Duke and Prince stood silently in the center of the castle grounds, each of their minds fixated on the monster they would soon face.
"This Byron…" Prince thought. "I never imagined there could be a worse person than Godefroi… But I was wrong"
"He's almost..." Pedro said sinisterly "Almost as bad as I was…" Pedro said.
"Machievelli, your guests have arrived." The short man who had escorted Duke said.
In a few moments, Meri, Jimi, and Marlin came around the corner.
As Meri locked eyes with Duke, she turned away, unable to face him.
"What is this… feeling?" Duke began to think.
A warm sensation of homely touch surrounded Duke as Meri made her way over. He felt as if just for a moment, the world had stopped, and only he and this woman were in the castle. He was overcome with so much emotional he could barely stand, like someone had just knocked the wind out of his gut with a hard steel pipe.
"Have we… met before?" He asked Meri fumbling his words together.
