Chapter 166 - Impossible Terms

"What-what do you mean you can't agree?" Ilona stammered in shock.

"I'm truly sorry," Daniel shook his head, "It isn't possible for me to agree to this."

"But you have to," Ilona shook her head, tears burning in her eyes, "You have to agree to it. If-If you don't we... we will never see our brother and sister again. Who knows what will happen to them!"

"Ilona," Ian said quietly, reaching for his sister's hand as her voice grew louder.

"No!" she snapped, jerking it out of his reach before turning to Daniel again, "No you can't do this! You have to agree to his terms. You can't leave my siblings to never see their family again!"

Vincent was quick to move partially in front of Ilona, blocking her from the King.

"Danny, can you tell us what the terms are? Maybe we could discuss it and we could..."

"I'm not going to discuss it," Daniel cut him off, "The terms are impossible. I can't agree to them."

Delaney stood frozen in disbelief. She turned to see Ilona in tears and Ian staring at the ground in shock. She looked to her husband, meeting his gaze with her own pleading one.

"Please," Vincent said quietly to his cousin, "Please Danny you have to help them. You have to do something."

"I will write up a letter to the King of the Red Lands and give him the best terms I can agree to although I doubt they will satisfy him based on what he's demanding here. That is all the help I can give you. I'm deeply sorry."

"I think it would be best if you left now," the Queen said as she stood and took her husbands arm.

"Of course," Vincent said quietly. He looked to Delaney and held out his arm for her. Ian turned now and met Delaney's eyes. His were so hopeless they made Delaney tear up. He held out his arm for his sister but she didn't take it. Instead, she headed for the door on her own. Ian, Vincent, and Delaney hurried to follow her.

Ilona grabbed the handle on the heavy door and heaved it open. Without looking she hurried out and ran right into someone else who was about to knock. Delaney watched with wide eyes as the pirate woman stumbled backward in confusion and the beautiful woman she ran into bounced off the back of the man behind her before she managed to regain her footing.

Everyone's eyes stayed locked on this woman, wide in shock. It was Queen Sophia. Delaney stared and realized suddenly what was going on.

"Anna," she said quietly, "You-You're the Queen's twin sister."

"I am," the beautiful woman who was almost an exact copy of the Queen pursed her lips and looked at them in annoyance. Then her eyes landed on Vincent though and she raised her eyebrows.

"What horrible markings. What happened?"

Everyone seemed to tense simultaneously at her harsh words. They all stood frozen, not sure how to reply. A moment later though Daniel stepped between them.

"I'm sorry," he said quickly, "Anna, you remember my cousin, Vincent Adair. And this is his wife, Delaney, and their two friends."

"Vincent Adair?" the woman repeated in surprise, "I do remember you now! Oh, you used to be so deadly gorgeous. What a pity."

"Anna," Sophia hissed, hurrying to join her sister, taking her hand. She looked at Delaney and smiled. "I am happy the two of you have a chance to meet. I'm hoping we'll be able to spend time together. Maybe you can stay at court for a while?"

"I... I don't know," Delaney replied hesitantly, "But I would be happy to get a chance to get to know your sister. How... how long is she staying?"

"Forever," Anna laughed, "So we'll have plenty of time."

Delaney looked to Sophia and Daniel for clarification.

"Yes," Sophia smiled nervously, "She will be remaining at court. Daniel and I decided to reinstate the marriage contract between Anna and Mason."

Delaney's mouth fell open before she could stop herself and she felt Vincent stiffen beside her. She looked from the Queen to the King in disbelief.

"Is this a joke?" Vincent asked his cousin seriously.

"Of course not," Anna snapped, whipping her long black hair back over her shoulder, "We're getting married at the end of the month. Daniel promised to announce it tonight at dinner."

"I shouldn't have let him out of the contract when our father died," Daniel said, swallowing hard, "But Mace was young and he had some... things to get out of his system. I think he's done plenty of that now and it's time he got married as he was intended to do."

"To my sister as our parents agreed," Sophia added, a smile filling her face now and mirrored on the face of her twin.

"And Mason agreed to this?" Vincent didn't take his cold gaze from Daniel.

"He doesn't have a choice," Anna snapped, "Sophia is the Queen and Daniel is the King. They decided and their word is the law."

"Besides," Sophia added, "He is the crown prince. It is his duty to get married and have an heir."

Vincent glared at Daniel for a moment longer but the King would not turn to meet his gaze.

"Where is Mace?" Delaney asked quietly, "I told him we would say hello when we came back through the city."

"He's still in bed and will be for hours," Anna rolled her eyes, "He was up drinking with his stupid men until early this morning. I can assure you that won't be continuing once we're married."

"Oh," was all Delaney could manage.

"We'd better go," Vincent stated and didn't wait for a reply before turning and heading for the doors. His wife had to step quickly to keep up.

Out in the hall, Vincent didn't slow down until they were far enough away from everyone else not to be overheard. He came to a stop and waited for Ian and Ilona to join them.

"I have to talk to Mace," he hissed, "I can't believe he is really going to go through with marrying that woman which means he must be planning something."

"Knowing Mason, it won't be good," Ian sighed.

"We need to talk to him now before Daniel announces the marriage and he's truly trapped," Vincent said, "Maybe we can find a way to help him out of it."

"Like you helped us?" Ilona snapped then, her eyes bright with rage as she looked between the three of them, "Why should I care about some spoiled Prince being married to a horrible Princess? They will live in a castle and with all the food and wonderful things they could ever want. Meanwhile, because of your King, my siblings will now rot in a dungeon!"

"Ilona," Ian frowned, "Vincent can't force the King's hand. He only agreed to help us if he could."

"He didn't help at all!"

"Stop it!" Ian commanded, his anger rising at his sister, "This is all your fault in the first place."

"It's alright Ian," Vincent shook his head, "She's right. I agreed to help. There may not be anything I can do but that doesn't mean I need to stop trying already. I'll go back and try to talk to Daniel more."

"But what about Mace?" Delaney questioned.

"I don't know," Vincent rubbed the back of his neck, "I don't understand how this could be happening. I need to speak to him."

They were all quiet then as they thought over all that had just happened.

"I'll go speak to Mace," Delaney said to her husband, "You go back and talk to Daniel. You might try to separate him from Sophia when you do. It seems like that will be better."

"You can't go speak to Mason on your own," Vincent shook his head, "You're a woman and you know his reputation. You can't go to his chambers alone. If someone saw they would ruin you."

"I'll go with her," Ian volunteered, "I can go with her to see Mace."

"I'll go too," Ilona added with a shrug, "With the three of us going together surely no one will be able to start rumors, no matter how much of a rake he is. I don't really care about the problems of a prince but if you're going to go help our family maybe we'll be able to help you find a way to help yours too."

"Or just stop him from doing something foolish," Ian smirked.

Vincent hesitated as he looked between them but then nodded slowly.

"Alright," he agreed, "Alright you three go to talk to Mace and I'll go back to talk to Daniel."

"Alright love," Delaney agreed before leaning up and taking his scarred face in her hands. She kissed him deeply, feeling the heat of his scars and not caring if the other nobles were watching them and whispering down the hall.

She hated that that horrible woman had said such nasty things to him and she wanted nothing more than to escape with the man she loved and never come back here. She knew those hateful words had hurt him. Delaney wanted to go back to their home, curl up in their bed, kiss him, and tell him how much she loved him until he forgot all about the awful Anna.

They couldn't now though. Not yet. For now, her handsome husband needed to go try to help save the captured Black children and she needed to go to try to help Mason.

Both tasks seemed daunting.