Impending Threat

ASHER BLACKWOOD

Princess Aethera and I walked through the city, the damages from the battle were being fixed and the city was in a good mood.

"Aside the debris, it doesn't seem like trouble occurred just a few weeks ago." She said without looking up.

"Yeah, it doesn't. But I believe the people will get over it, the King did announce to them that the threat is over." I replied looking straight ahead.

I held her hand and she flinched, she looked at her hands and then looked up at me, her face red.

"What are you doing?" She asked me embarrassed.

"Just holding hands. It's nothing much right?" I replied with a smile.

We both walked to a restaurant, all heads turned as they saw that I walked in with the princess.

"You're famous, although I don't like the attention it's giving me." I said to her before we sat down.

A waiter hurried to our table seeing that he had a well-known guest in his establishment.

"What would you guys like to order?" He asked politely.

"Ladies first." I laughed and Aethera seemed to have a calm aura around her at that moment.

"We'll have grilled steak and potatoes." She said with relish, her mouth almost watering.

"At your table in a minute princess." The waiter bowed and walked away.

"You're drooling." I said with a smirk, her face turned red and she cleaned off the little spittle that was at her chin.

"Stop smiling like that." She brushed the strand of hair that was dangling in front of her eyes.

"I can't help it, you're just so 'pretty'."

"I can sense the sarcasm you know." She replied with what seemed to be an oomph of anger.

I was about to reply when the waiter arrived with our orders, he set the dishes in front of us and bowed before he left.

My mouth watered as I stared at the steak which was enormous in size, almost as big as a full chicken.

"Can I?" I asked Aethera who was already digging in, her cheeks bulging from the huge amount of food she'd stuffed in her mouth.

I didn't need her reply, I dug into my own share as well. The flavor hit me the moment I tasted the steak.

It hit me like a freight train, all the flavors exploding in my mouth at once. I could feel a tear trickle down from my eye as I savored the taste.

"De- delicious." I cried.

"You're funny." Aethera laughed.

"It's not good to talk when there's food in your mouth."

She chewed briskly and then continued. "Do you like the food?"

"Although I'm the one who brought you here, I didn't know the best one to order."

"Well, my brother and I have been here a couple of times when the food at the palace didn't 'soothe' his taste as he says."

She laughed, adding emphasis to the word soothe.

I turned almost immediately as I felt fluctuations in the mana around us, I concentrated and saw where it was all coming from.

Someone was seated at the end of the room, with just a cup in front of him and a newspaper covering his face.

But it was mana that I had sensed before and I knew who it was.

I leaned forward to whisper into Aethera's ear. "Your brother's seated over there."

She stared behind me and saw the person holding up a newspaper to his face.

"Brother!" She yelled, taking me by surprise. I didn't expect her to call him out.

Arin lowered the newspaper from his face and smiled, he came to where we were seated an grabbed an empty seat from a table opposite us and sat down.

"Brother, I don't think I've seen you in these clothes before." Aethera noted looking at the clothes strangely.

"This kind of fashion is what's in vogue sister." Arin replied. His attire was a dark-hooded cloak, a black trouser and boots that would be best suited for soldiers.

"Why were you stalking us?" Aethera asked her brother.

"I just wanted to see how he was treating my sweet little sister," he was flustered. "I didn't want him to make you cry and get away with it."

He laughed loudly, causing heads to turn to our direction.

Throughout all this I was quiet, I watched with keen interest.

They both laughed and talked about numerous things, Arin asked questions I thought he already knew the answers to which surprised me.

The waiter walked over to us. "Your bill sir."

I looked at the paper, my eyes bulging out in surprise at the enormous amount of gold I had to pay.

Aethera stifled a laugh and Arin smirked as well. "I'll take the tab."

Arin gave the waiter the gold needed for the payment. "Keep the change."

Aethera decided to go home herself because her brother had something important he wanted to say to me.

The both of us walked towards a place that would best be described as secretive.

"You can drop the act now." I said to him, my voice calm and the anger hidden from my voice as I watched him.

The person in front of me wasn't Prince Arin. "As expected, I knew I wasn't fooling you."

His camouflage dropped and he revealed his true face. He was a handsome guy with light blue hair and blue eyes, he had a calm and menacing aura around him.

"What do you want? I know the Prince is okay because I can still sense his mana at the school grounds." I told him.

"Nothing, we want nothing more than the eradication of the Jardels."

"You know very well that I can't allow that."

"I know. I'm a man who can see endless futures and there isn't one in which I win against you."

"Then you should know it's futile to try…" I stopped short as I never got his name.

"Just call me Draneeve." He replied knowing what I wanted. "I didn't win in any of the futures I saw which is why I made some arrangements."

"What sort of arrangements?" I asked.

"The residents of hell are against you even the demon world wants you dead." He continued. "And I have made arrangements in that light, be prepared."

"The future is not set in stone." He said and vanished immediately