“Well…Well…Well.” My father pauses to clap dramatically before continuing as I cross my arms and wait for him to get this bit out of the way. “The runaway son finally arrives. Did you bring your brother, too?” my father asks in a bored tone as he sits on his throne, but I know the bastard isn’t bored. I look over at Dante and Jacob at my sides, and they both give me a look of warning to think of Cassandra and not lose my temper. I can basically see it in their eyes. Cassandra, think of her. My little bird. I think she has been here a week, which isn’t long, but it’s too long in a place like this. Even the thought of him touching her, hurting her in any way, makes me want to drag him from that throne and punch him so hard he stops breathing. I take a deep breath, calming myself down by remembering that the guards said there hasn’t been a game played since the changed one arrived. That means she can’t be dead, or badly hurt. I have time to figure something out, something to save my little bird.

“I’m back, aren’t I?” I finally say, but my voice comes out sharper and angrier than I wanted.

“Where is Ryland?” my father demands this time, getting off his throne and walking over to me with slow steps. I wish I looked more like my mother, is my only thought when I see my father for the first time in years. His long black hair is exactly like mine, and we have the same eyes. People say I have the same darkness as him, the same mark on my soul that people fear. I don’t know how much of it is true, but I will never be him.

“With our mother. He wished to see her first,” I respond. He isn’t only seeing our mother, he is sorting out the guards that are watching the dungeons, making sure they can be trusted to keep Cassandra alive. We had friends when we left this place, and I hope they stuck around and didn’t leave. I doubt they would have, a lot of them have family on the islands that need the money my father pays them. Money that basically keeps them alive, barely putting food on their tables even when the royal bank is overflowing with money. The king doesn’t want to pay them right, which is why they are so ready to listen to the princes who slip them money in the night.

“Fine,” my father says, his jaw locked and frustration written all over his face. He hates when we go to see her, when anyone does who isn’t him. I used to think he did it out of love, that he couldn’t stand the idea of anyone accidentally hurting her, but the older I got, the more I realised that it was never about caring. My mother protects him by being alive, so he can’t risk her safety. She is the source of his power, his changed one. My mind pictures Cassandra, her soft brown hair that I want to hold in my hands as I press my lips to hers. I long to see her hazel eyes widen, and to finally tell her how I feel about her. I avoided it for as long as I could. The stubborn, defiant, but kind nature of her draws me in more than the need to protect her. I know what she might be to me, what I could be to her, and it’s old magic. The magic gods whisper about, the magic of soulmates, that the chosen of the changed ones are their soulmates. I could be her chosen. One of many, I presume.

“Where is my ship you stole?” the king finally asks me, his eyes looking over my face for any response. I just grin, expecting him to try to punch me, to right me without using his powers. I have burns on my back that prove my father cannot beat me in a fair fight; he always has to use his gift to win. He is no kind of man, let alone a king.

“It is my ship. It was made for me and I gave it to my grandsons…and their friends,” Laura says as she walks into the room, her stick banging against the floor with every step. I turn and glare at her, wishing she would stay out of this for the next couple weeks until we can leave. I never should have believed her when she said she would go with Ryland to see her daughter.

“Everything in this world belongs to me. You are not the queen anymore and you were hardly one to begin with.” He laughs at her and she taps her stick on the floor, raising her eyebrows at the man who destroyed everything for her. I sometimes think Laura is either the bravest or stupidest person I know, but I’m yet to decide which one.

“Are you going to kill me? If you’re not, I want to rest,” Laura says, ignoring his comment, and his hands light up with fire. The fire never burns him. While growing up, I was interested in his powers, but that changed when I realised how much he enjoyed using his powers to kill people, when I found out what he did to my mother to be able to get that power.

“Leave my throne room, NOW!” my father shouts at her, and she laughs before walking out, her stick clicking against the stone floors with every step. There’s an awkward silence as we wait for Laura to leave, and her large smile is the last thing I see before the doors are shut.

“As for you, you can stay, but you will not have the throne. That is for Ryland and I want him to come see me,” my father demands. I don’t react to his taunt, the taunt he has used to get a reaction out of me for years. I remember being told when I was ten that my brother was more commanding, that he was born two minutes earlier than I was, and that he would take the throne. I watched as my brother told my father everything he wanted to hear, did whatever he wanted him to do, but at night, my brother whispered plans of escaping to the sea. He never wanted the throne, the responsibility that would come with it. It’s a heavy burden for anyone to bear.

“As you wish, father,” I say with a smirk and a heavy dose of sarcasm.

“And change your disgusting clothes. You are not a pirate, you are a prince,” he reminds me of the title I hate using. I am a pirate, but I won’t argue with him when my only reason for being here is to get Cassandra and leave. The only reason I’m here is to do what a pirate does best, steal a treasure. I nod my head at Jacob and Dante, who follow me towards the doors of the room.

“One more thing, son,” I hear as I wait for the guards to open the doors. I turn back and stare at my father as he stands in the middle of the room.

“The changed one, why was she on your ship?” he asks, and it takes every inch of my control not to react to his words.

“A return present for you, if only you could have waited for us to bring her to you,” I say the words we planned to tell him on the trip here. I have to pretend or this will never work. My father doesn’t say a word, just walks towards the throne and sits down, his dark eyes on me.

“She is a very beautiful present, I must say,” he says, and I tighten my fists as Jacob grabs my arm, nudging me towards the door. I turn around and shake his grip off as I walk out the room and down the corridor towards my mother’s rooms.

“That was too close. You need to blank your expression or he will make this worse for her,” Dante warns me.

“I can’t pretend she is nothing to me. No more than you could pretend it,” I snap.

“You’re right. I cannot pretend, and neither can Dante, but we need to be smart to keep her alive,” Jacob warns me, and I know he is right. I hate that he is right.

“Fine, I just hate the bastard,” I say and storm down the corridor. Several guards look at me in shock, but stop to bow and then keep low as we walk towards the royal rooms. I find the last door on the left, the very opposite direction of where Cassandra will be in the dungeons.

“I just want to go to her,” Jacob says, wording my thoughts that I can’t say out loud to him. I look at Jacob, knowing he loves her. It makes me want to punch him. If it was anyone else who was in love with her, I would. If it was anyone other than him and the four other men I would die for.

“Look at us all fighting for the same girl,” Dante says as we walk up the steps and past my and Ryland’s rooms.

“Sharing isn’t something we haven’t done before, but it’s different with her,”

“I agree, it’s more than just sex. It’s more than just loving her. There is god’s magic in the air,” Jacob says quietly and none of us say a word as we all agree. My mother’s room is up another set of stairs, with five guards outside and three locks on the door. I wait for the guards to unlock the doors before nodding at Jacob and Dante. They won’t come in, because my father would go insane if he found out anyone other than family went near his queen. The guards hold the door open and I walk into the bright room. It’s always bright in here, as my mother doesn’t like the dark and the five windows in the room fill it with light. My mother is sitting on a chair, so I can only see her black hair, and on the chair next to her is Ryland, whose head lifts to look over at me. The rest of the room is simple: a bed, a dressing table, and a large bathtub by the window. My father doesn’t sleep in here and he has his own rooms, so everything is kept simple, because she destroys things so often. My father claims to love my mother and yet, he sleeps with the five mistresses he keeps at all times. The mistresses change often; none are kept around for more than a month or so. Always pretty women he buys at auctions or steals from the islands he rules.

“Hunter,” Ryland says gently, and I look over at him as I shake off my thoughts. His mark is covered up with paste, the only way he could be safe here. He never once looks at me as he keeps his eyes on our mother. I pause as I walk over, not sure if I want to see her after all this time. I know it’s not her fault, but it still makes me angry and hurt to see her. Every damn time.

“Come to me, baby boy,” my mother’s sweet voice says in a whisper, but I don’t miss it. I would never say no, but it doesn’t make it any less difficult to walk over and sit in the spare chair on her other side. My mother looks over at me with the same light blue eyes as Ryland. Her long black hair is messy and down, bits flying all over her face. She has a white gown on, a simple one that covers her up, but she must be cold in it, and there are scratches on her arms from her own nails, I would suspect. When I look back up at her eyes, they are dull, almost lifeless, and her expression is dim. Her circle mark sits in the middle of her forehead, so different from Cassandra’s, but they are the same. Yet, my mother doesn’t have a touch of power anymore.

“Do you remember me?” I ask her, reaching over and taking her tiny hand into mine. She doesn’t respond to me. My mother doesn't move her hand. She doesn’t even tighten her hand in mine or pull her hand away.

“Baby boy, two,” she says, but her voice is emotionless and cold. This is the price my father paid for stealing her power, my mother lost her mind, and looking her over just makes me angry. How could he do this to her? Is the power worth the price of losing the woman you love?

“Yes, your twins,” Ryland answers her. His own voice is colder than mine as he looks over at me.

“He wants to see you,” I tell him, and Ryland sighs.

“We suspected as much,” he responds. My father has always idolised Ryland, always believing he is the stronger out of us and that he would be more suitable for the throne. I don’t disagree. I never wanted the throne, or anything to do with my father. But Ryland doesn’t want the throne, either, and he doesn’t want to be here anymore than I do.

“Did you find anything else out? Did you sort the guards out?” I ask him.

“That Cassandra is here, but nothing else. I can sense her close, anyway.” He points at his chest and I hate the jealousy I feel over him having that bond with her. “I sorted her guards out. Tyrion is managing everything,”

“You are her chosen,” I say.

“I doubt I will be her only,” he replies, his head tilting to the side as he suspects as much as I do. God magic has been bringing us all together for a while, and I feel this is a plan that has been put into place since Cassandra was kissed by the Sea God.

“Four chosen for me,” my mother says, reminding us that she once had four chosen whom she loved. The four princes of Calais. I have read stories of them, how they were all treasured and kind, all but the dark prince. My father.

“I know,” I say, but she doesn’t respond.

“The games are tomorrow, much earlier than before, but I don’t know what is planned,” Ryland tells me, and I suspected as much.

“It will be big, to hurt or kill Cassandra,” I reply.

“Chaz, Zack, and Dante won’t be able to enact their plan yet, not by tomorrow. We will have to help her,” Ryland says, and I sit back in my seat.

“I will plan something. You will be too watched,” I respond.

“I will have to sit next to our father, as will you, as they bring Cassandra into those games, and she will find out the truth.” Ryland smacks the arm of the chair before standing up. “I didn’t want her finding out like this.”

“She will hate us for who we are,” I warn him, my own feeling of dread filling my body. I am to the point when I can’t imagine my life without my little bird.

“I don’t care if she hates me, as long as she is safe and free,” Ryland comments, walking over to the window and looking out.

“Time to plan then, brother,” I respond, and we do just that.