Ashton's Information
POV: Alexandra
Grand Pretre came into the room and smiled at me, “Well done on your care of His Majesty, Alexandra. Your vicinity to him with your Healing Heart has certainly helped him heal a whole lot better than he would have if you hadn’t been here.” Lucien spoke, “You’re saying her ability helped me?” She smiled at Lucien, “Yes, this is why it was the best possible path for her to be here. It is why I insisted to the doctor that Alexandra stay here last night through tomorrow. It would be infinitely easier to have you sport a small bandage than a whole head wrap. You’d have to try to explain to all the nobles where that injury came from when Malinus told everyone you weren’t feeling well. That wouldn’t sit well with the nobility and Malinus would be in trouble for lying to them. Granted His Highness could conduct court as proxy to his brother but His Majesty will need to be present for what is to come next.” We all looked at her and she giggled, “I figured there would be questions. I believe the answers lie with not only the envoys but also young Ashton here. I believe you have official news to report to His Majesty?” All eyes shifted to Ashton who cleared his throat, “Right, the reason I am here. I had to report to His Majesty on the Maigny family.” Lucien nodded at him, “You may report” He proceeded, “So last night after the reception, Marquis Maigny pulled me aside and handed me a robe and a mask. We were joined by Melody and went through a tunnel system from the manor to an underground lair. I will give the General an update on the tunnel system later, I don’t think we want to use it until the Maignys are arrested. Based on the meeting that I attended last night, It appears as though the head of The Order is Marquis Maigny. Melody is an active and participating member and they have found a new assassin to take out Alexandra. The act is supposed to go down at the Fall Masquerade. This assassin isn’t anything like Talon either. Talon was stealthy whereas this one is all about inflicting the most pain. He has a reputation for being evil with his prey. He takes pleasure in what he does and his smile when they discussed Alexandra was menacing. I was frightened for her and chills ran down my spine to think that my sister was in this guy’s sights. To top it all off, he hates my sister just as much if not even more than The Order. He spoke about her as if he was getting revenge.”
I sat down at the chair by the vanity where I was standing next to, it felt like my knees were growing a bit weak. I sighed, “I don’t understand why someone would hate me that much. I don’t recall ever really offending anyone” Ashton walked over then rubbed and patted my back, “I don’t know but he doesn’t look like anything I have ever seen either. He’s neither lycan nor pyrio or anything I can recognize as a race from Vellum. I wonder if he’s from the Seely Realm or the Heavenly Realm. Perhaps we can ask the princesses or your soul parents. If we can narrow down where he’s from, we might get to know some of his weaknesses.” Grand Pretre sighed, “He has a particular hatred of Alexandra and it is a very old hatred. I don’t know who he is but I can feel from him this raw hatred, this need for revenge. I’m not entirely sure he wants to kill her though. It is weird because the emotions are very mixed in his thoughts and feelings towards you, Alexandra.” She looked at me sympathetically as I inhaled a sharp breath at her declaration. I was confused since I had grown up in Terre and knew no one here when I was a small child or baby besides the royal family. I didn’t think it could be anyone from the royal family that was after me. All were gathered here that were in the room when they had first seen me, other than the former King who had died. Besides, Ashton said the race of the assassin was unknown to him so it could not have been Vellinian. I had wondered if this was an old grudge between my family and this person. I was sitting there furrowing my brow as I thought through who it might have been. I sighed, “I’m not sure who could hate me that much. I’m running it through my head and I don’t know anyone in all of Vellum who hates me more than the Maignys and I don’t know anyone in Seely other than the princesses and Loki.” I sighed and looked down at my feet in sadness. I thought back to my life on Terre and how the people of Everly treated me, it was vicious. I remember the extreme hatred of me and my family, I wondered if this new assassin could hate me that much or if he even hated me more. I kept my eyes down to my feet and I sighed sadly. Lucien spoke, “Whoever he is, I won’t let him succeed. I shall protect you.” Blake nodded, “I won’t either, I shall protect you.” Ashton chimed in too, “I will protect my sister as well.They will not take her life as long as I am around.”
Grand Pretre smiled, “It amazes me how our dear Alexandra got so many to love her in such a short time. Then again if you think about who made her, love and light, it shouldn’t be too surprising. Those are the two attributes that would draw good people to love and care for you.I am told that you already have a demigod name that the Heavenly Realm calls you.” I nodded, “They called me Solamor. Apollo picked it out. He said it sounds both beautiful and respectable.” She looked over at Ashton, “I wonder what your Heavenly Realm name is young Ashton. Perhaps someday soon your soul father will contact you.” Everyone looked at her in unison but my eyes were on Ashton because I wanted to see his reaction. His eyes were widened, “What do you mean Your Eminence?” She smiled, “I forgot that I didn’t tell you about yourself. I believe Alexandra and Lucien were told last night by Aphrodite.” Lucien’s mother gasped, “We had a Goddess here?!” Lucien chuckled, “Yes, it will always be a possibility as long as Alexandra is around. She can, after all, call her at a moment’s notice. Well, in this case she just sort of popped in at a moment’s notice.” Grand Pretre giggled then resumed, “I believe it was explained that it was your brother that rescued you both from Loki and from your curse.” Blake snapped his head back to me, “You’re cured of your curse?” I smiled and nodded, “Yes, Ashton took it away from me. My brother, my hero. I shall faint from the excitement of it.” I faked fawning over my brother in a melodramatic fashion. Ashton laughed for a little while and then sighed, “I still don’t know how but I’m so happy I helped. I imagine, though, that Aphrodite explained how that worked out?” Grand Pretre nodded, “She did though I will say that Alexandra should take some credit for how she helped her brother lift the curse but I will move on. You see Ashton had the very astute idea to cover Alexandra’s eyes. It was the eye contact that pulled her into Loki more than anything. As soon as he locked eyes with her last night, she was pulled into him. I’m curious how you knew that, Ashton.” He looked down at me, “After I learned of my sister’s curse, I read every book I could find on curses. There were tons of books on it especially love curses. It was a hunch that it worked through sight. I figured I would try and if that didn’t work, I would use my strength and take her away from him.” Grand Pretre smiled and walked over to the window and stood in front of it. The act made her look like some pale faced angelic creature. I wasn’t sure that was what she was trying to do but she looked at me and smiled then looked at Ashton, “Well now, your contact with your sister enabled her to pass her ability to you. That very potent version of brotherly love amplified your feelings which in turn flipped a switch of your very dormant power. Your soul was also shaped by a God. It so happens to be the very God that Loki is most afraid of. Your power coursed through Alexandra’s body once your rage spilled out and it zapped the curse at the very depth of her soul.”
Everyone but me and Lucien looked at Ashton with a new admiration, especially Blake. I knew that Blake was looking at Ashton as another way that he could use someone around me to protect me. The thoughts weren’t lost on him just how valuable my brother was to that cause. Lucien and I made eye contact and at that very moment, I never wanted to kiss him more. I could only guess that that feeling was being caught by the ever so observant Grand Pretre. Grand Pretre winked at me then cleared her throat, “I do believe that Lucien is getting tired though. I think we should leave him to rest and Alexandra to look after him.” The Queen Mother looked closely at Lucien then at me, “You know? I do believe you are right Your Eminence. Blake, let us go down to my tea garden and have a look around for a nice blend for your date with Lady Delnaro.” Blake stood up from the bed and grunted, “If I really must, I am really regretting that promise now.” I giggled, “You need to open yourself up for new experiences, Blake. What if the council chooses me as Queen, you’ll be stuck in a rut. Don’t limit yourself.” He sighed, “Yeah, yeah. I’d rather have a date with you though.Besides, even Grand Pretre says the future is not fully written, you still have a chance to be my Crown Princess.” I looked over at Lucien who clenched his fist in his lap and I shook my head, “Even so, you really need to try. Litha is a wonderful person, you just need to give her a chance to show you. You haven’t spent a whole lot of actual time with her.” Ashton patted Blake on the back, “Let’s go. I can give you some pointers on Litha. She’s not really much different from Xan, just less…well no offense to her but…beautiful. Don’t get me wrong she’s beautiful but not like my sister.” I sighed, “You’re biased. You cannot say that, Ashton.” In unison, all three men objected, “But you are more beautiful.” I blushed and looked away from everyone and muttered, “I didn’t ask for opinions. Run along.” I waved my hand and I kept my eyes averted until the sound of the door shut and I heard Lucien chuckle, “You’re really embarrassed by that compliment?” I looked back over at him, “You have to remember, I grew up being told by people not in my family how ugly and horrible I was.” He sighed and lifted his arm, “Come here and let me tell you all the things I want to tell you I love about you. Really, those silly humans couldn’t be more wrong about you.” I smiled and hurried over to join him on the bed and snuggled up to him, “I don’t need you to tell me, Lucien. I just need you to hold me. Your arms are where I want to be right now.” He kissed the top of my head, “Gladly, I will do that whenever you ask me to.”
I sighed as I snuggled into his chest, “Lucien, how do we let Blake down. He doesn’t know how I feel yet and I don’t want to hurt him.” He held me tighter against him, “I don’t know. I just know that he will probably hate me for a long time after he finds out that I won your heart.” I grabbed his other hand and held it tightly in mine, “I think the only thing we can do is make sure that he can fall in love again. It’s why I’m pushing him so hard to see Litha as something more than he sees her as. She just shows the outside world a much more different persona than she truly is. I believe this is because her parents have been pushing her to be something she isn’t. All her life she’s been conditioned to be prim and proper and Blake hates that. He likes my free spirit and carefree ways. She is that way behind closed doors, she just needs to relax.” He inhaled deeply and with his rising chest, my head rose and fell with it, “I think you need to help her realize that Blake might like the real her. I would advise you to have a long talk with her about it. I know you probably gave her some advice during the retreat but perhaps a long talk would do worlds of good. Try and invite her to Blackwood and guide her on how to win my brother’s heart. You should know more than anyone how it could be done.” I looked up at him, “I did give her advice but it was half-hearted since I didn’t trust her. Blake is still my friend and I didn’t want to push him into a relationship with a traitor. I am protective of my friends too. Plus who knows if her family will allow her to come to Blackwood on account of the fact that they hate me.” He squeezed my hand, “It won’t be an issue much longer. I plan to punish Count Delnaro at the next gathering in the throne room tomorrow afternoon. She will be free to go where she wants once her father is arrested since she will be relinquished the title of Countess thereafter.”
