37 If he still loves her

King Stephan was running out of patience. He was on a horse close to the borders of Darca. He had two of his guards standing right next to his horse on each side. "I don't understand what is going on. Where are these women? They promised this was going to be an easy fight" Stephan boiled in anger. One of the knights in a fight with Darca came running down on his horse back. "Your majesty, the lower town is ours" he said on approaching the king. "Lower town" Stephan scoffs "I already heard that before but I don't need the lower town, It's not even like we fought to capture it. I need the citadel. Conquer it and make me a wealthy and most powerful king".

"Why don't you back down?" King Luther's voice called their attention to his presence. He appeared right in their presence. "For how long have you been standing there?" King Stephan asked. "Long enough to know that you are a greedy coward. You can't even fight your battles yourself" Luther said and smiled mischievously while taking a step closer to king Stephan. The knight on the horse pulled out his sword "stand back, or you will regret it" he said. Luther looked at him, smiled and sent him flying off his horse and landing his head on a rock close by. Then dropped dead. The other guards pulled their swords to defend their king but their king waved at them to be calm. "Who are you?". "Not who, what" , Luther responded with a serious look on his face. King Stephan stared at him. "Vampire. That is what I am. A king and a very powerful one". "What do you want?" He asked "I have not offended the vampires, have I?"

"Truce. Call of your warriors this moment and my punishment will be mild" Luther responded but before Stephan could speak up one of his guards responded "who do you think you are to tell the king what to do?", in anger Luther repeated his action towards the knight this time towards both guards who then dropped dead. "I hate people that don't learn from others mistakes" Luther lamented. Stephan looked at the three corpses lying there then looked at Luther "Will you call this a truce?". "The truce is between both of us. It doesn't include your guards" Luther replied without remorse.

King Stephan sighed "If you really are a vampire, what is your business with Darca?. Torren is the king of Darca and his enemity with his kind is widely known." "My bride stays there and she has seemed my help. Look around Stephan. Your entire army will lie like this if you do not call off the war."

"Liah won't let this insolent behavior of yours slide, neither will Qarinah."

Luther laughs. "You don't think they are still in Darca, do you?. You are alone Stephan and if you don't stop the attack on Darca, you won't have a kingdom to rule. You've got a pretty daughter by the way. Think about it....your majesty" he said mockingly and vanished into the air but his voice came through "I don't go back on my words Stephan. I'm sure you must have learnt it from Liah."

King Stephan stayed there speechless for a moment. He felt betrayed, disappointed, defeated, angry and most especially afraid, scared for his daughter's life. Without hesitation, he called off the attack on Darca.

Darca was once more peaceful for a while now. Torren had already come to the battlefield in all his glory before the soldiers started to back off. As the entire army all withdrew, Luther was standing right before Torren. It was just the two of them. "Good to have you back brother" he said and smiled but one could tell his smile was actually mocking Torren. "Why, why did you do it" Torren asked in anger.

"I never wanted to, but Diana, your bride somehow got me to do it. I couldn't turn a blind eye to the tears of a pretty woman" Luther smiled widely after he spoke, but that got Torren angry. "Don't you dare lay a finger on her Luther" Torren said angrily. Luther sighed "I'm touched you think so highly of me. You know what I'm capable of doing. But don't worry much. I won't hurt her. If I wanted to, I would've done that a long time ago." Torren still gazed at him in anger and hatred. "Now c'mon brother. A thank you from you to me won't strip you off your powers I'm sure. That's the least you can do to appreciate my help." Luther is really annoying. Torren walked away without saying a word to him.

The castle was filled with merriment. Queen Qarinah was lucked in the dungeons. Our drama was awake already. King Stephan had come to apologize for his actions. His daughter was standing next to him. He cleared his throat standing before Torren and the entire court and started "I understand that no amount of apologies can fix what is broken but I must still say that I am really sorry for the commotion I've caused these passed months. I led my greed blind my sense of reasoning. I sincerely apologize Lord Torren. What happened will never happen again, and please accept this as a token of my apologies" as he said it his daughter came forward with the gift they brought along. It contained a golden goblet and fresh wine. "Shall we please toast to peace?". I received the gift from his daughter, then Torren spoke "you've come a long way. Kahlan will see to your comfort till you depart tomorrow". King Stephan's daughter looked a little disappointed at Torren's response but she covered up with a smile. Kahlan led them out.

Torren relaxed but then looked tense as soon as his eyes locked with Auroras. Aurora simply bowed and left the throne room. She had not spoken to Torren since his return.

That night we were all happy and toasted to peace. We also signed the peace papers between all kingdoms, except for Liahs. Louisa stood in for Tron. After peace was made, we started to eat and drink. I was carried away by the talented performances of people from different kingdom that I didn't even realize when Torren was gone. When I didn't see him, I went out to find him. I stopped when I heard voices in the balcony, it was Aurora's and Torren's voice.

"You shouldn't have shown up here"

"I had no choice Torren. I couldn't watch what you've built over the years just collapse without doing anything to stop it. If my presence irritates you so much I might as well take my leave now"

"No. Please stay. You don't irritate me. Actually, It's the opposite."