Thrud tried to reply but Jormun put his forefinger on her lips while Ophya, the blonde handmaiden, put Valeron on his chest. The baby cooed and giggled, unaware of what was happening.
“Whatever you decide, please, tell our son that his father loved him and remember that I love you.” Jormun hugged his child and wife, kissing Valeron on the forehead and Thrud on the lips one last time before his life ended.
“No, no, no!” Thrud yelled and cried while Hushing Valeron and handing him back to the handmaidens.
“Please, stay. I beg of you! Turn into an Abomination and I’ll surrender myself to the Master to bring you back. I’ll destroy the Golden Griffon if you ask me to, but don’t leave me. Don’t leave me!” Yet Jormun’s soul was gone and he couldn’t hear her anymore.
That day the Mad Queen was true to her name, pain and grief driving her insane.
Her wails were so desperate and her promises so sincere that back in the capital city of Valeron, Tyris shed tears for her. The Guardian knew all too well how painful the loss of true love was.
***
City of Valeron, Royal Court, a few minutes earlier.
Ever since Lith’s group had left, Queen Sylpha had kept taking care of Meron with the Royal Healer’s help. Quylla was doing her best, using both her breathing technique and her tier five Body Sculpting spell, Silver Hand, to ease his symptoms.
Her studies to find a cure for Lith’s condition had made her an expert in damaged life forces, an interest that the Queen now desperately shared.
The members of the Awakened Council had spent their time either barking orders in their respective amulets or sucking up to Kamila and Tyris. It was the first time for many of them to have an audience with the First Queen while Lith’s wife was just the icing on the cake.
Getting on good terms with the woman who would not only give birth to the first Demon, if not even a Tiamat, but who also spent most of her days in company with the Guardians of the Garlen continent couldn’t hurt.
Kamila, instead, had spent her time ignoring them, stress eating, or pacing, sometimes doing all three at once. She kept staring at her communication amulet where both Lith’s and Solus’ communication runes were.
She still used the one Salaark had made for the members of the Verhen family so there was no risk of their calls being tapped or their amulet being tracked.
Kamila had yet to wrap her mind around Lith’s past as Derek, but she couldn’t bear the thought of having sent him to his death nor the idea that her last memory of him would have been that of a quarrel.
“Calm down, Constable Yehval. At this rate, you’ll open a hole in the marble.” Queen Sylpha said.
“With all due respect, Your Majesty, what would you do if it was your husband out there and someone told you to calm down?” Kamila managed to keep the edge in her voice low enough to cut just mountains.
“I’d squeeze the life out of them.” The Queen sighed while looking at Meron.
Even after a few days since he had performed the Forbidden Magic, he still had a fever and sweated profusely. The only reason she wasn’t pacing around was that Sylpha had already resigned to the helplessness of her situation.
“Calm down, child.” Tyris gently took Kamila’s hand while lighting her eyes with mana due to her breathing technique, Mother Earth. “They are fine. All of them, I just checked.”
“So they are out of danger, right?” Kamila asked, having learned from Jirni how to never underestimate the phrasing of a sentence.
“No, but they are fine.” The Guardian sighed, witnessing the fight between Solus and Hystar first and then Jormun joining the fray.
“Great! Now I’m really worried.”
“If you need a quiet place where to spend a bit of time, you can always visit my country house.” Inxialot, the Lich King said. “It’s a bit isolated, but its beauty is out of this world.”
“Since when do you have a country house?” Raagu, the human representative asked in suspicion.
“For ages. You can come as well if you want.” He tried and failed a flirty wink due to his skeletal figure lacking eyelids, among other things.
“Thanks, but, why me? We’ve never met before.” Kamila had heard lots of things about Liches and not one of them was good.
“I’ve been thinking of inviting over your husband several times but alas, I keep forgetting about it.” Inxialot replied. “After being locked here for hours, I got so bored that I suddenly remembered about it and I decided to speak up before I forget again.”
“Bored?” Kamila’s eyes flared with bright orange mana. “My husband’s life is at stake, countless people are fighting around the Kingdom to buy him some time, and you are bored?”
“Very.” He missed the rhetorical question and misunderstood her indignation for understanding. “I mean, the conversation here is far from interesting, there’s only so much theoretical work I can do without my notes, and watching a chubby woman working her way to become more chubby gets stale after a while.”
“What?” Kamila’s face turned red from rage and embarrassment.
“Since when pregnancy makes someone deaf? Once the moment comes, we need to be careful about your health, dear.” Inxialot patted Raagu’s hands, making everyone think that they had already done the deed whereas he had yet to even ask her out.
“What did you say?” Raagu wanted to kill him, but she had no idea where the phylactery was hidden.
“Are you going deaf too?” Inxialot was flabbergasted. “Have you been unfaithful or did old age-“
A punch to the face cut him off and his head from the neck.
Before Inxialot could heal from his wounds, the Royal Guards formed a Warp Gate between their arms and Kamila held her breath in hope.
Milea Genys, the Magic Empress of the Gorgon Empire, walked through it, making everyone groan in disappointment.
“That’s a cold welcome for the bearer of good news.” She gave Sylpha a small bow and ignored the rest of the room. “Dawn’s attack has created the first real crack in the war front so I’ve sent my own troops to help you recapture Belius.
“If not for Thrud’s presence, the battle would be already won.”
“Excellent.” The Queen nodded. “I’ll send our Highmaster and-“
A Spirit Warp opened in the middle of the Throne Room, prompting the Royal Guards and the many defensive arrays that the First King had lay in the case an Awakened tried to sneak inside the castle.
“Stand down.” Tyris said and both people and magic obeyed.
Vladion was the first to walk out of the Steps, followed by Kalla’s Wight form who carried Lith’s limp figure.
“I’m sorry for the entrance but we had no way to enter a city with Lith like that and there’s no time to lose.” Vladion pointed at the human sized Voidfeather Dragon.
“Did you-“
“You said they were fine!” Kamila said to Tyris with an accusatory tone, cutting Sylpha short.
