Acceptance

"She's just been standing there ever since I got back." Rowen explained nervously to the ever-suspicious Arius. "I wonder if we're having any guests today."

"I do not have a good feeling about this, Rowen." The minister confessed, watching the empress closely. "She is planning something behind our backs again, I can just feel it."

"You should put more trust into her, Arius. She is our Empress, after all." Rowen tried his best to appease his friend's worries, patting his back with a small smile. "I am sure she is doing what is best for all of us, she always does."

Arius only replied with a tired sigh before turning to Nox, who had been hovering next to them this whole time.

"Do you have anything you would like to share, shadow beast?" He asked, hoping to gain some new knowledge from the shadow beast.

"She is waiting for someone." Nox answered, proceeding to hide behind Rowen as the sun began to rise.

"And who exactly is this someone?" He raised his eyebrows at the creature, displeased by Nox's vague answers.

"You will find out soon enough." Nox decided to cut off the conversation there, leaving the minister utterly speechless.

"Just how large is the status of this guest, Nox?" Rowen chimed in, glancing over at the empress who continued to wait patiently.

"It is not because of their status that is making Her Majesty wait outside for their arrival." Nox explained, puzzling both Rowen and Arius. "It is simply because she does not trust them enough."

"Rowen." Zeya finally spoke, her voice cold and authoritative.

"Your Majesty?" Rowen stepped forward, ready to receive her commands.

"Inform everyone to head for the meeting room, now. That is an order."

Despite the initial hesitation, Rowen reluctantly agreed to do as she commanded, pulling Arius to go inside with him. Surprisingly, Arius followed without much refusal, though he had a lot he wished to say. It was an order, after all.

Just as they left, before Zeya appeared two figures. One being none other than Varen himself but beside him was a new face, though he seemed awfully familiar to Zeya.

"A pleasure to finally meet you, Your Grace." The stranger extended his hand towards Zeya. "I am Ezra, the royal counsellor of Exousia."

Zeya merely nodded before she took his hand, in which he then politely brought it up to his forehead.

"Where is the little girl?" Zeya asked, referring to the human princess Kaari. She turned her head to face Varen, expecting him to answer.

"She is of no use here. Since the king has passed, I am now the sole person in charge of both Exousia and Imnolyn. Everything you need shall be prepared by Ezra and myself."

"Hm, suit yourselves." She shrugged whilst she began walk, leading them inside the palace. "It's not like the poor soul would be able to handle a matter as important as this after what happened."

Varen remained silent as they walked, not wishing to engage in a conversation regarding the incident earlier.

==========

Nevra and Rowen were the last to enter the room before Zeya had the entrance heavily guarded with shadows, ensuring the confidentiality of the discussion they were about to have. The air inside the room grew tense as both parties watched one another, awaiting Zeya's next commands.

"First, I would like to thank everyone here for attending this important meeting regarding the recent massacres caused by the unknown monster." Zeya made eye contact with everyone on both sides, before she continued. "Especially under such short notice which of course, is completely my fault."

"You practically forced everyone to attend this meeting." Amrit muttered under his breathe, feeling cheated.

A threatening glare from Arius was enough to make him shut his mouth for the rest of the meeting out of fear. If Amrit was pissed about the Kaxarenes' presence in this room, then Arius was beyond that, and Amrit had no intentions to be part of his target. He knew better than to test him of all Roseabelles.

Arius may have appeared normal to everyone but to Amrit, the minister was more insane than he could ever be. The minister was just better at hiding it.

"To begin, I would like to present you all with a written contract." Varen began with a snap of his fingers. A piece of paper magically appeared out of thin air as per Varen's act, floating towards Zeya's direction.

"What I am suggesting is rather simple really. I am proposing that Zeya moves into the Exousian residence." He explained, avoiding the glares that came his way, his eyes set on the empress and her alone. "Until we capture the monster, that is."

"And how long will that last?" Arius questioned sternly; his hands folded in front of his chest defensively.

"Depends on how fast we manage to track it down." Varen stated the obvious, not fazed but the threatening aura. "The faster we get rid of it, the sooner your beloved Empress returns home. That is my suggestion in order to ensure that no... dishonesty happens in the middle of the contract. "

"Absolutely not." Arius, with no surprise, immediately expressed his disdain for the idea by rejecting it by banging his hand on the table.

"And why is that Arius?" He questioned, raising his eyebrows. "Because when I see it from my point of view, this appears to be very reasonable."

"Exousia resides exactly in the middle of Stygia and Imnolyn." He snapped his fingers, causing a map that was half the size of the entire table to appear out of thin air and unravel itself.

"If Her Majesty decides to remain in Stygia, it is simply just a waste of magic to teleport back and forth the two nations every other day, even with the sheer power she holds." He pointed at the center of Imnolyn. "But at the same time, she cannot stay in the human's royal palace because well, the humans will not react very well, will they?"

"So, the next best thing is Exousia." He then pointed to a part of the map that was marked with an X. "It's even better when you realize that the library you seek is most probably just around the borders my nation shares with Imnolyn."

"Then who will care for Stygia if she's gone?" The minister turned to Zeya now, his expression still the same. "We had just gotten a ruler and now you're planning to take her away?"

"Your people doesn't seem to know that yet, do they? Those poor souls still think that you're searching for her brother as the next heir to the throne." Varen smirked, leaning against his chair.

"And besides, what is there to be concerned about when the Circle is present?" Varen questioned, the very much displeased Arius. "There will be five of you here taking her place temporarily. Don't tell me that it's impossible?"

"I was planning to release the statement sooner or later." Arius replied defensively. "In fact, we can release it right after-"

"I am not asking you to release a statement about Zeya's return, minister." The emperor's voice got lower, the humor in his tone now nonexistent. "I'm asking you to continue lying to your people, just until I feel it's the right time to tell them the truth."

"... Stygia is a nation has traditions and rules it must obey by Emperor. Some of which are so sacred that it can never be broken, not by the council, the people, or even the ruler themselves." Arius spoke in a calm yet threatening manner. "And one of those rules include lying to our people."

"Why, is that so? I must say then, how foolish of a tradition it is." Varen spoke honestly, not bothered by the faltering expressions of the Circle members.

"Excuse me?" Arius managed to ask, somehow maintaining his usual unbothered expression. His voice was deathly calm... too calm for comfort.

"What you're saying to me right now sounds like you're willing to risk your empress' safety for the sake of following outdated rules. And I find that to be incredibly and utterly idiotic."

"... I know it must be hard to understand our ways, considering how... unconventional you are." Arius continued to remain unbothered, though his peers could tell how pissed he was. "But I do not blame you... after all, most traitors do tend to be quite hateful towards old traditions they've once used to follow religiously."

"Enough of this. Both of you." Zeya warned, her order echoing throughout the room. "This isn't the place to start a fight."

"He just dishonored my entire life's work, Your Majesty." He stated, not once taking his eyes off of the smug faced emperor. "I do not take disrespect like that lightly."

"How is it disrespect when its nothing but the truth?" Varen confronted, simply adding more fuel to the flames. His smirk never faltered as he held Arius' glare. "I am simply telling you the truth. And the truth is, these rules of yours are incredibly outdated."

"Men and their prides." She muttered under her breathe, unamused. With a swing of her hand, Zeya placed a spell on both of them, physically making them stuck to their own chairs, an action that wasn't appreciated at all by the two men.

"I've already made up my mind to sign this contract however, if any of you feel the need to change whatever that is written on this piece of paper, now is the time to do it." She looked at each of her friends and her brother.

"... Then we have a lot of work to do." Amrit spoke up after being silent the whole time, picking up the piece of paper before he began to read it. "Because this contract is pure deception in my eyes."

The others joined Amrit soon after, thoroughly discussing each condition before adding their very own.

And just like that, hours had passed by the time the editing of the contract was ultimately finished. Luckily, the negotiations went by rather smoothly, with no more standoffs happening between the minister of defense and Exousian emperor. Even Amrit himself seemed content with the modifications made though the same couldn't be said for Arius.

The minister still had his eyes fixated on Varen, who never seemed to have been affected by it.

After one more quick review, Zeya finally agreed to sign the contract, and the alliance was in effect immediately. Zeya Reyes was now in the same team as Varen Edevane but something about how Varen looked at her told the empress that she might come to regret her decision quite early.