Waltzing With Fate

The Art of War

"What kind of music do you like?"
"Honestly I like a lot of music, but if I had to pick an artist I would probably pick either Why Don't We, 5 Seconds of Summer, or James Arthur."
He smiles and hands me his phone with his music app open.
"Pick something," he says as I scroll through his song library. He has a mixture of everything that I like, and some music that I haven't heard before. I pick a random playlist and the music starts playing. The first song that plays is Adrenaline by Why Don't We. He rolls the windows down and I turn the volume up and we sing along. We both laugh as we look at each other after that song ends.
We pull into the driveway of the mansion and the garage door is open with an angry Hanna standing in the middle of it.
"We are so dead," Matteo says as we get closer and closer to the garage.
"Yep."
As we reach the garage a frustrated Hanna moves out of the way so we can pull into the spot we left.
"Why in the hell did you think going on an adventure without telling us was a good idea?"
"Well you gave me keys to a car and we were bored. I don't see a problem with it," Matteo says as we both stand there trying not to die.
"Give me your keys." Hanna demands as Matteo looks at her and then looks at me and looks back at her.
"Give me a valid reason why I should give you the keys."
"I would say not getting your ass kicked is a valid reason."
"Fine," Matteo says as he hands over the keys to his car.
We all walk into the house and head to the kitchen where everyone else is. Matteo and I sit down across from each other with smug grins on our faces as the team looks at us with confused looks on their faces.
"So where were you guys?" Liam asks as he grabs the orange juice out of the fridge.
"We were just grabbing some froyo," I reply as I slowly stand up from my chair.
"Oh, alright." Liam responds.
"Why didn't you get me any?" Jackson yells from the other room.
"We didn't want to get your pathetic ass anything" I reply.
"Wow, that's the nicest thing you have ever said to me."
I roll my eyes at him and I head to the conference room. I shut the door behind me and I sit down at the head of the table. Questions swirl through my head as I start to plan my attack on my uncle. My initial thought is: how can I infiltrate his ranks without him knowing? My next question is: Who can infiltrate his ranks for me? I hear the door creak open as I am sitting there planning. I look up and see Aldric walk in.
"Hey," I say as he shuts the door.
"Hey, we need to talk." I have been dreading those words since I saw him again.
"Yeah we do."
"Leigh, I care about you; I always have."
"I know you do."
"Leigh it hurt like hell being ripped away from the only girl I have ever loved. It hurt to hear all of the stories of the things Cassius made you do, and the punishments that you were given. It hurt to listen to the soldiers talk about you. I sat back and listened to them talk about you like you were an object and I hated every minute of it, but I could never say anything about us. I couldn't say anything about us because it would put both of us in danger. I don't want to lose you again."
"Aldric, I don't want to lose you either. I couldn't imagine you not being a part of my life, but I can't do this. Especially with everything going on, I moved on after you broke it off when you left, and I can't do us again." Aldric nods and I hug him. He loosens his grip on me and backs away from the hug.
"I will tell you one thing before I leave you to your planning," he says as he goes over to the door.
"What?"
"You're just as beautiful as I remember."
"Thank you Adric, but we can't, I would also continue to talk to you, but I need to get back to work."
"I'm guessing that you are working on your plan to end your uncle's power forever."
"Yeah, I am trying to figure out how to do it without any bloodshed."
"You know that's impossible right?"
"It's not impossible unless you make it impossible."
"I know, but you know how your uncle is. He is going to do everything in his power to keep his self-made throne."
"I know, and that is why I am trying to find a way to infiltrate his ranks."
"I am going to go see what everyone else is up to, so yell if you need anything." Aldric says as he walks to the door.
"I will," I reply as he shuts the door behind him.
For the next hour I sit in silence while I try to plan my next move. I know I need to have someone on the inside, but I don't know who I would send into the lion's den other than myself. I also know that I need to capture him and turn him over to the council in the meantime. The third item on the to-do list is to stop an uprising of his forces when we take him into custody.