CHAPTER 1

In his sentencing, the king decided he would be a prisoner of the neighboring kingdom. As he watched him, His half-brother Prince fuck-face laughed at him. He had to act upset like this was not a part of his plan. This kingdom's fall was imminent, he would bring it down soon. However, not just yet. As the guards escorted him to the dungeon where he waited till the escort came to bring him to his new home, he took one last look at his father, the man who had just sent him off to a fate worse than death. He saw his smile. It gave him great pleasure to be rid of him. Knowing that his sins were more likely to be exposed the longer he stayed in the kingdom of Denia, The king decided to send him to the kingdom of Edarith. However, in order to accomplish that, he would have to do something worthy of being sent off. In order to solve the problem, he enlisted the help of his half-brother Prince fuck-face Charles. Fuck-face sent some of his assassins to knock him out so they could move him to the scene of a murder and report it to the guards. He had been preparing for this since he overheard them discussing it in the king's room when he had gone for a late-night walk. After hearing that he ran back to his room and cried.

He had trusted them, liked them even. He thought his father cared for him even if he was a bastard. His father had never praised Theo but he also never hurt him in any way. Charles had been a brother to him and he had assumed he saw him as a brother as well. It hurt. That hurt a lot. That night he cried himself to sleep. The next morning when he awoke, he resolved to act the same as usual and not to show that he knew. He pushed the anger and betrayal deep down and refused to let it affect him. He the bastard Prince Theo would not be defeated by that fuck-face and his father. He had spent a week preparing for this very moment. He would get his revenge in one way or another, whatever his future might hold. It was damp and dark in the dungeons, filled with rats and cockroaches.

The cell he was thrown into was the dampest of them all. It was the area of the dungeons where more serious criminals were kept. Murderers, treasonists, and the like were kept here. They only serve one meal here and the beds were completely made out of stone compared to the 2 meals and thin mattresses the less serious criminals got. Even if he was a bastard prince he was still a prince so adjusting was difficult but he was slowly starting to adapt. They had blindfolded him to make it even more difficult for him to escape. The escort from the Kingdom of Edarith was scheduled to arrive in 2 weeks. For a brief moment, he contemplated whether the dungeons there were better or worse than here. The men he had sent to investigate the guard routines and routes had said that they were about the same but due to the heavy guard presence, they couldn't find out how the inmates were treated. The rumors he had heard about the King of Edarith all said that he was old and was on the verge of dying. Apparently, 2 of his sons were all fighting over who would be the next king. Public opinion seemed to be leaning towards the 2nd son winning. There seemed to be almost no info on the 3rd son. The information wasn't 100% reliable as his men only had a week to investigate which included travel time. Going there and back depending on the weather could take anywhere from 1-2 days. After he had got the reports he had sent his men back to wait for his arrival. The plan was for them to break him out of the escort's carriage halfway to their destination. The plan was hasty but it was their best bet. He only got a week to prepare and it was the best he could come up with. He sent enough of his money with his men so that once they got him out he wouldn't starve to death. But he couldn't send too much because fuck-face and his father would realize something was wrong. If the king found out about his plan, he would have assassins kill him before the envoy came and frame it as an attack from another criminal. Since he was a bastard he wasn't well known in his own kingdom let alone a different one so his escort shouldn't be too heavily guarded. He was banking on the simple fact that they wouldn't expect a measly bastard to fight back. He heard a clunk outside his cell then the prince's voice came floating through the bars.

"Hello dearest brother Theo." the prince said mockingly. He knew how much this betrayal had hurt him and he relished in the pain he had caused.

"What do you want?" he said through clenched teeth, his fists curled in anger at his sides. The ache in his chest was still there. It hadn't gone away since that first night.

"I just wanted to wish you luck in your new home, I heard their dungeons are much more …what's the word..ah yes entertaining," Charles said with a malicious grin. Although Theo was blindfolded he could imagine the malicious look on his face and the evil glint in his eyes. He was attempting to frighten him. A small tingle of fear ran down his spine but he brushed it off. He didn't have the luxury of being scared. Being scared wouldn't fix anything.

"That's nice I guess," Theo pretended it didn't affect him to piss Charles off. He could hear his teeth grinding and could practically feel his gaze burning a hole through him.

"Yes it is especially since that filthy homosexual 3rd prince is in charge of the dungeons and military," Charles said with an odd note in his voice. Like he was planning something. Theo was surprised. He didn't know that the 3rd prince was gay. The fact that Charles knew meant that this was something that at least the entire inner circles of both kingdoms knew. It surprised him. Homosexuals are mostly not outright hate crimed but they are generally looked down on and disrespected, so the fact that the 3rd prince had the bravery and confidence to come out at least to the extent that he has was commendable. He knew that Charles was watching him for a reaction so he gave him the blandest one he could think of.

"Good for him I guess" The neutral tone of his voice made Charles even angrier. He slammed his fist into the cell's bars and turned to go. He left Theo with one last parting comment.

"You're not getting out of this alive, The first prince will make sure of it."The first prince, How did he relate to this? Charles had said earlier that the third prince was the one in charge of the dungeons. Charles must have made a deal to show his support for the first prince if he disposes of me. The first prince wants to rule the kingdom, and if he gets the support of the neighboring kingdom, people are likely to follow. He hoped that the first prince wasn't part of the envoy because if he was it would be even more difficult to pull his plan off. Pulling his plan off was already going to be difficult in the first place and he knew there was a 50/50 chance it wasn't gonna work out. With the first prince added there was even less of a chance that it was gonna work out. Worrying wouldn't do anything for him now so he might as well get some sleep. As he tried to get comfortable on the stone beds. His stomach protested in hunger but it was easy to ignore after having done this for a while. He rolled over on the stone until he assumed his back faced the bars but it was hard to tell with the blindfold on. He slowly drifted off to sleep.