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walkerduchess · 4 years

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A Game of Hearts - Chapter Eleven: Exposed (The Royal Romance AU)

Pairing: Drake x MC [Liam x MC]

Notes: A fact that some may find important: this series will be finished. It is completely outlined since before I posted the prologue. I know what happens in every chapter, I’m just too insecure to put a number here and near the end I realize I’ll need another chapter (it’s probably going to be 20 + epilogue), and I’m a slow writer. But I’m finishing this even if I’m the only one reading lol

I do not own these characters, they belong to Pixelberry.

Summary: Elia tries her best to make Drake change his mind and let her complete her mission. They make a shocking discovery in the end. Heavy explaining here (I believe things are made clearer but if you have doubts don’t hesitate in asking)

Word Count: 4928

Tagging: (if you want in or out the list just let me know) @confessionsofabrokegirl, @museofbooks, @stopforamoment, @annekebbphotography, @queenodysseia, @drakewalkerisreal, @twinkle-320, @i-bloody-love-drake-walker

Chapter Eleven: Exposed

“I can’t do that, Drake,” Elia’s words are calm, but inside her chest her heart is beating fast and strong like men marching into battle.

She holds both her hands up in an attempt to diminish Drake’s hostility. Out of the corner of her eye, she notices Jonah taking a couple of steps closer to her again, but this time she lets him, after all, he’s probably thinking the same as her - can they both beat Drake in a sword fight?

Probably not. And, even if they could, Elia is not sure she wishes to hurt him. No, she doesn’t want anyone to be hurt.

“I’m not asking, princess,” the man spits out her title as if it tastes bad in his mouth.

It stings to hear it as well. “Don’t call me that,” she murmurs, yet it’s loud enough for Drake to hear it.

He chuckles, and it’s marked by so much cynicism that Elia is sure could bring tears to her eyes if not for the occasion demanding all of her heedfulness. “Why not? It is who you are, is it not?��

It is, but hearing it from Drake felt like being slapped in the face, and she doesn’t really know why. It could be the look in his eyes - a look he has never given her before. Despise. Does he hate her because she is the Princess, or because she is the Builder? Or is it because she kept it from him? She decides she doesn’t really want to find out.

She gathers up her strength once again, staring defiantly into his eyes. “You don’t get to say who I am.”

Before anyone can add more to the conversation, she feels something hard touching her hand and, when she looks down, she notices Jonah has reached her and is handing her her own sword. Despite taking it, Elia is quickly to say, “No, Jonah.”

“What should we do, then?” The boy’s eyes are determined, and so loyal.

She switches the sword to her other hand and loops her arms around Jonah’s neck, doing her best to give him a confident smile, even though it comes out weak.

“At least you have some good sense.” Drake, who has been watching them both intently, remarks sarcastically. “Come willingly now, and we can all discuss matters in a more civilized way back home.”

His tone makes her blood boil and for a moment she does want to fight him, if possible hitting him right in the face. Except she knows she can’t.

“We’ll go.” She says, closing the matter at last. She can’t fight him right now but she can try and escape him later. It’s a long way back and she can come up with another plan to keep on with the mission.

Even if they went willingly, Drake still made sure to tie all of their wrists - hers and the kids’ -, not even flinching before the look of betrayal in Elliot’s eyes. Elia is sure Jonah feels the same, he looked up to Drake in his own restrained way after all, but he wouldn’t show it. She tried to protest about it but Drake wouldn’t listen to her. Hell, he wouldn’t even look at her.

So, she manages to stay quiet during the whole afternoon of disgracefully walking in the direction they came from, while tied up to Drake’s waist. Even Elliot is quiet, and he never is.

It is when Drake changes directions a bit and starts taking them out of the woods sooner than she expected that she finally speaks again, “Where are we going?”

He doesn’t bother turning around or slowing down to reply, “Home still, but we can take the faster route now.”

“You mean the more dangerous route.” The princess presses him further, annoyed at his attitude.

He surprises her then, turning around and moving closer to look into her eyes. Inside his, only cold irritation stares back at her. “You’re probably used to boss people around, princess, but for now I’m calling the shots. And I didn’t ask for your opinion.”

It’s infuriating and she huffs a breath, holding back from giving a likewise answer. It would be a never ending cycle.

When night falls they finally stop to eat and sleep in an abandoned building. This one is very large and has some old and ruined cars inside. Drake settles their bags and weapons against a large pillar and brings them to sit beside a wrecked and dusty car. The princess gets a good look of it and notices the car is missing most of its doors and seats. It’s more a skeleton of what was once a car, really.

But she doesn’t get to dwell much on the thought of it, for Drake begins untying them from his waist and tying them to the car’s wheel instead, through the missing front door.

“Really?” Elia asks accusingly.

Drake raises his eyebrows at her, “can you blame me for not trusting you?” And then he walks away, to see about their food.

The princess tests the ropes tying her wrists together and the ones tying her to the car when she thinks Drake isn’t looking. Shit, he knows his knots. Refusing to give in to panic, Elia tries to think of a plan different from escaping during the night.

Well, if she can’t escape… the only other option is to convince Drake to let her go. Escaping seems easier, she thinks.

She waits until the kids are asleep. After they had eaten, Drake brought blankets for them and made sure the ropes were long enough for them to lie down as comfortable as possible. Now he’s sitting in the ground, his back resting against the nearest wall, his eyes unfocused as though he is deep in thought. The small fire beside them the only source of light apart from the modest one the moon and stars cast on them from the windows of the building.

“Drake?” Elia’s voice is low and tentative. She doesn’t really know if he’ll answer or ignore her completely.

Slowly, he turns his head down to her, giving an annoyed sigh. “What?”

She knows she has to approach him carefully. As much as she’d like to snap at him, she forces herself to remember she means to lure him to her side. There is no place for her pride here.

“Please,” she begs, “let me tell you the plan.”

“Why?” He narrows his eyes, “why would you share your precious plan to your enemy, the very one who’s keeping you captive?”

Great, he doesn’t believe her. Of course he doesn’t. The princess closes her eyes and takes some deep breaths. “Because you’re not my enemy.” At his incredulous glare, she adds, “and what have I got to lose now?” She raises her tied hands, as to show him her point.

“Fine,” he concedes, yet without showing any sign of openness. Not that she expected it, anyway.

Elia moves to sit straighter and a little bit closer to him, though her binds doesn’t leave her much room for it. “That device,” she motions to her bag with her head, “is what’s going to fix the Cordonia problem.”

“Which is…?”

Drake’s got a bored look in his face, and this time the princess can’t suppress her annoyance. “Really?” She asks, eyes narrowed.

She’s tired, physically from the whole day of walking, and mentally from worrying about getting back on track. Having to deal with Drake’s dismissiveness is exhausting, and she has probably said the wrong thing, because before she can even notice it, his eyes change from apathetic to furious, and that fire in them that she has come to know this morning is back again.

“Yes, really, your highness,” he gets up, and walks towards her, addressing her with the same disdain from before, “I would like to know which Cordonia problem you’re referring to.” He makes a show of pretending to be thinking before continuing, “is it the fact that the Crown Princess is missing weeks before her coronation? Is it that said princess is actually a traitor supplying weapons for the enemy kingdom? Or maybe it’s the fact that the princess is actively on a trip to the south with new machinery and a new plan to, I don’t know, destroy Cordonia once and for all?”

Elia doesn’t remember ever feeling so small as she feels right now. But she has to go through with it, so she swallows any tear threatening to spill and forces the words out of her lungs.

“Drake I… I have made many mistakes,” she speaks calmly, “and I regret them.”

She dares a glance at the man. He’s frowning at her, probably not believing her, but at least she has his attention.

“When I found out about… what happens in the undercroft,” she can’t even use words to describe, such was the horror of what she’d seen and what still haunts her, “I sort of flipped out. I truly could only see one way of righting this wrong. That is the north had to lose. I thought that’s what we deserved.”

“So you became the Builder.” Drake’s voice startles her. When she looks up at him his face is impassive and he moves to sit back down.

“Yes,” she continues, “until a friend from the past made me see things clearly.” Her eyes lit up and she manages a small smile when she remembers Drake knows her too. “Hana!”

He knits his eyebrows for a moment, and after a few seconds realization dawns upon him. “Oh! She hasn’t been around since…”

“Since we were kids, yeah.” She finishes for him and Drake nods. It doesn’t escape Elia how easier the conversation is flowing. She’s almost afraid that at any moment he’ll remember he hates her. However, she continues, “her family took her to the south. Her abilities and her dependability were so high she became a spy for the queen herself.”

Glancing at Drake, the fire casts dancing shadows across his face, and Elia cannot tell whether he’s concerned or impressed. Maybe both.

“Despite working for the South, she had plans of her own. She wants to stop the war. So she found me and we concocted a plan.”

“This thing,” he half-asks, half-affirms, motioning to her bag.

“Yes.”

“You said it can clean the water,” Drake begins, and Elia is astonished he was paying attention, but she doesn’t remark it in case it puts him off, “can you show me?”

Her eyes go as wide as can be. He was actually asking her to show him, not ordering it. She tells herself the elation it causes her is solely because it means she is somewhat closer to getting him to her side, not because of… any other feelings she might have.

“Yes, I--” she cuts her reply short upon realizing her hands are still tied, glancing down at them and frowning.

Elia sees movement out of the corner of her eye and turns to see Drake getting up and walking towards her. She can only observe attentively as he crouches next to her, holding what looks like a small dagger in the dim light. He takes her hands in his free one and she tenses for her skin is red and sensitive where the ropes had been grazing all day. However, his touch is unexpectedly gentle.

Drake cuts at the knot between her wrists and a wave of relief washes over the princess, when she can finally move her arms and hands freely.

The man stands abruptly, and when she looks up at him, his expression is hard. His eyes are narrowed at her, but he hesitantly offers a hand. Speechless, Elia takes it, using it as leverage to prop herself up quietly so not to wake up the children.

“Let’s get to it, then.” Drake brings them both to where the big bag is settled, and they manage to get the device out.

Though the lighting inside the building is less than ideal, Elia succeeds in showing him all the pieces while explaining how they worked. Despite being drained from the whole day, doing this gives the princess a newfound energy. She is in her own element here, and it only helps that Drake pays attention to every detail. If he’s not interested in it, he can sure fake it. The tiredness seems to have gone from him as well, and he asks questions, and looks at the Device and listens to her story as if it was fascinating - not that it isn’t really.

Elia is even a little proud of it, of her creation. Obviously the great breakthrough to this solution had not come from her, but from Hana - she was the one who’s been in the south, after all, to see just how the sunlight hits the water there, and how different it was from the way it happens in the north. She has been the one to look further into it before even finding the princess and sharing her knowledge so they started researching together.

She holds nothing back, not even the technicalities of recreating the perfect focus for the light to hit the water in a way that can almost completely erase the toxins, leaving a minimum - and most importantly, safe - amount of it. Drake can’t possibly understand it all, but he listens attentively to the entirety of it, nodding from time to time to let her know he is following.

“That’s it,” Elia concludes, after what felt like a lifetime. “That way, no one has to be hurt anymore.”

“Very well,” Drake replies, apparently lost in his own thoughts.

The princess studies him carefully. He says nothing, only paces around, and she can’t even begin to guess what’s on his mind. She’s beginning to feel sleepy again, so she doesn’t hold back a yawn, rubbing her hands in her face shortly after to prevent herself from falling asleep while standing right there.

Next thing she knows, Drake is standing right in front of her, a completely unreadable expression on his face while he looks down at her. Elia is about to ask what he is thinking when the touch of his hands on hers silence her. She gasps silently. What is he doing? She’s suddenly aware of her heartbeats growing faster, for which she blames her apprehension.

He brings her hands closer, between them, and the only thing she can do is stare back at him. It all changes in one second though, and Elia sees the sudden shift in his eyes, the way they unfocus in an almost sad look, right before she feels the ropes against her wrists again.

“What are you doing?” She moves to pull her hands back instinctively, but apparently not fast enough. They’re already tied in the ropes again, and Drake’s strong grip on it doesn’t even falter.

“What does it look like?” He asks as he pulls her back towards the car and where the children are sleeping.

“But I thought--”

“What, that I would leave you to resume this mission?” He snarls at her. His eyes are cold again, in contrast to how they were when she was explaining the Device to him.

He tries to push her down to sit next to the kids again, but she holds her ground with the last of her strength. “Yes, Drake. You know it’s a solid plan. The only one.”

“I know nothing!” He practically shouts, since the building is so silent. “I only know what you tell me, Elia!” He throws his hands up in frustration, one of them still gripping the rope she’s tied with. “If this is the solution, why isn’t it back in Cordonia? Why are you taking this to the enemy?”

“If you’d only let me explain before jumping into conclusions and restraining me you would know!” The princess retorts, her voice rising to the same volume as his, which caused Jonah and Nora to wake up, stirring in the blankets before sitting up to look at the commotion.

“What’s going on?” Nora asks, a little scared. Elia takes a few breaths, calming herself.

“Nothing.” Drake answers, this time managing to push the princess down on the blankets and quickly tying her to the wheel of the car.

Despite being furious, Elia mutters some assurance words to the kids and it doesn’t take long before she doses off to sleep.

They wake up and eat next morning in a heavy silence. Sometimes they can hear Elliot’s voice talking to Nora or Jonah, but even that isn’t much. Eating with your hands tied is the opposite of pleasurable, and Elia is doing her best not to make any snarky comment, but it does get easier each time.

Once they’re back on their feet, she considers her possibilities. She can still try to escape, after all, there’s still a couple of weeks until they reach home. But then she’d have to count on her luck, and she can’t afford that. She has to do something now. She can’t give up.

“You asked why I’m taking the Device to the South,” she approaches Drake hesitantly.

He only grants her a side glance. The princess sighs and takes it as a cue to keep talking.

“As I said, Hana became a spy to Queen Madeleine. She knows her. And she knows Madeline will never surrender. She’s too proud. And honestly, it makes sense for her to want some payback for her people,” Elia says with a shrug. “Even if we clean our water and stop the war, she won’t stop.”

When she stops talking, she realizes how calm she is. Drake has a way of listening that is actually reassuring. Maybe that’s why Liam told him so much too.

“If I’m correct,” he begins, seemingly choosing his words, “we can easily win the war if you’re not… helping the other side.” His comment doesn’t sound bitter though, not like the previous times. It almost sounds careful.

“Yes, we would win. But the thing is, Drake, me and Hana are not the traitors you think.” She decides she can give him a little scolding too. “We really mean to save everyone, and that includes the south and some of our men who would become casualties if we fight this war to the end.”

He finally looks at her, his eyebrows shot up, and he gazes at her for long enough that she starts to feel a little self-conscious.

After a moment, he shifts his focus back to their path ahead and asks, “And what good will it do to hand over our salvation to Queen Madeleine herself?”

“That way she is the one who gets to ask for our surrender in exchange for the technology. She’ll come out on top, she can’t possibly refuse it.”

“That doesn’t make much sense.” Drake replies.

“So what, you think I made that up?” Elia is decidedly annoyed now. “I didn’t have to tell you who I am, Drake. I chose to.”

Drake’s jaw clenches. “Well, your wrong choices are not my problem.”

The princess stops in a halt, forcing Drake and the kids behind them stop too. She glares at him, “so you think I shouldn’t have told you?”

“No,” he seems like he’s losing his patience too, and he pulls on the rope tied to her wrists to get her to resume walking again, “it doesn’t matter. What did you expect me to do? I don’t have a choice other than take you back.”

Elia takes a moment to breathe and calm herself before speaking again. Why does he have to be so one-sighted? “You always have a choice, Drake.”

He chuckles sarcastically, “again with that. You’re wrong, princess. We don’t have a choice.”

It doesn’t slip past her that he’s talking about both of them. She huffs. Drake can be so frustratingly stubborn that she swears it nearly kills her.

“I don’t understand. Why did Liam send you?” She asks, more to herself than to Drake, feeling already drained.

He answers, nonetheless, “he didn’t have to send me. I knew what I had to do.”

“So you came on your own?”

“Yes!” He answers, matter-of-factly.

She swipes her face with her tied hands. Of course. “What did he even say?”

Drake scoffs. “He’s my best friend and his girl was kidnapped. He didn’t need to say anything. What is wrong with you?”

Elia really, really wants to punch something. Preferably Drake. “Well I’m sorry to inform you but, despite your good intentions, your whole mission here was worthless.” She turns her whole body to the side, facing him. She can bet she shows some teeth too.

“What?” He scrunches up his whole face.

She sighs, “Liam knew I wasn’t kidnapped! He was the only one who knew, in fact.”

At first, Drake’s eyes get as wide as they can be, and he opens his mouth a little, staring at her. Then, he finally mumbles some words. “No… no, he… he would’ve told me.”

Elia is confused as well, since apparently Liam tells his best friend everything.

He notices her confused face and asks, “he knew you were leaving?”

“Not really, I… I went to see him right before I left. To… say goodbye.” Her voice is small as she finishes the sentence, the memories of Liam’s eyes, conveying how broken his heart was, filling her with guilt.

“Why wouldn’t he tell me?”

Then she remembers… “because I asked him not to.” Liam had every reason not to, but still he chose to respect her wish. She doesn’t hold back a small, sad smile. He’s that good.

Drake’s face changes from confusion to recognition. He doesn’t even need to believe her, he knows his friend well enough to be sure that’s exactly what the prince would do if someone he holds dear asks anything of him. Especially the woman he loves.

Drake stays quiet for a moment, his eyes unfocused. After a while, Elia thinks she must say something, or check if everything’s alright. But before she can ask, he suddenly turns and strides further along down their path, forcing a sudden pull on everyone along with him.

Elia and the kids struggle to catch up, and she begins to protest, “Drake, slow down!” What has gotten into him?

Instead of slowing down, he comes to an abrupt halt, causing Elliot to collide with the princess waist.

“Ow!” The youngest grimaces.

“Drake!” Elia calls him out again while he has his back to her.

At last, he turns around, looking like he’s living in a whole other world. “Fine,” he declares, “we’ll go south.”

“What?” The princess is left bewildered. Is he saying what she thinks he is saying?

“We’ll finish this mission of yours and then I take you home.”

She searches his face for any sort of prank, but his gaze is decided. “You’re coming along?” She can’t help but to be a little stunned still.

“Of course,” Drake replies, reaching inside his pocket and taking out the small dagger from before. “Can’t let any harm come to the promised princess.”

As he cuts the ropes tying the children’s wrists, finally setting them free, she feels her spirits lighting up again. When he steps in front of her to cut hers, she looks up at him, not caring to hide a smug grin that settled in her face.

“Don’t look so pleased with yourself, now.”

They spend practically the whole day making their way back to the woods, where it’s safer to travel. Elliot has definitely gone back to his usual energetic and talkative self, which not only automatically makes the ambiance lighter but also makes Drake smile more often, which in turn makes Elia pleased. She doesn’t really cares to find out why. She supposes if they’re all on the same mindset it’s more likely they’ll complete the mission with no further trouble. Nora seems content too, so the princess only has to worry about Jonah.

He’s quieter than normal, and it was especially bothersome when they’d stopped in an abandoned cabin for the day after the sun began to set and he declined Drake’s invitation for some sparring practice. Jonah never says no to that.

The cabin is cramped, with one main room and two smaller ones in the back. Drake is still outside enjoying the last of sunlight, having ditched his sword practice for playing with Nora and Elliot - the three of them properly warned by the princess they should be inside before it’s completely dark. Despite the cabin being located in what one would call the top of the (small) hill, they’re still in a disconcertingly open field area.

Elia decides then she should check in on Jonah. She finds him sitting alone in one of the smaller rooms, eating an apple. He doesn’t even spare her a proper look when she enters, a frown stuck on his face as he takes a bite of the fruit.

“Is it any good still?” She asks, while she moves to sit beside him.

“Not at all,” he mutters, seemingly annoyed.

Apparently she won’t warm him up with small talk, so she goes directly to the subject, “hey, what is wrong?”

He only gives her a side glance, “nothing.”

“Jonah, you can talk to me.” Despite the boy never being much of a conversationalist, she always felt like they could be truly open with each other.

“I’m fine,” he insists.

Elia wants to keep pressing him, but she knows it might do more harm than good. When he wants to talk to her, he will.

“Okay,” she stands up, “I’ll go make Drake and the children come inside before we’re in trouble.”

However, as she turns to leave, Jonah speaks up, “so you’re gonna keep treating him like you’re best friends again and ignore everything he’s done?” He makes the accusing tone in his voice very clear.

So that’s what it is about. She takes a deep breath while turning back to him, choosing her words carefully. “Look, I’m not ignoring what happened.”

Jonah rolls his eyes and glares at her. Is this a teenager thing? Is it gonna be like this now?

Despite her annoyance, she continues, “it felt like a betrayal for me too.”

She sees the boy’s lips press together. So she got to the core of it. Jonah was really forming some sort of bond with Drake, and then he treated them like prisoners.

“But he did what he thought was right with the information he got, even though I didn’t like how he did it.”

“And now that he’s changed his mind you can just forgive him?”

“I can’t hold people accountable for their past mistakes, not when they mean well, and certainly not after they recognize it and try to fix them.” Elia gives him a sad smile. “Not when my mistakes are so much bigger.”

Jonah’s eyes widen, yet he stays silent.

After a while of silence, she leaves for the main room, to find Drake and Nora attempting to light up a fireplace, one of the only things that remain intact - though as dirty as can be - inside the cabin.

She smiles at the sight, but it only lasts for a couple of seconds, before Elliot shouts from where he’s kneeling in a ragged settee, looking out of the front window, “Someone’s coming!”

The princess and Drake rush to look outside, where five men, wearing uniforms that undoubtedly indicate they’re southern soldiers, and heavily armed, walk around another man, taller and in a much nicer and cleaner uniform. They’re following the marked path on the field just outside the cabin.

“Shit,” Drake lets out, grabbing Elliot swiftly from the settee and putting him down on the ground. They all crouch to hide from the window as the men’s voices become louder.

After a moment, the voices wind down. Elia and Drake move so that only a part of their heads is in front of the window and they can see the men walking away. Finally she can take a better look on the taller man. He has blond hair and is the one doing most of the talking, gesturing to the others as though he’s giving them orders. There’s something familiar about him… she searches her mind for a couple of seconds and then it hits her.

Her eyes open wide and she turns to Drake, only to find him scowling at the fading sight of the group of men. His hand is gripping the window railing a little too firmly. That means she isn’t crazy and that figure giving orders to the soldiers from the South is really the person she remember it is. She only saw him in few occasions and she was young the last time. But not too young, probably around fifteen years old, she calculates.

“That was--” the princess says, still a little appalled, before Drake finishes the sentence for her.

“Leo.”

Elia looks at him, his anger somewhat more evident. She doesn’t have to ask to know how he feels about traitors. He held her at a sword’s point upon learning that she - his friend, even if from years before - was a traitor too.

“All those rumours… and Liam always defended him… he didn’t, he doesn’t…” Drake doesn’t seem able to finish a sentence.

Elia can only place a hand on his arm and give him an empathetic look. The world is disrupted in every way, and that’s why she has to keep going, to put an end to it.

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