*Daehyun’s POV*

I grabbed my horse from the restaurant and rode tall the way to the palace at full speed. I didn’t slow down for anyone or anything.

My mind was spinning. I didn’t know where to start or what to even think. Youngjae is pregnant?! Why didn’t he tell me? Why didn’t he just tell me? The thought was hard to believe. I needed to see him. I needed to see him now. I refused to believe he was gone.

I burst through the palace doors and ran up the spiral stairs. “Youngjae?” I busted into his room, but he wasn’t there. His room was neat and untouched. I ran to the hot springs, but he wasn’t there.

I ran to the nurses’ quarters, but he wasn’t there.

I ran outside, but he wasn’t there.

I checked the dining room.

I checked the herbal gardens.

I checked the kitchen.

I checked the library.

He wasn’t anywhere.

I fell to my knees. “No…no…” I shook my head. “No!” I screamed. Tears poured down my cheeks as I hunched over. “Youngjae I’m sorry. I am so sorry. I should’ve never left you on your own.” I cried. “Youngjae please forgive me. You did nothing wrong. You did nothing wrong.” I cried harder. Why am I such an idiot?! “Just please come back. I’ll do anything. Just please come back to me.”

He won’t help us. He said that no one cares for Youngjae here, so there’s no point in helping him.

I thought about Junhong’s words. Youngjae must’ve been so lonely. I gritted my teeth. How can my dad just leave him? I pushed myself to my feet. I wiped my tears until they were completely dry before walking out the library. I have to talk to him.

I burst into his study where he was reclined in his chair, flipping through some book. I frowned. How can he just sit around and do nothing?

He was unfazed by my entrance. “Why won’t you help search for Youngjae?? How can you just let him be stuck wherever he is?” I questioned in disbelief.

He looked up at me through his reading glasses. “Why should I? No one here cares about him. He’s useless to us.” He simply said.

I bawled my fist. “How can you talk about him like that? You don’t even know him. You never even went out your way to get to know him. Do you know what he’s been through? So many people have screwed him over and yet he’s still a kind and caring person. He has the purest heart than anyone that’s lived on this planet. And you just toss him aside and call him useless?” I nearly snapped.

“If he’s so great then why doesn’t anyone care about him? Hm?” He brushed off, looking back at his book.

My jaw tightened. It pissed me huff how causal he was about the situation. “That’s not true! I care about him! I care about him and that’s all that matters!” I spat. I felt my eyes sting. “I’m going to get him myself! With or without your help.”

A sly smile crossed his lips. “That’s all you had to say.”

“What?”

He removed his glasses and rested them on the desk. “I was waiting for you to say something, then I was going to send my men. You didn’t think I was that heartless, did you?”

I was lost for words, “You knew?”

He shrugged, “It was brought to my attention recently, that there was something between the two of you. But I didn’t know what and needed to find out from you.” He explained.

My bottom lip quivered. My body felt weak.

“Daehyun?” He noticed this.

Tears streamed down my cheek. “I really messed up.” I said weakly.

I sunk to my knees. More tears poured down my cheeks. My dad stood up from behind his desk and walked to me. He knelt down beside me and patted my shoulder. It was obvious that he didn’t know what to do. “Don’t cry. We’ll get him.” He said with much confidence. “He can be anywhere. They could do anything to him. And he’s…” I stopped myself from going any further. I couldn’t tell him about it. He’ll be angry. Beyond angry.

“They won’t do anything to him. Changmin has him.” He said.

My eyes slightly widened. Not only was he one of the most powerful dark guild leaders, but he was my dad’s greatest enemy. I’ve never seen him before, my father locked us in the palace as kids whenever he came around.

“He’ll reveal himself soon. He’s going to use Youngjae against me to get his way. I can send out a search party, but it’ll be a waste of time and resources. He’s going to show himself, so don’t worry. Your job will be to find the two princes while he’s gone. I’ll meet with you and the others about what we’re going to do.” He said.

I nodded, wiping away my tears. He rested his hand on my shoulder, “But Daehyun.” He looked me in the eye, his face was serious. “Don’t you dare have any doubt. Remember who you are and where you come from. You fight for what you want, and you don’t lose. No matter how hard it is. And if anyone gets in your way, you make them pay.” He spoke firmly. “Okay?”

I nodded actually feeling somewhat better.

“Good.” He patted my back as we both stood up. “Now go get some rest. We start tomorrow. I’ll send Yoochun to fetch the other two.” He said. I nodded one last time and bowed my head, “Thanks dad.”

“No problem. Now go.” He shooed.

I left the study feeling more determined than before, but the guilt weighed heave yon my heart. How is he doing? Is he at least okay? I she in pain? Is he healthy? I don’t even know how he was doing before. I needed to at least know that, to have some sort of peace of mind.

I quickly walked down the hall to the other side of the castle. I pushed open his door to his study. “I’m just about to leave.” Jaejoong called, packing his stuff.

He paused when he saw that it was me. His eyes slightly widened, “Daehyun?”

His hair was disheveled, and he looked tired. Paperwork and maps were scatted all over his desk.

I closed the door behind me. “I know everything. I know about Youngjae’s kidnapping and I know about his…” I barely choked on my sentence still unable to process the news. Jaejoong let out a sigh and nodded, knowing what I was referring too. “Is it true? Is he pregnant.” I questioned. “Yes.” He answered. I swallowed hard but nodded firmly.

I pulled out the seat and sat down across from him. “Tell me…” I said. “How was he? How was his health?” I questioned. Jaejoong stopped what he was doing and sat in his chair. “His health has been up and down.” He confessed. “He coughs so hard that it’s painful to hear. He gets nauseous every now and then and struggles to hold down his food. But the biggest thing is that he feels both hot and cold. Or sometimes he feels hot when his body is cold and vice versa.”

“What does that mean?” I didn’t understand.

Jaejoong inhaled and exhaled deeply. “Youngjae doesn’t know this, but there’s a possibility that he could be having twins. One of the snow element and the other of the fire element. I can sense it, but I could be wrong. It’s still pretty early.” He finally said.

My heart stopped at the new information. I didn’t know what think.

“I hope I’m wrong.” Jaejoong confessed.

“Why?”

“It can take a serious toll on his body if he’s not taken care of properly.” He explained.

“You’re not telling me everything.” I accused.

“And…it puts his life in danger. His body isn’t strong enough.” He finally said.

I ran my fingers through my hair, nearly tugging on it. “Why didn’t he tell me?” I pressed my back against the chair. I don’t care if I was mad, he should’ve told me. His health matters more than anything or anyone else.

Jaejoong didn’t say anything.

I looked at him. “Why didn’t he tell me? I know he told you why. Tell me.” I demanded desperately.

Jaejoong let out another sigh, his eyes becoming glossy. “He said he didn’t want you to hate him.” He answered. “He was scared.”

My shoulders dropped. Doojoon was right. I shouldn’t have cut him off. Of course, he’d be scared. Of course, he’d blame it all on himself like Kikwang said. “don’t think too hard about it ow.” Jaejoong spoke up. “Not now. We have to focus on getting him back before anything else happens, anything worse.” He advised. He was right. My moping isn’t going to save him now.

Jaejoong stood up and grabbed one of his leather brief cases. “I’ll be leaving first before it gets dark.” He bowed. I quickly stood to my feet, “Where are you going?”

“I’m going to my house outside the palace. I don’t live here.” He answered. “Stay. You can’t go. We need your help. It’ll be easier if you stayed here.” It was weird telling him that I needed his help, but he was closest to Youngjae and the only person who didn’t abandon him. “My dad agreed to help. He changed his mind.” I said feeling somewhat awkward.

Jaejoong looked surprised by the news concerning my father’s decision, but he nodded anyway. “If it’ll help and make things faster I will stay until we get him back.” He put his stuff down. “Okay.” I bowed my head then left the study without saying a word. It was weird having an actual conversation with him for the first time in years. It was weird, but I ignored it. I hadn’t forgiven either of them. I just needed their help to get Youngjae back.

Instead of heading to my room, I returned to Youngjae’s. The candles instantly lit as I entered the room. I roamed around the small room, observing his belongings. I smiled a little. He kept the sovereigns I got for him from the other kingdoms, placed neatly on his shelf, along with other items he brought from home. I never understood why he wanted to keep his stuff from home considering how they dumped him.

I looked over his nightstand and saw the dust mask I gave him lying on top it. I picked up the mask. A frown re my lips. “I will get you back Youngjae. I promise. And I’ll make it up to you. You’ll never feel alone again.”

I slipped the mask in my pocket and left the room.

“So you’re back.” Someone said.

I looked up to see Sunghak standing on the other side of the hall, arms folded, and back pressed against the wall. “Sunghak?” I said somewhat surprised to see him here. “You miss your boyfriend?” He smirked.

My eyes slightly widened. “How did you know?”

He pushed off the wall and walked up to me. “I’m not an idiot Daehyun. I know you. You don’t think I noticed how nice you were to him and the times you stood up to him whenever dad or I insulted him? Why do you think I backed off him the past couple months?” He said.

I didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t necessarily a secret, but not something I bothered to talk about, especially with my family. If I’m going to be honest all of us are pretty cold hearted. “I’m not mad. I’m glad. Now I can keep my plans and not have to marry anyone. But don’t think I’m not going to tease you about it.” He smirked.

I rolled my eyes.

He ruffled my hair, “Come on. Let’s get some sleep. We got asses to kick tomorrow.”

-

The next morning, my father called Sunghak, Junhong, Doojoon, Junsu, Yoochun, and I for a meeting in the throne room. Jaejoong also attend the meeting, accompanying Yoochun and Junsu. My father was surprised by his appearance, but he didn’t say anything about it. However, it was obvious that his confidence boosted ten levels.

Doojoon explained what happened at the party when he last saw Youngjae. He’d been talking to the younger when he went to get him a drink. Later, when he came back the snow prince was gone. He also pulled out a white handkerchief stained with dry blood that Yoseob found in the bathroom. Both Jaejoong and I were taken by surprise by the new information. Knots twisted in my stomach. Youngjae.

Junhong explained how he witnessed his personal body guard leave with Kikwang and they never saw either of them again after that. He also mentioned what his parents told them. King and Consort Choi already sent out a search party and contacted other Kingdoms.

The Sunshine guard, named Jongin (who came with them), explained his suspicions about how they probably took them to Lord Changmin. He also pointed out that the Outcast Lord had a base on the outside of each Kingdom, except for the Earth, Fire, Fertility, and Celestial kingdoms, which all had strict border control. He was able to circle the areas of each base on a map. It was suspicious how he knew all this, but it didn’t matter, the information was useful.

“It’ll be useless to send out a search party. Especially if the Sunshine, Earth, and Snow kingdoms are going to send some out. It’ll only make it more complicated.” My father began. Junsu nodded in agreement. “Changmin is sworn enemy to the fire kingdom. He’ll eventually reveal himself here. In the meantime, we have to get the princes before then or even better, while he’s gone.” My father said.

“Junsu, take five of your best men and circle the perimeter and watch out for any suspicious activity. I’ll give you further instructions after that.” He ordered. “Sunghak, Jongin. You two go to the base outside the Sunshine Kingdom and squeeze as much information as you can out of there. There’s also a possibility that the princes may be there too.”

“Changmin doesn’t like to stay in one spot for long. It’ll be hard to find him withou