“You mean you actually caught him? Kidnapped him? I’m surprised.” 

“But the plan was to [b]kill[/b] him, Regis you said your daughter could do the task. She was too [i]soft[/i] to do something like that.”

“Well at least we [i]have[/i] him, better than more dead.”

Regis sighed rubbing his temples, already the meeting had gone on for a few hours because they had to wait for everyone to arrive. Some of the men were older whilst others were younger, all there for the same cause. Hope. “Calm down everyone, I think you are forgetting the fact that we have a key person to winning this war.”

“Don’t be a fool Regis, she should have killed him when she had the chance. Now we have him kidnapped and this probably means the military will be hot on our tail and ready to burn us all to ground. This is a bad sign Regis. Very bad.” One of the men who had spoken was called Reginald, his son had been a casualty of rescuing Iris, so he was still quite bitter over the fact. 

“I will [b]NOT[/b] have you talk bad about my daughter.” Regis growled slamming his fist against the table causing a mass of whispers across the table to erupt. 

[color=f49ac2]“I’m sorry… I know I should have followed the plan, but..”[/color]

“No instead you followed whatever a hormonal woman would follow. Stupid women and their [i]feelings[/i].” Reginald cut across giving her a sharp look across the table. 

“Reginald. I know you are mourning for your son, the plan could not be followed.” Regis tried to speak calmly to the members who were grumbling. 

“We have to remember she was injured; she still does not have her full memories back and we are lucky that my son Ethan led the rescue team. Had he not we might not have recovered her nor the Prince.” This time another male spoke up, his name was Henry Ethan’s father and Regis’ right hand man amongst it all. 

“Just because your son is in league with her doesn’t mean you should stick up for her!”

“Reginald please, this is not how the meeting is supposed to go. We are to discuss what we want to do, like for instance should we ransom him? Get money and food for our people?” Henry sighed heavily running fingers through his hair as he glanced back at Regis who frowned at the idea. 

“Ransom? No, we are to kill him. End the line. Take over the hierarchy ourselves and create a better country.” Regis spoke firmly as he casted a glance across the table. 

[color=f49ac2]“Kill him?”[/color] Iris spoke up wide eyed, [color=f49ac2]“Violence doesn’t solve anything. Surely if we ransom we can appeal to the King.”[/color] 

“See, this is why we should not involve [i]women[/i] and politics. You know what they are good for…”

“Stop it.” Henry cut across before he could finish his sentence glowering at Reginald. 

Iris glanced down at her hands on the table, had she always attended these meetings with her father? Surely, she was not this blind to how stupid they all sounded. [color=f49ac2][i]How did I ever agree to the plan in the first place? I don’t understand why I would. Other than it was for my mother, but surely, I was not this stupid.[/i][/color] 

“Right, we are all in agreement we kill him. Yes, I get it, my daughter could not do the task in the Capital but now we can make a spectacle of it. It can’t be too long; no doubt they are on to the fact he is missing so we need to act fast.” Regis commanded the room as he shot a sideways glanced at Reginald who just folded his arms clearly displeased. 

--

“I hope you realise you have ruined everything.” Ethan finally spoke up as he looked down at the Prince as if he was nothing, as if he was the dirt on his shoe that he couldn’t scrape off. “Although your security is stupid, didn’t catch me or Thomas, we all made it out and with the best prize of all. [i]The crown Price of Aspiria[/i].” Holding his hands up in the air mocking him as he faked bowed to the Prince in the cell. 

“How does it feel, to like someone so much that when they betray you, you feel crushed, right?.” Ethan smirked, if it was one thing, he knew that there was no way there’d be any feelings left between Iris and the Prince. Betrayal cut deep and at least he was happy in knowing that neither of them got their happily ever after. Looking down at his hand as if he was bored entertaining the Prince, he wanted to rile him up, get a reaction because he was mad. Although Iris had lost her memories apparently their bond had not been strong enough to be remembered and that hurt, he was still brooding over that.