As weird as it probably was, whenever I visited Grandad’s grave, I always felt better the next day. My mind felt clearer and my spirit itself felt more at ease.

So that’s why I awoke on the twenty-third of December feeling the best I had felt in a while. I was ready for a good day.

My bed felt a lot comfier than my one back in Switzerland, but that one hadn’t been exactly uncomfortable, so I couldn’t complain. And, after sleeping in a cage for most of my childhood, I’d take whatever was given to me.

I yawned, stretching my arms as far out as they would go. I didn’t exactly want to get out of bed, but Asbel had told me that he had something that I needed to see, so I had to.

I had of course expected Asbel to make something, but I hadn’t anticipated it to be important enough to require me to be up early. He had requested that Ethan be there, too, which meant it must have been important. When I had asked everyone else there what it was, nobody would tell me, but Natasha and Quinn had seemed like they were about to burst from the sheer effort of keeping quiet.

He had asked us to meet him on the east coast, which was definitely strange. I, of course, would fly there, but Charlotte was transporting Ethan.

I got changed quickly and headed out of The Tower as soon as I was done. Very few people were out and about, and the few that were were presumably shopping for Christmas. Which reminded me that I didn’t have any gifts for anyone. I had to get that sorted quick.

I silently leapt up from the ground and soared eastward. In all seriousness, I was genuinely intrigued to see what it was that Asbel had made. Knowing him, he’d say it was just another one of his projects, but it was most likely the greatest thing a human has ever made.

He'd specifically asked us to meet on the beach. He said that, from there, we’d walk to the project.

As I gently glided down towards the beach, my wings made almost no noise at all. I was like an owl hunting its prey or something. My wings cut effortlessly through the air, making my descent seem elegant.

When I got a few metres from the ground, I could make out Asbel and Ethan staring up at me. I dived down towards them and grinned.

‘How’s that for a landing?’ I said, spreading my arms cockily. ‘I pretty much made a dust storm with the sand!’

‘Seven out of ten,’ Asbel said plainly. ‘You two ready to see what I built, then?’

‘Ready as we’ll ever be,’ Ethan said, eyeing me strangely.

As the three of us began to walk northward along the beach, I elbowed Ethan’s arm.

‘Why’d you look at me like that? Did I do something wrong?’

‘No, I was just wondering if you told Emma how you felt.’

My chest constricted.

‘I was gonna, I promise, but-’

‘Cold feet?’

‘Jay interrupted me. If you hadn’t said anything about Maltor entering my dream I would’ve done it.’

Asbel tossed us a glance over his shoulder.

‘What? You’re finally gonna tell Emma how you feel?’ he said nonchalantly.

‘How in Tartarus do you know?’ I spat.

He stared at me, bored.

‘Bro, come on. Everyone that’s ever seen the two of you together knows how you feel. If you were trying to hide it then you did a horrible job.’

My face grew hot again.

‘Oh, I know what he’s gonna do,’ Ethan said, smirking. ‘He’s gonna defeat Maltor and return all victorious and ask for her hand.’

Asbel roared with laughter and I glowered at Ethan.

‘If you knew how to keep your mouth shut I would’ve already told her.’

He raised his hands in a sort of false surrender. ‘My bad, my bad. But that’s what you’re gonna do now, right?’

The worst bit about this entire conversation was that he was right. Although it wasn’t the original plan, it would probably be my best shot. Maltor would almost definitely know that I had returned, so his attack was probably already brewing. And I didn’t really want my confession to be spoilt by an approaching army.

‘Yeah, you’re right, Ethan,’ Asbel chimed in, cutting my thoughts off. ‘He’s gone quiet.’

‘If you keep being such a smartass, I’m gonna break whatever you show us.’

‘I don’t think you’ll wanna do that when you see it,’ Asbel replied cheekily.

‘Why have you brought us to the beach, anyway?’ Ethan asked.

‘Added suspense. I couldn’t just ask you to go directly there or you’d already have a good idea about what it is.’

‘So we’ve gotta walk there?’ I said, aghast.

‘Don’t panic,’ Asbel said, halting in his tracks. ‘We’re here.’

‘This is the ship hangar.’

The ship hangar was a huge building on the east coast where, if you’d believe it, all the most important vessels were kept. On either side of the hangar, there were docks, for smaller or commercial ships.

The exterior of the building was a dark grey metal, with a somewhat domed roof and a red border along the bottom of the back and sides. The three of us stood in front of a set of double doors, where there were two men, each positioned on either side.

‘Mr Jacobs,’ they said, nodding their heads and opening the doors.

‘Thank you, sirs,’ Asbel said as he strode through the entrance. ‘Come on, you two.’

‘Mr Santrrer, accomplice,’ the men said as we passed.

‘‘Accomplice’,’ Ethan repeated under his breath. ‘Gods, am I not as important as the Prime Minister?’

‘Not quite,’ Asbel joked. ‘Now, follow me.’

He began to walk left, leading us along the walkway.

Inside the hangar, there were an absurd amount of huge, foreboding ships. It smelled of salt and metal, which was a bizarre smell in itself. Dozens of workers hurriedly walked around, nodding slightly at us as they passed.

The sound of creaking metal, hammers banging, and workers shouting echoed around the huge chamber. It felt chaotic, in a sense. Not like the crowds-during-a-sale chaotic, but a strangely-welcoming chaotic.

‘Asbel, if we walk past all these huge ships and you’ve built a wooden raft, I’m never gonna let you live it down,’ Ethan breathed as he stared up in awe at the other boats.

I heard Asbel scoff quietly under his breath.

When we got to the end of the walkway, Asbel stopped. He turned to face the ship on our right, which was by far the most unusual one in the hangar.

‘Ethan, Albert,’ he said proudly, putting his hands on his hips, ‘meet Koning van de wateren, or, as you’d know it: Rex Aquarum!’

‘Kon-what?’ Ethan spat.

‘Koning van de wateren, Dutch for ‘King of the Waters’. It’d be easier for you if you called it Rex Aquarum, which means the same but in Latin.’

‘What? Did you build this ship?’ I breathed.

‘I didn’t do it on my own,’ Asbel said plainly. ‘I of course had some help. But yeah. I did this, I guess.’

Rex Aquarum was huge, to say the least. I wasn’t too sure of the exact height, but it was one of the biggest ships in the hangar, if not the biggest. It appeared to be made of bronze, and small windows lined the outside in rows, but that was about all I could deduce from the back.

‘What’re you waiting for?’ Asbel said, grinning. ‘Come on, you’ve gotta have a look around!’

He led us around to the side of the ship, where a flight of stairs had already extended down to the walkway. They, too, appeared to be bronze.

‘Designed just like an Ancient Greek trireme!’ Asbel continued proudly as we walked up the steps. ‘Only I know how to drive it as of yet, but I can teach you if you want.’

‘Trireme?’ I asked, looking down towards the water. ‘There’re no oars.’

‘They’re retractable,’ Asbel replied, and I could see him grinning even from behind. ‘Don’t want them getting in the way when it takes off.’

Ethan glanced back at me, his mouth wide. All I could do was stare back at him.

We reached the top of the stairs and found ourselves on the deck. I did not know whether or not the deck was ‘standard’, as I’d never been on a trireme before, but something about it was amazing.

At the front of the deck, there was a steering wheel. I was not sure what it was made out of as it had been painted gold, but it was presumably wood or metal of some kind. The steering wheel was attached to a dashboard of sorts, which appeared to be made out of the same material as the ship itself.

On the dashboard, there were numerous buttons and levers, and only the Gods and Asbel knew what they did. And, for something made out of bronze, it looked strangely futuristic.

There were three levers next to the steering wheel, one on the right and two on the left. It looked as though they could only be moved forwards or backwards, and, again, I had no clue what they did. The only good idea I had was that one of them adjusted the speed.

Towards the middle of the deck, lining the edges of the ship, there were sets of benches on either side. In the exact centre of the deck, there was a huge brown pole, and upon looking skyward, I realised that it must have been a mast of sorts. The only issue was that there were no sails.

‘Hey, Asbel?’ I called. ‘Shouldn’t there be sails on the mast?’

‘Oh, no, that’s not a mast,’ he said simply. ‘That’s just like a lookout spot. Look, there’s an area to stand in at the top.’

‘How does it move, then?’

I could see him staring at me out of the corner of my eye.

‘Like any other ship, you actual dumbass. There’re propellers under the water.’

‘How are you supposed to get up there, anyway?’ Ethan inquired. ‘Not everyone can fly.’

‘Have you even tried looking around? There's a ladder on the other side.’

As the three of us circled around to the other side of the pole, I looked towards the stern of the ship.

In the centre of the back quarter or so of the ship, there was a staircase that led down into the ship itself. On either side of this staircase, there were steps leading up to another area, which presumably housed more seats or something else in that genre.

‘What’s down the stairs?’ Ethan asked quickly.

‘You’ll see in a sec, but I’ve gotta show you this first,’ Asbel said, smirking. ‘Ethan, go up those stairs and just stand in that little bit up there.’

Asbel and I watched as Ethan hastily followed this command.

‘It’s just got two benches!’ Ethan shouted back.

‘Stay there!’ Asbel called. ‘Albert, stay right here.’

Asbel rushed over to the dashboard and pressed a button, and I was definitely not prepared for what happened next.

Cannons rose out of the deck on either side, about a dozen or so in total. They were painted jet black and looked generally like standard cannons.

It was a strange thing to witness. The floor separated at first, and then huge black cannons rose from the holes accompanied by faint whirring noises.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

‘How did you make them come out so quietly?’ I asked Asbel as the cannons finished their routine by extending over the sides of the ship.

‘Bit of Hephaestus-son magic,’ Asbel taunted.

‘That was so cool!’ Ethan roared from the stern of the ship.

‘We’ve got like a whole war vessel, then, huh?’ I continued, purposely ignoring Ethan, who sounded as though he was fanboying over the cannons at the back.

‘Never know what situation we’ll find ourselves in,’ Asbel explained. ‘That’s why it can move through water and the air.’

‘How’d you manage that, anyway? Something this big should not be able to fly.’

‘Neither should planes. And, again, a few of my brothers and sisters managed to make things work,’ he paused. ‘Oh, great, now I’ve gotta ruin his fun.’

Asbel strode back over to the dashboard and pressed the same button as he had done before. I watched, awestruck, as the cannons pulled back and then finally down into the ship. The floor closed over them as though they had never even been there.

‘What’d you do that for?’ Ethan hollered, racing down the steps and glowering at Asbel.

‘You’ll see them again, don’t worry. Now, come on, let’s go downstairs.’

Ethan immediately perked up. Without even waiting for an okay from Asbel, he turned and ran down the stairs into the ship.

‘You’d think he’s never seen a ship before,’ Asbel said quietly to me, sounding exasperated.

‘Are you joking? Nobody’s seen a ship like this. This is amazing, man, top-notch.’

Asbel smiled. ‘Thanks, man.’

The two of us followed Ethan down the steps. Around halfway down, they separated, meaning there was a staircase on the left and right.

‘Which one?’

‘They lead to the same place.’

Asbel took the right stairs as I took the ones on the left. They curled around back the way we had come, and I found Ethan staring, flabbergasted, at the sight before him. And I couldn’t blame him one bit.

We appeared to be in a lounge area of sorts. On the walls, there were huge windows that displayed the hangar outside, which felt strange.

There were several sofas, chairs, beanbags, and practically any other seat-thing you could imagine. There was even a TV on one of the walls, and a fridge right next to it. And, as weird as it was, there was even a fireplace on the wall to our left.

‘We’re gonna improve the ship as we go,’ Asbel said calmly, either ignoring or not noticing the dumbfounded expressions that both Ethan and I wore. ‘But I hope it doesn’t look too empty.’

‘Empty?’ Ethan murmured. ‘This is more full than any of the rooms in my house.’

‘The Tower doesn’t even top this,’ I added quietly.

‘Come on,’ Asbel said, ‘there’s gonna be plenty of chances to spend time here.’

On the next floor down, we found ourselves at the end of a long corridor, with doors lining either side. In between each door, there was a plant pot, and each one housed a different plant.

‘This is the first floor of rooms,’ Asbel explained. ‘There’s twelve here, six on each side. This is where we’d sleep if we were going somewhere overnight.’

‘How many rooms are there on here in total?’

‘Around one hundred and fifty, excluding ours, and we’re planning on adding more.’

Ethan’s head slowly turned to face Asbel.

‘I-I beg your pardon?’

‘Never know what situation we’ll find ourselves in,’ Asbel shrugged. ‘We might need to transport one hundred and fifty soldiers somewhere, I dunno.’

‘This ship isn’t big enough for one hundred and fifty bedrooms,’ I breathed.

‘Oh, that wasn’t my doing. We had some magical help. It’s an Undetectable Extension Charm. Koning van de wateren is bigger than it looks, I’ll tell you that for sure.’

Ethan was desperate to pick out our rooms, but Asbel asked him to keep that thought for a bit. He wanted to show us the rest of the ship.

The next few floors were all bedrooms, but I wasn’t complaining. It was simply astonishing that there were that many bedrooms anyway.

A few floors down, we hit a room that made Ethan’s jaw drop farther than I’d ever seen it go. We appeared to be in a dining area.

Several tables and chairs sat dotted around the large space, and at the far end there appeared to be a buffet of some kind. It looked not unlike the dining area of the Swiss camp we’d been training at.

Huge windows also lined the sides of the room, allowing us to gaze out into the hangar. Ethan, who seemed to be a little worse at hiding his excitement than I, dashed over to the window and pressed his face against it.

‘Don’t you think that’s weird?’ he said, his words muffled by the, you know, window he was talking into. ‘We’re in the Undetectable Extension bit, but we can still see the outside like we’re not.’

‘Yeah, I don’t even know how they did it,’ Asbel replied, looking as though he was trying not to roll his eyes, ‘but I’m thankful they did.’

‘You and me both!’ Ethan exclaimed, pulling back from the window.

We continued our journey down into the ship, and he really had gone all out. There was a sick bay, a weapons room, a library, a second lounge area, and even an entire games room. Each room was more enticing than the last, and my jaw only dropped further and further with each one.

Eventually, we got to the final floor of the ship, which was the stables. About a dozen stalls were situated, six on either side, ready to house a horse or pegasus. There was even hay in each of the stalls.

‘Gods, even the animals that’ll stay here are living in luxury,’ Ethan murmured.

‘Just hope that nobody forgets their pegasus on here, you know, with it being on the bottom floor.’

Ethan and I chuckled lightly at that.

‘But, yeah,’ Asbel murmured. ‘That’s it for now. We’re hoping to expand the ship and make improvements, of course, but this is all we’ve got now.’

‘Wait, Asbel?’ I cut in. ‘Sorry to interrupt you, but what are those huge doors there?’

I pointed to the far end of the room, where a giant set of double ‘doors’ were situated in the wall.

‘We’re in the Extended part. Surely they can’t-’

The words died in my throat. Asbel had quickly walked over to the doors and pulled a lever to the right of the doors. They separated, opening up to the hangar outside.

‘Holy Mother of Titan,’ Ethan breathed. ‘That should not even be possible.’

‘Magic,’ Asbel shrugged. ‘I don’t even know how it works and it’s my ship.’

He pushed the lever back up.

‘Come on, let’s get off the boat, I don’t wanna keep you here for too long.’

Ethan looked as though he wouldn’t mind living on the boat, but he complied with Asbel’s wishes.

The climb all the way back up to the top was definitely physically demanding, but we made it in the end. Standing on the deck and staring out into the hangar felt alien after being stuck inside the ship for ages.

After we had gotten off the stairs and were back on the walkway, they automatically retracted back into the ship.

‘You’re a genius, you know that?’ I said, facing Asbel.

‘It detects when you’ve left the stairs,’ he explained, again speaking as though this were obvious. ‘Requires no input from anyone. Other than, of course, the button on the ship to extend them.’

Asbel explained a few more things about the ship to us as he guided us to the exit.

‘I’m gonna hang back here for a bit, you two go on ahead,’ he said as we got to the exit. ‘See you soon.’

We bid him farewell and stepped back into the outside world.

‘That was insane,’ Ethan murmured. ‘He’s actually a genius.’

‘I thought it was gonna be something small, like a new weapon or something,’ I replied, slowly unfolding my wings.

‘Did you see those cannons? That thing is a weapon.’

I jumped up into the air.

‘Oh, Gods, you’re gonna fly me back to the Valley, aren’t you?’

‘The best taxi service you could ask for,’ I said, beaming.

I tucked my arms under his once again and soared away toward the Valley. We weren’t even that high off the ground, but Ethan had his eyes tightly shut as though I could drop him at any given moment.

Once we landed in front of The Tower, I remembered something I had told myself shortly before leaving to meet Asbel. I had to get everyone Christmas presents.

‘Hey, Ethan, can you message Natasha quickly? Can you ask her to meet me here?’

‘Yeah, why?’

I remained silent for a moment. ‘Christmas presents.’

He immediately knew.

‘Ohh, I get it,’ he said, smirking. ‘You wanna buy something for Emma. And you want a girl’s help because you don’t know what to get her.’

‘Maybe.’

Ethan messaged Natasha and then went on his merry way, glancing back a few times to throw me a cocky smirk.

I only had to wait a few minutes for Natasha before I saw her walking towards me from down the road.

As she got closer, I realised that I would have to explain my plan to her. My heart dropped.

‘What’d you need me for?’

‘Don’t laugh,’ I growled. ‘No matter what I say, don’t laugh at me.’

‘Cross my heart, hope to die,’ she said, smirking. She already knew.

‘I wanna buy Emma a Christmas present,’ I grumbled. ‘But I don’t know what to get her. And seeing as you are, well, female, I thought you could help.’

She grinned at me. ‘I’d be glad to.’

‘Where do you think we should go first?’

‘General shops have good gifts, but if that fails then we can always go to other ones. Come on, follow me.’

The two of us set off down the street, and it wasn’t long before she started asking questions.

‘So, you’re just getting her a gift, huh?’

‘Oh my Gods, don’t start this,’ I groaned.

‘Think of it as payment. I help you, I get to ask questions.’

‘You’re twisted, you are.’

‘Come on, Albert, I’m Aphrodite’s granddaughter, I think I know a thing or two about this stuff. Ignoring the fact that, you know, I’ve never dated anyone.’

‘That reminds me,’ I said, trying desperately to change the topic. ‘I met your grandmother.’

‘Really?’ Natasha said, sounding so surprised that I wondered whether or not she was faking it. ‘What did she look like?’

‘It’s hard to describe,’ I replied, my brow furrowing. ‘I can both remember perfectly and not remember at all.’

‘Oh, I read about that once,’ Natasha said, sounding excited. ‘Apparently, she appears to you in your personal epitome of physical attraction. And seeing this can make it hard to speak or think clearly.’

That’s definitely how it had felt when I laid my eyes on Aphrodite. The feeling had been indescribable until Natasha had, you know, perfectly described it.

‘Awh, is Albert in love with Aphrodite?’ she taunted.

‘As if.’

‘Oh, that’s right, Emma’s already got your heart all to herself.’

‘Did you know what Asbel was making?’ I asked hastily, changing the subject again.

‘We all did,’ she said calmly, smirking. ‘The only ones that didn’t were…well…you and Ethan. Why? Have you seen it now?’

‘He showed it to us just before I asked Ethan to message you. It’s so damn cool, man. He’s actually a genius.’

‘I knew you’d like it. What’d Ethan say?’

‘Not much. He more so ran around like a little fanboy gawking at everything before Asbel even had a chance to explain anything.’

She scoffed. ‘I shoulda seen that coming.’

The two of us wandered around more shops than I even knew existed, and on our little journey, I picked out presents for everyone else other than Natasha herself. I was gonna get her one later when she wasn’t with me.

‘What’re you trying to do?’ Natasha asked after a while. The two of us had even grabbed lunch from Madam Sweetheart’s café; that’s how long we’d been shopping. And I hated shopping. ‘Sorry if that’s a bit too forward, but I need to grasp what you want to do, maybe it'll help us decide on a gift better.’

‘What do you mean?’ I replied blankly. ‘I’m trying to get her a gift.’

‘That’s not quite what I meant. What I’m trying to say is: are you planning on confessing any time soon? Or even ask her to be your girlfriend? Or do you just want to get a gift and confess in the future?’

I thought for a moment before deciding on my answer.

‘The plan was for me to confess when we got back, but Jay interrupted me. I thought I was just gonna confess, but Ethan thinks I should ask her to date me as well.’

‘So you’re planning on telling her soon, then?’

I nodded.

‘Okay, I have an idea,’ she said, stopping in her tracks.

I stopped, too, and the two of us stared at each other.

‘Hear me out, Albert. What if you didn’t get her a physical gift? What if you went ice skating with her or something, there’s a rink not too far from The Tower that gets taken down just after Christmas? On Christmas Day you could give her a note or the tickets to it or something, and then take her ice skating a few days later. And while you’re there you can tell her how you feel.’

‘This is why I wanted to shop with you and not Ethan,’ I said. I really liked her idea. ‘I think I should go with that. It’s easier, and would give me a perfect situation to confess.’

Natasha smiled. ‘Told you I could help.’

The more I thought about what she had said, the more I liked it.

I could picture it clearly. Ice skating with Emma, holding each other’s hand as we tried not to fall, only to end the day with a perfectly set-up confession. It was ingenious.

‘Thank you so much,’ I said, exasperated. ‘And thanks for sticking around while I bought everyone else’s gifts.’

‘Don’t mention it,’ she replied, patting my shoulder. ‘Go get her, man.’

‘Thanks again, do you mind if I go back to The Tower and write the note now?’

‘No worries,’ she said, grinning. ‘I’ve still gotta do some more shopping, anyway. See you later.’

‘See you.’

The two of us went our separate ways, my heart racing. Natasha was a genius, maybe even more so than Asbel. Not only had she given me the idea for a cute gift, but I could lead it into a confession. It was the best help I could’ve asked for.

I rushed back to The Tower frantically, ideas for the note already running rampant in my head. I would make her mine.

The receptionist on the ground floor of The Tower gave me a bizarre look as I passed, but I didn’t care. I darted for the lift and frantically jammed the button for it to open.

After what had to have been about three years, the lift finally opened and sent me up to the top floor. Why the top floor? That’s where my office was. This was serious business.

Once in my office, I gently placed everyone’s gift bags on the floor next to the door before walking over to my desk. The desk should’ve been being used for important files and papers, and here I was about to use it for an ice skating invitation.

But, no, there was something that came first. I couldn’t invite her to ice skating if we weren’t going. I had to book it.

In the second drawer down on the left side of the desk was my laptop. I hastily grabbed it and placed it on the desk after moving a few documents out of the way.

And, Gods, everything seemed to be taking its time. It felt like it took weeks for the laptop to turn on. When it finally did I felt like cheering.

All it took was a simple search and I found the website. From there, it was all booked within two minutes. I put my laptop back in the drawer.

I found a spare piece of paper and a pair of scissors in another drawer. It was finally time.

The first thing I did after cutting out the paper was design the border of the note. I even used a pink felt tip.

Around the edges of the paper, I drew thin squiggly lines which connected the red hearts in the corners. Then I worried about whether or not hearts were a bit much.

‘Nah, it’ll be-’ I began to murmur to myself, only stopping because someone was knocking on my door. ‘Come in!’

The door opened slowly and revealed Joseph Roberts, one of my Aid members.

‘Good afternoon, sir,’ he said tightly, bowing his head.

‘Afternoon; what brings you here?’

A strange look crossed Joseph’s face, as though he were debating how to say what he needed to say.

‘A message came, whilst you were away, and I’ve been trying to reach you since you got back but you appeared to be a little bit occupied with Miss Acclere.’

‘Apologies for that, we were Christmas shopping.’

‘If you don’t mind me asking, sir, is that love note for her?’

‘It’s not a love note!’ I barked, shoving it under my elbow. ‘And, no, it’s not for Natasha!’

Joseph smirked playfully. ‘Forgive me, I thought hearts usually indicated love.’

Before I could argue, Joseph continued.

‘Anyway, sir, about the message. It was from Apercaput.’

‘Oh, that magic school in Scotland?’

‘Precisely. The ‘message’ was more so an offer. Apparently, there are a handful of students that would not mind, or even wish to, come here to help with the war effort.’

‘No. Send that as the reply. No.’

‘May I ask why?’

‘Multiple reasons,’ I said blankly, pulling the note back out from under my elbow and resuming the border. ‘One: this isn’t a war, and it may very well be over the next time I get my hands on Maltor. Two: those kids don’t know what they’re getting into. And, three: I am not bringing kids into this.’

‘Most of them are older than you, sir.’

‘That’s beside the point. They are still children. I refuse to allow children to fight for my cause. If I did, who knows how many moms and dads would have to grow up without their sons and daughters?’

Joseph stared at me. ‘And if this does escalate?’

‘Then the answer will still be a hard ‘no’. This is where I put my foot down, sir. Nothing anyone says can get me to change my mind. We have a uniformed military ready to fight, I simply won’t allow children to risk and lose their lives for me.’

‘Your mind is made up, then, I presume?’ Joseph said.

‘Yes. And make sure Apercaput knows this. No children will die for me. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have an invitation to write.’

‘And if you’ll excuse me, Joseph, I must speak with the Prime Minister.’

My head shot up. ‘Angela?’

‘Prime Minister,’ she said firmly, bowing her head. Her long black hair shone brilliantly in my office’s lights. Joseph was glaring at her from behind. ‘I have an important message.’

‘What now?’ I droned. ‘Can’t I write this invitation in peace?’

‘Sir, there is an army rapidly approaching from the north. The lookouts say it’s being led by Mr Confussée himself.’

I stared at her, my eyes wide. My mind seemed to have shut off completely.

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘We need to get you to safety, sir. Maltor most likely knows-’

‘No,’ I said quietly. ‘Get me to safety my ass. I’m going out there to fight him, and I suggest you don’t try to stop me.’

‘Sir, we can’t allow-’

‘Did I or did I not just spend six months training for the sole purpose of killing him? I’m getting out there.’

‘I say we let him go,’ Joseph chimed in. ‘He is right. He just got back from harsh training. He can do it.’

Angela glowered at him.

‘Sir, there is an entire army behind him!’

‘And it’ll all crumble if I kill that filthy bastard. I’m gonna give him what’s coming to him. Now let me out.’