noble with too much time on their hands. He figured this much out from the way the man before him had acted during their previous encounters. When there was always an important task at hand or the passing of sensitive information, the man, Henry, as he called himself, would always request time to think things over before accepting the job. And because he had heard no rumors about any one bragging to own Dor-Shey Da'at, Nathaniel ruled out the possibility of a noble being behind the guild.

Well, he didn't completely rule out that possibility. He had humored the idea that his father or a royal from another kingdom could be behind Dor-Shey Da'at. That wasn't completely out of the realm of possibility.

"Greetings, Your Highness," the man called Henry greeted him politely.

"Please, have a seat," Nathaniel offered, taking a seat as well even though he felt too antsy to sit still.

"I assume I'm here over the recent attack?" Henry asked, his legs crossed as he stared brazenly at Nathaniel.

Nathaniel ignored his impudent behavior, deciding to allow the man some leeway in his behavior for all the successful transactions that the Dor-Shey Da'at guild had provided in the past. "I expected no less. Does that mean you have already begun your investigation into the matter?"

"I will be willing to share our information once we gather any. For the right price, of course." Henry held up his fingers in the shape of a coin.

Nathaniel chuckled. "Of course." So, they've already begun investigating the incident, Nathaniel surmised from the man's behavior.

Henry was escorted out after that, of course, not before Nathaniel had paid the down-payment.

Nathaniel paced back and forth before exiting out with his teeth grinding against each other and his fists clenched. It was infuriating that he had to resort to outside help. And it was even more infuriating that his father won't allow him permission to interrogate the prisoners. In fact, only two people were allowed in the cells; the king and the King's Knight Commander, Sir Edmond.

He made his way up the foyer stairs, heading to the floor where all of his personal rooms were located. Only when he opened the door to his private office did he breathe a sigh of relief.

Lianna was sitting down on the sofa, a green skirt covering her delicate legs as they lay curled up underneath her.

He came up behind the sofa and wrapped his arms around her small shoulders. Laying his head down in the crook of her neck and shoulder, he breathed in her sweet scent, calming his nerves down.

Lianna set down the letter that she had been reading and placed a hand on his arms. "Must you act like this everytime?" Her soft voice was warm and there was a hint of a chuckle in its angelic depths.

Nathaniel tightened his arms and buried his nose deeper in her hair before pulling his face away with a heavy sigh. With his arms still wrapped around her, he set his chin down on her shoulder. "Must you tease me when I'm so angry at the fact that I am unable to keep you safe?"

Lianna removed a hand from his arm and brought it up to his face, cupping it to his chin. "I'm not trying to dissuade you from your anger, it's just that you allow it to overtake you sometimes."

"What am I supposed to do? You mean everything to me, so much so that I would personally burn the world if anything were to happen to you."

Lianna's thumb rubbed soothing circles into his skin. "How about this? If you manage to stay calm and collected and to not do anything drastic, I'll reward you once the perpetrators are caught and punished. One that you will be most pleased with," her voice was thick and provocative, leaving no room for Nathaniel to guess as to what the reward might be.

His eyes turned dark and his lashes fluttered. With a dry tongue, he licked his suddenly parched lips. "That is a reward I can thoroughly look forward to."

* * * *

Mikyle was rereading the reply that Adrien had sent to him. His lips were curled up in the corners as he imagined the facial expression that his little kitten had been wearing while writing the letter.

He was pleased to find out that he still had a chance. He was even more pleased that Adrien had chosen to go to the theater.

"Hmm, but I don't think the little kitten has realized that I have my own private box seats."

As Mikyle's mind started bringing up scenarios that could happen while being alone with Adrien, a surge of mana vibrated in the air, coming from the recently acquired compact.

Mikyle grabbed the compact from out of his breast pocket. Flipping it open, he activated it.

"Master, I have just met with your brother," Henry reported.

"Yes, I know." Mikyle had received the news already through his informant in Nathaniel's palace. He had an informant in each of his brothers' palaces that way he could keep an eye on things in case something were ever to happen or if a topic that Dor-Shey Da'at needed to investigate popped up that he was unaware of.

"Shall I give him the information we have gathered or would you like to investigate some more?"

Unbeknownst to the rest of his family, the King had allowed Mikyle into the prisoners' cells during the investigation. With Mikyle's aid, the Knight Commander who served in the King's personal squad of knights personally tortured the prisoners while Mikyle used his healing ability to continuously heal the prisoners' wounds after each session.

"Go ahead. You do not need to ask for my permission for something so obvious."

"Yes, Sir. Also, I have the information you requested on Adrien Mallorne. Would you like me to send it to you?"

"Yes." Mikyle hadn't wanted to go this far, but he had decided to request for a thorough background check on Adrien. He wasn't actually planning on looking at it, but wanted it on hand just in case he needed it, or if Adrien became reluctant to open up to him. Though Mikyle would prefer it if the little kitten would open up to him.

"What did this poor boy do to get on your badside?" Henry asked.

Mikyle's brows furrowed as he frowned at Henry's remark. "You're acting like I am planning on sending the boy to his grave when I am merely only courting him."

Henry's eyes widened, looking much like a fish out of water.

Mikyle closed the compact, cutting off the connection. Henry was being overly dramatic and it was starting to bother Mikyle, even if he had found his vice guild master's expression rather amusing.

"He acted as if it were shocking that I would like someone enough to court them," Mykile muttered, deciding to reread Adrien's letter to uplift his mood.