“What about this one?” Kamila asked while a song written by Wild Gardens about a really, extremely, crazily love started.
“The one when you proposed to me. Do you want to dance to it?”
“I would love to.” Kamila put down the dish, the Tuner, and turned the volume to the maximum.
The guests were still busy eating the delicacies of the Desert and the wide selection of Lith’s sweets so the couple had the ballroom all for themselves.
As the song played, they danced alone and the world around them seemed to disappear until there were only the two of them left. They remained silent, the sweet love song already saying with its lyrics what they felt for each other.
***
Griffon Kingdom, city of Valeron, War Room.
Even in the middle of the night, the high command of the army and the Association had been assembled to discuss the developments of the War of the Griffons and decide the next strategic line of action.
The King and the Queen frowned in an expression of great focus as they studied the holographic map in front of them. The entire floor of the War Room was an enchanted item that depicted the situation of the Kingdom and the position of the troops in real-time.
“The north and the south front are holding, Your Majesty.” General Vorgh said. “The presence of heavily defended cities and many lost cities makes the north easy to guard.
“The south, instead, has so far avoided the attentions of the Mad Queen. My hypothesis is that due to her deal with the Dead King, Thrud steered clear of Verhen. That, or she doesn’t want to give him a good reason to come back to the Golden Griffon.”
At that name, the Royals bit their lower lip in anger and frustration, barely containing an angry bellow.
“That Morn idiot!” Sylpha’s visage twisted into a grimace of disgust. “His stupid move managed to damage the Kingdom on multiple levels. We already lost Manohar, and with Verhen gone, we are down two Archmages who were our main attack force.”
“Not only that.” Meron held his wife’s shoulder to calm her down while he took a deep breath. Losing their temper in front of witnesses would have been an act of weakness that would further demoralize their troops.
“The Council is still willing to help us, but the negotiations had to be redone from scratch. They say that if we attack one of them just because of their secrets and strip them of everything they have, then others like Verhen have no guarantee that they won’t receive the same treatment.
“My reckless cousin managed to anger both the human and the beast faction in a single move. I wish we tortured him longer. The more the war goes on, the more I’m certain that Morn got away too easily.”
Feela and Faluel had been enraged by the death warrant on Lith’s head and that of his family. The beasts all had several relatives and they stole from the Kingdom on a regular basis so attacking one of their own like that was perceived as a precedent.
Also, Emperor Beasts looked after their own and demanded compensation and assurance that such events wouldn’t happen again before moving a muscle.
Raagu and the Human Council were enraged as well.
At first, the representative had intended to punish Athung for pretending to be her and involving a mere human like Jirni in the parlay. Then, after meeting the Archon in person and the Gernoff Household having vouched for her, Raagu had let Athung’s transgression slide.
Her fate would be decided by the results of her actions, not a second earlier.
Yet the heavy measures taken against Lith had thrown a huge monkey wrench in the alliance between the Council and the Kingdom. House Gernoff and those that like them were hidden among humans were now afraid of being stripped of their titles like it had happened to Lith.
On top of that, Jiza Gernoff hadn’t taken kindly to the Royals’ decision to replace Jirni as the official in charge of the negotiations for Lith’s pardon. They wanted to use it as a measure of the Kingdom’s fairness and removing a player they trusted didn’t bode well.
The Awakened humans in general and the Gernoff in particular now demanded a full Royal pardon for themselves in advance. Which of course was impossible until they disclosed the crimes they were guilty of and those they planned to commit.
“What about the east and the west fronts?” General Berion asked.
The ex-Commander and Lith’s commanding officer was among the gloomiest in the room. He now knew the value of the asset that he had failed to realize and that he had let get away.
“They are holding as well, but barely.” The Master Warden replied. “We are capturing Thrud’s fortresses and she captures our own. It’s a game of tug of war that we are bound to lose. It’s only a matter of time.
“The longer this goes on, the more our strategies lose effectiveness whereas the enemy can use this Spirit Magic that allows them for countless variations. To make matters worse, Verhen was the only one besides Vastor capable of recapturing a city on his own.
“Losing him slowed us down and forced us to spread our resources more to cover for his absence.”
“Mom, Dad! It finally arrived. A package from the Desert!” Princess Peonia entered the War Room with big strides, holding a huge box that looked quite heavy. “This must be some good news or at least a first draft of the deal with Verhen.
“If he just said no, there would be no need for something like this. Your idea of sending Constable Yehval was pure genius, Dad.” Peonia said with a huge smile on her face.
She wasn’t jealous of Kamila and didn’t mind sharing her future husband. As long as they didn’t have bastard children, her honor as a Princess would be safe.
The high command assembled around the square box, checking that the Royal Seals were authentic and untampered with. Meron made everyone take one step back, to have enough space to examine the content of the package with ease.
What he found made his jaw drop to the floor along with those of the rest of those present.
Lith’s Archmage robe and Kamila’s Constable uniform had been neatly folded and lay on top of the box along with Kamila’s resignation letter. Under the clothes, the Royals found a bunch of ashes and burned remains of paper that after a careful examination turned out to be the documents they had sent.
Last, but not least, an envelope with no insignia contained a short letter.
“Thanks for your offer, but we are not interested. We won’t resume the negotiations unless Archon Jirni Ernas is your envoy and you give her the authority to negotiate a fair deal.
“Take your time because we are going on our honeymoon for one month starting now. Any attempt to contact us before its end would be pointless.
“Best regards, Lith and Kamila Verhen.”
“One month?” The King said in horror.
“Honeymoon?” The Queen took the paper from her husband’s hands, refusing to believe her own ears.
“Kamila Verhen?” Peonia yelled in outrage, taking the letter from Sylpha’s hands.
