“Because he’s finally learning his lesson. He’s nurturing Kelia into his partner and equal. If Dusk gets his powers back, the balance in their relationship will shift and he’s bound to fall back into his old habits.
“As long as his survival is bound to Kelia’s, he can empathize with her struggles. If he becomes all-powerful, best case scenario she’d become his pet. Worst case scenario, she’d end up like his previous host.”
After that conversation, Baba Yaga had forbidden Vladion to leave Lightkeep, fearing that Thrud might kill his wife to inflict him the same suffering Mad Queen felt.
“It makes sense.” Lith nodded. “If Thrud wants to hurt me, she can only target my family. Yet there’s something that feels off. Since when does the Council care about me and why are you so determined to keep this video private?
“If you revealed it to the public, it would prove that Thrud lied to her subjects when she faked Orpal’s execution. Her reputation would take a huge hit and keeping the territories she has occupied would be much harder for her retainers.
“We would force her to split her focus and weaken her army.”
“I wish it was that simple.” Sylpha sighed. “The Council has agreed to help us because Baba Yaga can fend for herself and according to our intel, she’s somewhere in the Gorgon Empire with Dawn and Dusk.
“This will force Thrud to split her focus anyway. On top of that, by securing your family, we can make her next move predictable. If we know where she will strike, it becomes much easier to counter her plans.”
The Council representatives nodded in agreement. Only Inxialot and Feela gave Lith an apologetic look. The Behemoth because she felt like she had let down one of her own. The Lich King because he didn’t want to lose his wingman.
Nero had reminded him that people reacted badly to death and Inxialot wanted to keep Lith focused on what really mattered: Inxialot’s needs.
“As for the video, you would be right, if not for how precarious Thrud’s mental state is right now.” Jiza tapped on the communication amulet, extracting precise frames of the recording.
From them, one could see the Mad Queen’s feverish look, her maniacal smile, and the never-ending stream of tears coming from her eyes.
“Jormun’s death sent her to the brink of insanity. One small push is all that would take to push her over the edge. If that happens, she’d become unpredictably dangerous.”
“Meaning?” Lith asked in confusion.
To him, a crazed beast was much easier to put down compared to a smart predator.
“Until now, she has treated the occupied territories as her own and the citizens as her loyal subjects. If they rebel and she perceives it as treason, there’s no telling what Thrud might do.” Jirni explained.
“She might kill everyone, and once she realizes that she has no longer hope to conquer the Kingdom, Thrud might poison the wells and corrupt the lands. At that point, even if we defeat her, half the Kingdom would become barren for decades.
“Half of our population would starve and we’d be subject to assaults from the other countries, even the small ones we usually ignore. To make matters worse, don’t forget that she might always detonate the Golden Griffon as her final parting gift.
“It would cause untold destruction and ruin all of our work and your sacrifices.”
“Speaking of the Golden Griffon, where are we with the blueprints of the power core?” Lith nodded in agreement.
Thrud only had Valeron the Second and her dream to gift him the Griffon Kingdom keeping her stable. If she lost either of them, she would have nothing to lose anymore and become more dangerous than ever.
“That’s another of the reasons we have come to you.” Inxialot said. “Thanks to that damn bear and the Eyes of Menadion, we have managed to devise a way to safely destroy the Golden Griffon.”
He handed Lith and Tista a copy of the Forgemastery spell that would put an end to the lost academy.
“The problem is that it doesn’t work from a distance. Someone needs to get inside the Headmaster’s office and cast it in front of the power core.”
“I hope you are not thinking about sending my son again.” Elina jumped on her feet, glaring at both Royals and Awakened.
Inside Salaark’s palace, she didn’t fear them or the consequences of her defiance.
“Technically yes, but actually no.” Inxialot shrugged. “After Jormun’s death, the Golden Griffon has been moved and we have no idea where. Our scouts are searching the entire Kingdom, but so far, we had no luck.
“We have to wait for Thrud to reappear or force her to show her ugly face. Before an offensive, she always moves the Golden Griffon near her target. If she decides to stall, however, me might need to use your son as bait.
“I’m really sorry, ma’am. I wish there was another way.” The sincere honesty in his words calmed Elina and baffled everyone else.
“I understand.” She sat down again, taking Raaz’s hand. “So, what’s the plan?”
“The plan is to keep most of your family in the safety of the Desert and have the rest go on with their lives as if nothing has happened.” The Lich King replied. “This way, Thrud will proceed with whatever her plan is while we set up our trap.
“Don’t worry, ma’am, I’ll personally take part in the detail and make sure that nothing happens to any of you.”
“Really?” Lith asked in disbelief, quickly followed by everyone else.
“Yeah, really.” Inxialot looked at Lith like he was an idiot.
‘Why is Scourge acting so surprised? He was the one who suggested I pretend I give a damn about others and make seemingly heroic efforts in the war.’
After their meeting on the moon, the Lich King had performed a quick survey to check on the public perception of his personality.
“You are an asshole.” Nero, his house cat, had said.
“Definitely an asshole.” Zolgrish had stared blankly for a while before understanding who they were talking about yet Ratpack had instantly nodded in agreement.
“You are…” Apep had rolled his politeness check, failing it. “An insufferable piece of shit. If I didn’t need your help, I would have killed you a thousand times over.”
“You are a good kid. Now go playing and let mommy work in peace.” Aylen had patted his head before turning around and resuming her experiments in the lab.
“This can’t be right!” Inxialot had said in horror. “I’ve always behaved like an upstanding man and a genius mage. How could people have such a bad opinion of me?”
“What about me?” Aylen asked.
“You are my mother. It’s your duty to like me and tell me nice things.” He replied with a scoff. “I asked your opinion solely to make sure that a positive response in my experiment is possible and that the parameters set are correct.”
“What if I answered like the others?”
“Then it would have meant that I had ended up in a parallel dimension where everything is mirrored. Good is bad, nice is obnoxious and so on. It would have been exciting since it would have proved my multiverse theory.” Inxialot sighed.
