Ignorance is a bliss

I'm sorry. Come meet me at the library after you finish your talk with Athos. I am aware a sorry note wouldn't cut it for you. Therefore, I want to say sorry to you in person. 

I'm waiting. 

Mircea bit her lip whilst she stared at the note. She contemplated going. She should have ignored him and his mixed signals. She should have simply gone to bed. She had promised herself that she would go to bed right after Athos was out of her nose. 

Her head was throbbing from the ceremony and combat practise and the duels. 

Don't make the issue bigger than it deserves to be, her heart said weakly demanding that she should visit the library. Saints!

Urban hadn't spoken one word about the kiss but neither had Mircea. The chances of him bringing it up now were more. She didn't know if she was ready for that conversation. 

It had been almost an hour since Athos' arrival. She should go to bed, she had a big day ahead of her next morrow. She had one day to make sure no one would question her abrupt departure and she had to make sure her kingdom was safe while she was in another kingdom. 

Mircea got up from her desk chair and padded toward her gigantic bed. She jumped between the sheets, she knew the headache was a side effect of the poison she had been taking. One thing she needed to do was ask Leigh exactly how the poison worked. Her body relaxed beneath her silk sheets. She hadn't bothered to change into her night time clothes. She rolled on her front and loosened the strings that were pressing hard on her breasts. 

Mircea wondered if Urban was still waiting at the library all by himself. Nevermind, he had the books and the characters in it to accompany him. Her heart had finally given up fighting with her brain. She was going to listen to her brain and sleep. 

What her heart wanted didn't matter. What mattered was what was right. She was a queen, the ruler of Slyve and she needed to grow up and do the right thing.

She drifted into the darkness which had been whispering her name for hours thinking of whether Urban had been waiting or had given up on her in thirty minutes and retired to his chambers. 

***

"Your majesty." Carsten nodded at her standing in front of her desk. He was wearing his official front army chief commander suit with a sword by his side. His face was as hard as his posture. This was what he was around her father. He had stopped calling her little Mircea the moment she had been crowned. Mircea missed his other side. His soft side which only a handful people knew. 

"I order you to call me Little Mircea when it's only us two." She glared at him. 

His face stayed the same, "You know I can't do that."

"I certainly know you can't say no to my order. I'm your queen." She retorted. He made a low voice which Mircea made out to be a groan. 

"Pulling your title on me already little Mircea?" He smirked even though his posture did not change. 

"I only do that when it's absolutely necessary." She smiled at him cheekily. 

"I actually want you to assign me two guards, I'm sick and tired of these guards that are changed every week. I need someone who works for you so I can ask them to work for me and not the council or the army. They ought to work only for me. I don't want them gossiping or drifting off to sleep." Mircea told Carsten, setting aside the files she was working on. She wanted to bring up King Kirill first but she was perplexed as to what exactly to ask or say to him. 

"I have a special team which I trust with my life. I will make sure two are assigned as your body-guards for as long as they are healthy and strong enough to protect you." He replied dutifully. Mircea beamed at his response moreover his choice of words. Carsten had always been a loner. He was not so good at talking. He was the best at taking orders and swords. 

"Okay, what do you know about King Kirill?" Mircea queried. Carsten's gaze on her hardened at her question, a muscle near his right cheek began to twitched. He looked completely and utterly repulsed by her question. 

He knew something. 

And he didn't want Mircea to know that. 

If her father had someday in the past ordered him to keep whatever it was about the alliance or King Kirill from her it was almost impossible to make him talk about it. He was trained for years to not spit out information to an enemy even if he had broken bones and missing vital parts from his body. 

Hence, the chances of him telling her the truth were less. Mircea wanted to wail and break things, why was everyone keeping things from her?!

"Take a seat, Carsten. I think we have a lot to talk about." 

"I don't think so." His voice was hard like a stone. 

She wanted to shout, Sit! I want to know what is going on in MY kingdom and I can't do that if you people keep on hiding things from me. However, she did not. She respected Carsten more than anyone. 

"King Kirill sent me a letter a few days ago, saying he wants a war." Mircea stated it as if it was a fact. It was. She watched a hundred emotions pass through his dark eyes. His face finally settled into a deep frown. 

"That makes no sense." He whispered looking down. She wondered if he was still talking to her.

"To me it does." She commented, continuing "Pyron and Faustina made an alliance with Gyyza and they promised to marry me off to Gyyza's second prince. And now that I'm the queen they are quite in a hurry. And here's the cherry on top father already had an alliance with Cetus. It was dated a month after my mother's death. Ofcourse King Kirill wants a war." 

His expressions changed from a frown to scowl. "Faustina made a deal to marry you off?!" 

Mircea nodded at him with a look that said, I know right, how dumb.

"No wonder." Carsten scoffed. Then his gaze softened at Mircea, "Did you… are you marrying him?" His voice was silky, it carried the concerns of a father. 

Mircea shaked her head, with an expression that said I'm not that dumb.

"If you do war will happen and the first to die will be Faustina and the second prince of Gyyza." Mircea knew he was back to talking to himself. Carsten had this calculating expression on his face which warmed Mircea's heart. She knew this man standing in front of her would fight for her to death but wouldn't let her marry that prince. 

Howbeit, what she did not understand was why Faustina and the prince would be killed second and not her. 

"If you are done talking to yourself, tell me about this." Mircea pushed the alliance papers ahead that were dated almost a decade ago. 

Carsten skimmed through the pages, his initial expression not fazed, making Mircea's doubt clear. He knew about the alliance. 

Mircea could only wish the saints that he would answer each one of her questions.

"Yes, there is an alliance between the two Kingdoms. But it is not your normal alliance like the Faustina was trying to make with Gyyza. We don't have special relations between the kingdoms. Yet." 

"I don't understand." 

"I don't know the exact details but I get why he is pissed and wants a war. Though I don't think there will be a war until you marry that second prince." 

Mircea pondered on what he said for a good minute. 

"Do you think we can defeat them if we have Gyyza with us?" Mircea's tone was soft. Carsten stared at her, then he shook his head. 

"We won't win even if we have the vampires and witches combined standing behind us. They don't want Slyve little Mircea. They are not greedy creatures like vampires or witches. They will fight and fight until they feel right. Faustina has wronged them." He told her. 

"Kirill is the longest living king. He is an original werewolf and so he is his son. Vampires may be immortal but they are messy and greedy. What makes a kingdom strong is it's foundation and devotion of the ruler. No other kingdom has that. Neither the witches nor the vampires." Carsten's words were heavy. It was as if he was pouring emotions in it. Mircea could see a hint of respect for King Kirill in his words which was unreal. King Kirill was their enemy. As far as Mircea's knowledge went every kingdom was Slyve's enemy.

"I am visiting Cetus in the morrow." Mircea laid the sentence out. His neck snapped toward her. His eyes were wide enough for his eyeballs to fall down. 

"You almost got killed last time you stepped out of Slyve." He exclaimed. 

"I know, I know. That is why I wrote a letter to him last week and he agreed to it. He is sending a small army at our borders to escort me to his palace. And he promised not to kill me." Mircea added the last sentence even if King Kirill promised nothing about not killing her. 

Carsten looked furious to say the least. His scowl was bigger than the devil's. "I will send my six specials tonight itself. They will accompany you there. Who else knows about it?" 

"You, me and Athos and King Kirill of course. But wait six specials?" He nodded at her, satisfied with her answer.