“Still obeying frightened women?”
The Captain’s expression changed.
He punched the Regent once.
The Prince raised an eyebrow.
The Captain said, “That was personal.”
They freed the King.
The chains had scarred both wrists permanently.
The Queen held his face between her hands.
For twelve years she had imagined this reunion.
In every dream, she said something beautiful.
Nothing came.
So she slapped him.
The Prince stared.
His father touched his cheek.
“That feels familiar.”
The Queen began crying.
Then embraced him so fiercely he nearly fell.
The Prince laughed through his own tears.
The King reached for him.
The three of them held each other inside a flooding prison while soldiers arrested the man who had divided their kingdom for more than a decade.
It was not a graceful reunion.
It was better.
They emerged from the western tunnels near sunset.
Word had already spread.
The Regent’s allies controlled several palace towers.
Soldiers stood across the courtyard where the golden mask remained broken on the pedestal.
The King could barely walk.
The Prince supported one side.
The Captain supported the other.
When the first palace guard saw the King, his spear dropped from his hand.
Then another.
Then another.
Within minutes, hundreds of soldiers stood in stunned silence.
The King looked around.
Many were boys when he disappeared.
Some had never seen him except on coins.
He raised his scarred hand.
“I have had a very long day.”
A few soldiers laughed nervously.
The King smiled.
“Anyone still interested in treason may wait until tomorrow.”
More laughter.
Then one soldier removed his helmet.
Knelt.
Another followed.
Then fifty.
Then hundreds.
The Prince looked toward his mother.
She whispered, “Sometimes kingdoms decide faster than councils.”
The Regent’s remaining commanders did not surrender immediately.
Three escaped.
One seized the northern barracks.
Another occupied the treasury.
The third attempted to flee with state records proving years of illegal land confiscations.
The Queen sent the Captain.
The Prince went with him.
“You are staying inside.”
The Queen pointed.
The Prince stared.
“I just helped rescue Father.”
“Exactly.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It makes perfect sense to a mother.”
The King, lying beneath blankets nearby, raised one finger.
“Do not argue.”
The Prince looked at him.
“You disappeared twelve years.”
“Which makes my advice experienced.”
The Prince rolled his eyes.
He stayed.
For three hours.
Then climbed out a servant window.
The Queen later claimed she knew immediately.
The Prince later claimed that did not count because she failed to stop him.
The northern barracks confrontation became the final violent clash.
The Regent’s commander barricaded two hundred soldiers inside.
The Captain surrounded it.
The Prince arrived wearing a plain cloak.
The Captain closed his eyes.
“No.”
“Hello.”
“You are impossible.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
The commander appeared on the wall.
“You bring the boy?”
The Prince stepped forward.
“I came myself.”
The Captain muttered, “Unfortunately.”