Chapter 46

Seliah and I speak until midnight.

It is magical, truly a respite, a blessing after all the hardship I endured. That we all endured. It stuns Seliah out of her skin to hear of Solaris's affection towards her. She denied reciprocation; I know it is mutual because she kept restoring the conversation to his confession.

But when dawn breaks. I rally every fragment of my will to accompany Seliah. We head outside to where the imperial carriages of the Xercra wait to take all the candidates' relatives of choice, back to the Lancia harbour to return to their respective kingdoms.

Where the carriages are lined up. I see all the other relatives that journeyed to see their beloved pureblood, siblings and lovers alike. Vince was the only one that had no visitor, no relative, nor a friend that came to see him. After I bid my sister farewell and see her and the others off.

It takes just as much strength to return to my bedchambers. Even her departure could not embitter me. Since I never thought that I would see my sister, not for a long time. Her short-lived visit was none other than a God-given gift.

Ready for my morning ritual, to be escorted by Primus Kelan. One of our soldiers shows in his stead. And I recognise him from the time I stood at the watchtower. The day I was given a Sororder. The soldier that stands before me is the one with the old scar that brackets his brow.

"Hera, I was told to escort you to the bathhouse," he informs. Outfitted in his burgundy uniform but without the armour. "Your servants await you there."

"Who are you?" I ask as kindly as I can.

He squares his shoulders. "I am Primus Kelan's second-in-command," he says with pride in his rank. The way he speaks his name with such deference. "My name is Reinsbure, Hera."

Kelan said that he sent his second-in-command in his stead, for now, to deal with militaristic dilemmas. But since he has returned, that means Kelan must depart again. But he would not leave without seeing me first. He just would not.

"Even though you have guarded us well for many moons. It is a delight to know the name of the face."

He struggles to stifle a smile, and he bows his head. "Hera. And it's nice to finally speak with the Hera that has him so enraptured."

A smile blossoms on my face bashfully.

I peel the sheets off me, crawling out of bed. "Enraptured, by me?" My feet slip into the cotton-soft night shoes.

"Pardon me for saying this. But as soldiers, we too have our needs. We have had a fair share of...courtesans and in the time that I served under him. He has not touched even one. And I have known him for many cycles."

Something inside of me thrums with candent relief.

I rise from the bed and amble towards the door.

"I mean, many have tried," he rambles on with a lively demeanour. "Our Primus is a good-looking bastard. Even the most beautiful, big-breasted highborns have vied for his attention and failed. That is why all thought him a cold and unfeeling being. Even I did at one point."

Reinsbure moves to open the door for me. He allows me to pass then closes it behind him. A persistent limp hampers my walk, accustomed to the distant aches that throb in my leg. Cramps stitching up along my side.

I practice deep and calming breaths. "What changed?"

"The Vasilias Imperii, my 'Hera. You," he says expressively.

"I?" I ask, as if accused of a crime.

"The Primus is always thinking about you, Hera. You haunt his every thought. Is the Hera safe, is she guarded? My Primus has saved as many lives as he has taken. Where he goes, he inspires loyalty. Most of his squadron and even I were outlaws before we became soldiers. I will follow him to my death. He is notorious for being fearless, but when you appeared in his life. And when you are away from him. It terrifies him," he says with a rolling chuckle.

A treasured feeling warms my heart like a newly ignited flame.

Primus Kelan's second-in-command is surprisingly, yet refreshingly chatty. Surprising because the Avangard squadron, like himself, appear very reserved and stoic. So imagine my surprise when his second-in-command is so expressive. His eyes a-gleam, gracing me with a jaunty smile.

I glance ahead at the statuesque palace guards that rim the marble corridor.

Then I glimpse Reinsbure, who is staring at me, his thick hazel brows drawn by concern. "Hera, are you faring well to walk on your own? Should I carry you?"

"Please, do not," I deny with a polite smile.

I manage for a few hard steps of silence before Reinsbure breaks it.

"But when I truly saw that he cared for you, was at the Pensuem," he says.

I look back at him. His expression grows serious.

"When it appeared like the late Herem was going to slay you, Primus nearly destroyed the east portcullis to get to you. I have never seen him like that before, not even in battle. It took nearly our entire squadron to chain him down because he went... deranged."

***

Nestled in the bed with a book brought to me from the southern library. A book on Sorcian history before their liberation. A detailed documentation on their time as a colony. It is a lot grislier than I perceived from my studies at my Regnum. The history book I learnt from was not written by a Sorcian but foreign historians that did not know the true scope of their suffering, and how it still affected them, generations after their liberation. I fear the history I learnt was distorted, made more palatable to diminish the brutality of what the predecessors had to do in order to achieve inter-realm power.

I look up. A smile flits through my face. With minimal effort, I close the book, running my hand across the leather binding. I heed to the heavy steps that march into the bedchamber with a steady, authoritative gait. I glimpse the flashes of burgundy before Kelan reveals himself. His lengthy cape whispering behind him, armed in his full Primus uniform with his sword returned to where it belongs.

"Hera."

Hera?

I gaze into those resolve-weakening eyes. But as it is. They hold an inexplicable weight, a weight that it seems he will offload onto me. I grip the book, muscles tense, I haul it up to place it beside me.

"Is something wrong?"

His face is granite. "As the respite is over, and all the relatives of the candidates are on route back to their province. I have extended the recess interval until both you and the other Herems are fit to travel. Ready to resume the Trials."

I place my hands on my lap. "Travel where, if I may ask?"

"Urkah."

"The outland territories?"

He gives me a stiff head shake. "Beyond."

I tilt closer like I misheard him. My mind refuses comprehension. "Beyond Urium? What...what is beyond Urium? The only things I have read that are beyond are tales of hellions, myths of atrocious creatures, where shadows and phantoms creep."

He stares down at me sharply, as if to chide my ignorance. "There are other species of people, other kingdoms beyond, uncharted dominions that are not recorded in our atlases. Dominions that have been glamoured, hidden from the rest of the world."

So how have they come to discover them?

I set aside my qualms for now. "Where beyond Urium do we voyage?"

"We are to set adrift for Velheim."

I free a quick burst of laughter, scant in humour. "Velheim? That is a tale only found in children's stories, I would know. My father regaled them to my sister and I when we ourselves were children."

"And how do you think word spreads?" he challenges. His tone jaded. "There is always fact amidst fiction and a truth to every myth."

"I have read the memoirs of legendary explorers, preserved in my Regnum's library. Accounts of global excursions and expeditions led beyond our borders. Why is it that they have failed in their endeavours to locate the mythical city?"

Kelan frees his frustration with a sigh. "Velheim exists, but like many dominions, its erections and people are glamoured behind wards. Their keepers can only be summoned by fellow sorcerers with equal power."

"A Hische...that is how they were found?"

"Twin Hisches, a brother and sister," he amends. "The High King sent them out on a quest cycles ago to not only find the selected dominions, but to negotiate with them. And give them a reason why they should care about the welfare of Urium. And how it will affect them if they do not. Those same Hisches will lead our voyage through the second phase of the King Trials."

Cycles ago? Negotiate?

"A Hische? So, the High King dabbles in the occult? He conspires with dark forces?"

"Dark forces conspire against us," he says stridently, a grave rumble reverberating in his ]]chest. "The emergence of the Ulris is no small thing. The Vulkra's attack is no small thing, and the havoc that will unfold will be cataclysmic."

I lengthen my spine. "Was it not His Majesty himself that said we should serve a higher reign, a higher power? What is more powerful than the Almighty Himself? It is He who commands us to put our trust in Him because that is where salvation and victory lies."

He nods several times. Something about it seems condescending. "It is also the will of the Almighty to send a saviour that will defend the righteous and safeguard His people from the schemes of evildoers. Is it not Him that appoints leaders? Him that chooses kings or allows them to fall?"

My gaze sinks to my lap.

"Before the Dophan's untimely demise. It was the High King's death that was foreseen, and with it, the complete annihilation of Urium."

My gaze shoots up to his eyes. His face veiled with a dour look.

The Vasilias Imperii was never just about having the people choose their new ruler, about finding the worthy one among the nine.

"The High King cannot perish without a successor. Everything about the Trials runs in tangent to finding the one with merit to rule. To lead Urium out of the peril that awaits and forge a new era of lasting peace. The Trials, consisting of its tests and diplomatic excursions to different, strategically chosen domains."

I release a built-up breath. Deflated, I lean back into the wall of pillows.

"The Orombuc tribe is one of the most respected tribes among the indigenous people. All clans and tribes spread across Urium revere the Orombuc. The Terra, who controls the trade of Alabushian wood, mainly used to erect fleets for the Avangard's armada. And to whom they choose, earth globs." He brings up his hand to rest it on the pommel. "The Terra is the strongest, independent domain whose walls have never been breached with soldiers that have never known defeat. Sorcia is allied with powerful domains through transit commerce. And through the Blood Games, it has earned the purebloods," he looks at me pointedly, "Adalia the warrior with crucial reputation."

My head bops with understanding.

"Velheim and the others are a necessary evil. Urium is only safer because of wards sorcerers erect. And our weapons—" he taps the pommel of his sword, "—are infused with Alrosia that they have provided. Without it, you and I would be dead from when the Vulkra ensnared us on our way to Cistern. We need significant aid if the Ulris plan an invasion. Urium barely survived the last one. Which was eras ago, and the aftermath can still be seen today. They are too powerful."

By the grace of the Almighty. The High King's ultimate objective was to obviate a dark ordinance of Urium's future. A reckoning.

"We cannot fight what is coming alone. The reason why the Ulris demand Urium is that it is a stronghold of ancient power. The birthplace of all mythical bloodlines. If the Ulris draw from that power and use it to not only obliterate us, but they will seek to conquer other dominions. This peril threatens us all." Kelan takes a deep breath. "Which is why the Crown needs to be allied with powerful forces. His Majesty always said that peace is won through war. If we face monsters, we will need monsters of our own."

My mind bloats from trying to consume the imparted information all at once.

A moment of consumption passes before Kelan pivots to leave.

"Wait—" my plea halts him, "—where are you going?"

He pauses to face me, temporarily. "There is a vacated Vanguard output just north of Sorcia that was sent to thwart some aggression. Their Commander sent scouts on a reconnaissance mission before they were dispatched and they have returned. And they wish to apprise me of their discovery."

Eager, he resumes his walk.

"When shall you return?" I say to his back.

He stops again. His head turns to look down at his shoulder. "Only when it is time to abscond from Urium. But you should not worry about me. You must focus on your recovery and revive your strength; you will need it. Because the true trials have only just begun."

~ The End? ~