Those words never escaped his lips, why would Andrew believe him? It was pointless, the inability to die, it was just stupid, but those times at the palace, what were they? These thoughts did cross Ivan's mind but the sentence he was about to utter carried the full intent of telling Andrew about his predicament, so why didn't couldn't he say them.

"Ivan? What is it?" Andrew gave a bewildered look.

Nothing, absolutely nothing came out, it was like he had swallowed his voice, and it tasted foul because a burning sensation began welling up inside of Ivan's stomach.

"Ivan, are you alr...Ivan!" Andrew's voice alerted Ivan to the presence of a red substance in his tea, small scarlet spots floated in the light brown drink and it took a while for Ivan to realise it was dripping from his mouth. One hand clenching his stomach and another touching his lip, he removed his fingers to reveal the same red substance. Immediately Ivan knew what this was. Blood.

The churning in his stomach only grew greater in pain and caused Ivan to remove himself from his seat. Standing up, panicked. Looking desperately at Andrew for help. Coughing up blood. What was this? The effects of trying to tell Andrew? Or something else?

"Aa..aaa...argh...argh!" Ivan's words still never left his mouth and even then, it was difficult to yell. He slumped on the floor, his breathing erratic. The sounds that entered his ears were muffled. It was like he was paralyzed, his arms were dead, his legs were dead, his body was dead. No more pain, he begged.

He could make out Andrew screaming at the top of his lungs for aid. Servants racing in, trying to save him. It was pointless. Ivan's eyelids began to encompass his pupils in a world of darkness.

"Hel..." was the only word he could say, along with a mouthful of blood. And then, just like the last 2 times, that scene repeated itself and the world disappeared.

"Iv...Iv...Iva...Iva...Ivan!" The constant calling of his name awoke the snow haired prince, prompting his eyes to open.

"W...what?"

Ivan looked around him, the first thing he felt was a cool breeze rubbing against his cheeks, a window open next to him allowing the gentle wind to enter. He was in a different room from before but one of similar design.

"Thank goodness that you are alright'" beamed Andrew.

Ivan raised himself from the bed he hadn't even realised he had been laying in, pushing off the white covers and reaching his foot out to stand up.

"Woah, not so fast there ol' chum. You just woke up, rest a while."

"I feel perfectly fine Andrew."

"That doesn't equal true well-being. I plead you, rest a while," Andrew stood up saying these words and delicately pushed on Ivan's white shirt, furthering him back into bed.

"Very well. I have a multitude of questions so let us begin. What on earth happened to me?"

"Well, I can only tell you half the story, the tea you drank had 'dragon's bile' in it. It isn't the literal substance but rather an exceedingly powerful poison, how it made its way in there is beyond me."

"Someone tried to poison me?"

"Yes and what worries me most of all is that in all likelihood, it was someone in the castle who did this."

Ivan sank deep into thought. This meant that this wasn't some sort of after effect of almost revealing his secret to Andrew, however someone working under the Alacar family had just tried to assassinate him. The lord was out and Andrew was completely out of the question. Him being clear of suspicion stood as a testament to their friendship.

Ivan already knew the answer to the question he was about to ask but he still posed it, for appearances, "how was I saved?"

"We have an apothecary who works in the lower dungeons, running all types of experiments. We rushed him up here and he confirmed it to be 'dragon's bile' within your system, he gave you some medicine to slow down the process but his face was grim and told us that death was coming for you. He said there is nothing he could do so our next course of action was to consult the castle mage. He stated that a healing potion was the best thing for you and reluctantly gave you his strongest one. But he too said it most definitely was insufficient and you would die, yet I had high hopes you would come back to us safely and I was correct, that potion must have worked."

"Yes, I suppose so."

Ivan knew it was his immortality that had caused him to be revived and that this was the 3rd death he had been subject to. Perhaps the mage would know more about this. That was a secondary goal at present, right now he needed to speak with Andrew about what is to come and then investigate this attempt on his life.

"Andrew, as I said before I feel perfectly alright, I wish to finish our talk we were having at tea now."

"Very well then, what is it you want to discuss?"

"As I am sure you can guess, I am trying for the throne now that my father, has passed away. I am going to require a substantial amount of support in order for this, I have good connections with some nobles and I know I have your assistance but, and I mean no offence, but your word doesn't exactly reach the ears of the council. That is why I require the support of your father."

"True, my father holds considerable influence in court, more so than many others. I have heard him talking about this subject before any of this started, he said that the 2 he thinks are most suited for the throne are you, and Julius. However, he is indifferent about it."

Ivan furrowed his brows at the mention of his accursed older brother, "I see," he responded.

"I am sorry, with enough convincing I am certain my father will support you."

"You have no need to apologise, I could not be happier at your answer, when Lord Alacar returns I shall have a little chat with him. Now onto my second way to gain support for my claim."

Ivan unloosed his shirt's collar and cleared his throat.

"As I mentioned before the, ahem...incident, I said that the assassins will be caught no matter what. What I meant by this is that I plan to catch these fiends, which will make me seem like a hero, you can use your head to figure out the rest."

"Hmm that will give you an excessive amount of popularity amongst the populace, but accomplishing such a task is indeed difficult," spoke Andrew with a hint of worry.

"I concur that they are most likely skilled but I have faith that I can bring them to justice."

"I believe you," said Andrew smiling softly.

Ivan nodded to signify the end of this topic but he hadn't disclosed his full intentions to Andrew. Whilst they were the bestest of friends, Andrew was a kind-hearted person who preferred diplomacy over violence, even though Ivan also saw it this way, he was not afraid to resort to the latter straight away to get what he wants. The truth was that the path to kingship would be one paved in blood, more specifically his rivals and those who opposed him. Despite all this, he most certainly was not the only one plotting. Julius, Barclay, all were carefully playing their cards in this game and whoever had started off had just tried to strike Ivan, which would be the worst mistake of their life.

"There is something on your mind, I can tell," Andrew smirked.

Unwilling to disclose his actual thoughts, Ivan went onto his next topic, "I can plan how to capture the perpetrators at a later time, the most crucial thing to discuss is the attempt to poison me."

"Agreed, I have interrogated all my staff, including Markett but all deny it. Yet I will not trust them so entirely for this transgression in my house, and against my dearest friend, be that as it may, will not go unpunished," the same stern look Andrew always makes when angered appeared on his face.

"I thank you for your loyalty Andrew, I would like to speak with the person who actually made the tea."

"That was the first person I tried my luck at retrieving information from but to no avail, she seemed rather innocent and in fact did not know the tea was for you."

"Hmm I see," Ivan placed a hand on his chin, "Sorry to doubt you but did you speak with every servant in the castle?"

"I can confirm that, we do not have a large number of workers here so all their faces are known to me and I most surely did not miss a single one out," Andrew raised a finger along with the sentence.

"So it is unlikely a servant had avoided interrogation. Besides where would they acquire some 'dragon's bile' from? A mere cook or cleaner would only be able to afford the cheapest of poisons, not something as deadly as 'dragon's bile', I am not very knowledgeable about this subject but feeling its effects first-hand I think it is safe to say my judgement is scrupulous. I shall have to speak with that alchemist about it, that mage sounds interesting as well. Anyway, I am getting side-tracked, the only way a servant could have obtained such an item would be from a wealthy sponsor. If I was to take my best guess, I would say one of the royal family who wants me out of the picture. Most in my family are cunning so narrowing down the suspect is no easy task." Ivan muttered all this to himself but at a level on which Andrew could hear.

"So you wish to speak to Adolphus the mage and Gorvenal the apothecary, this can be arranged. Who do you want to talk to first?"

"I shall have a chat with, Adolphus was his name? Yes, I will speak with him to begin with."

"I will return shortly with him the," stated Andrew as he prepared to exit the room, only to have Ivan cut him off by getting out of his bed, "Ivan!"

"I am well my friend, I can walk just fine, now before I leave do go fetch me the remainder of my clothes."

"Hmph, you're just as stubborn as you have always been, ok, the rest of your attire is on the chair over there."

Ivan glanced over to his left, neatly folded was his white jacket, sitting there, eagerly waiting for him to put it on. He walked over and fashionably slotted in his arms, deciding not to do up the buttons due to the heat.

"Let's go," prompted Ivan.

Andrew nodded his head and they both set out for the secluded part of the castle, which required walking through a garden of daisies and yellow roses with the satisfying scent of lavender in the air. Statues stood proudly in front of hedges and bees pollinated the paradise with every intention of preservation.

Finally they arrived at the mage's lair. A damp old building made of stone with moss growing in between the crevices stood in contrast to the heaven they saw earlier.

"Not very welcoming is it?" Remarked Ivan.

"We tend to leave Adolphus alone so he may proceed with his work," replied Andrew.

"Work?" Questioned Ivan.

"You know, dabbling in magic, trying new spells, those sorts of things."

"Ah."

Ivan never had a fundamental grasp of magic, he remembered long ago that the court wizard had said he had an truly impressive affiliation with magic but it was still merely raw power that lied within him, however Ivan never trained to become a mage, he didn't think it was cool nor did he want to devote his entire life to it, magic took a lot of practice to master and to be able to master even one element was incomprehensibly hard for a child. Still, maybe this mage could shed some light on the mystery of his immortality.

Andrew knocked on the decaying wooden door but no reply came, he knocked again and there was still no reply.

"Perhaps he is not in?" Wondered Andrew.

"Tsk."

Ivan just pushed open the door without hesitation, tired of postponing their meeting.

"I...Ivan!?" Said Andrew startled.

"Apologies for entering so rudely but we have a serious situation and several questions for you!"

Still no reply.

"He is not present?" Said Andrew bewildered.

"It would seem so."

The dark, grimy room was filled to the brim with flasks, potions and other weird objects all stacked on shelves. Cobwebs had conquered the corners and space was a fantasy. Furthermore, everything was disorganised and the mage who lived here was nowhere in sight.

Andrew gave a worried look, although he had no clue as to what kind of experiments the mage partook in here, the fact he wasn't located in his usual place after Ivan's assassination could only mean one thing.

"Tsk," Ivan repeated giving an irritated look.

But just then a voice behind him whispered, "why are you still alive?"