Kai had tried to see Adnan several times these couple of days, but according to his servants, he was always out. And, of course, they had no idea where he was, what he was doing, and when he was coming back.

"Tell him to visit me at the palace as soon as he returns. It is urgent," Kai ordered, as he once again left without seeing the only person who could make him feel at least slightly better about everything that was going on.

Savage envoys had left a while ago, taking away his sister. And once again, he just stood by without being able to prevent this disaster. The whole thing was a farce. His uncle went as far as organizing a bridal ceremony with dancers, acrobats, and even a darned fire performance. The whole city was celebrating, even though most people knew that their princess was nothing but a hostage exchanged for a temporary peace treaty.

Kai was sure that many thought that it was a fair deal. And he couldn't help but despise these people. The weirdest thing was that his uncle seemingly shared his sentiment.

The day before Miri left, Kai had accidentally walked in on his sister and Reo having a heated argument about the "marriage". Originally, he was looking for his uncle to ask him in a very roundabout way if he had by any chance sent General Minn away for some reason.

"Miri, you can't go. Do you even realize what they'll do to you?" Reo Atarian looked like he was on the verge of losing his temper.

"Do you take me for a fool?" his sister answered in a very calm voice.

"No, of course, not..." Reo shook his head, and Kai was surprised to see that his eyes were red. Ha, as if that man was capable of crying. "But you don't have to do this."

"I don't?" Miri raised her eyebrows. "Maybe, you're the fool here. If there is a full-on war with the savages, we will lose. Are you aware of that?"

The Regent nodded. "But..."

"Do you want to push our country into an endless bloody war that will destroy us all in the end?"

"Of course not. I will not let it come this far, believe me. I have a plan. Just stay and give me some time. Please, don't sacrifice yourself for this. You're so young – you have your whole life ahead of you. One day you'll marry for love, I promise."

"Promise? Don't make me laugh," Miri smiled, and Kai shuddered. He had never seen such a scary expression on his sister's face. "Do you really think that after everything, I care about marrying for love?"

"What do you want, Miri? I'll do anything..." his uncle pleaded. His voice at that moment was so different from his usual icy tone. Kai started suspecting that maybe Reo actually had feelings towards his sister. The thought was so disgusting he almost had to hurl.

"Anything, huh?" Miri gave him a long look. "Well then, if you can answer just one question correctly for me, I won't go."

His uncle visibly perked up.

"Tell me, uncle Reo," Miri enunciated every word, "do you remember Jer?"

Kai had no idea who she was talking about, but, apparently, neither did the Regent. He kept quiet, his eyes on the floor.

"I'm waiting," Kai's sister said after a long moment of silence.

"I'm sorry," said the Regent finally.

Miri narrowed her eyes. "Sorry for what?" Her voice now was less firm for some reason.

"I don't remember."

Miri let out a quiet laugh. "The answer is wrong. Uncle, you leave me no choice but to leave."

Reo rubbed his temples, and it seemed he was about to say something when Miri interrupted him: "You probably have no idea how much I hate you."

At that moment, Kai decided to intervene. Not on behalf of his uncle, of course. It's just that after he heard these words, he realized that his sister probably hated him too. Sometimes inaction can be worse than action. He knew that now.

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"Uncle," he said as he came out of the shadows.

Reo gave him a defeated look while his sister stayed indifferent.

"How about you reopen the slave trade with the savages?" Kai proposed, as he thought, the only reasonable solution to their problem. "If you hadn't banned it in the first place, we wouldn't be in this position right now."

His uncle's face darkened, and Kai could clearly see how he balled his fists. But Miri was the one who responded.

"Yes, why not continue selling slaves? That's exactly what Reo Atarian would do," she smirked.

"I... I'm sorry, I can't," the Regent said finally.

"You seem to be sorry for an awful lot of things today," Miri now sounded almost cheerful.

"Why can't you?" Kai exploded. "Why are these slaves suddenly so important to you?"

"You won't understand, even if I explained it to you," his uncle furrowed his brows and turned towards Miri again. "You don't have to destroy yourself just to spite me if that's what you're doing."

"Don't flatter yourself," the girl sighed, picked up her long skirts, and left the hall.

This was when Kai realized that there was no way to stop this marriage. Miri had made up her mind. She was obviously running away from Reo – that horrible excuse for a human being. Maybe she hoped that at least in the savage lands, she wouldn't have to see his cold, ruthless face ever again.

Kai was about to ask his uncle about Adnan but when he turned around, the man was already gone.

After the foreign guests and Miri left the capital, Reo shut himself in his bedroom and wouldn't come out even for the morning court. This was highly unusual for him, and a lot of rumors started flying around. Some said that he had finally contracted a venereal disease and was about to die. Some speculated that he had taken fancy to one of the fire girls at the bridal ceremony and was now spending days and nights in her hot embrace.

Kai knew it was all a bunch of crap, but he did nothing to shut down the rumor mill. What did he care about Reo's tattered reputation?

One evening, as Kai came back from his sword training, he found Niki and Hayl waiting for him in front of his room.

"Are you his shadow now?" he asked, annoyed. Since he had appointed Hayl as Niki's servant, those two seemed to have been joined at the hip.

"You have a problem with that... Your Highness?" Hayl gave him a dark look.

"Why are you here anyway?" Kai waved him away. He was tired, frustrated, and in no mood for an argument.

Niki looked up at him with his big unusual eyes. As always, there was unquestionable loyalty and admiration in those eyes. Kai honestly didn't think that he deserved all those feelings from the boy – he didn't do so much for Niki in the first place. But the gratitude he got for this one little gesture of kindness was boundless. And Kai was not somebody who would let a good opportunity pass by. Niki was his golden finger – probably the only reason why he had even survived so far in this palace after his father left.

"I need to tell you something," Niki said in a serious tone, looking nervous. The boy was always awkward with his words and intonations, so Kai wasn't bothered. "It's about... let's say, General Minn."

After hearing those words, Kai leaped towards Niki and grabbed him by the shoulder. "What do you know about him? Where is he?"

"I'm not sure about his whereabouts," Niki responded thoughtfully, throwing a quick glance at Hayl. "I just have a message from him that he wanted me to deliver to the Regent. But I thought...you should be the one to decide what to do with this information."

"What's the message?" Kai was so excited, he didn't notice he was almost pressing poor Niki into the wall. He only realized what he was doing when Hayl suddenly pushed him away.

"You're hurting him, Your Highness."

Kai had a lot of words to say to that. Mainly, that Niki couldn't feel pain anyway, and, despite his looks, he was certainly not made of porcelain and didn't need a bodyguard. But at this point, he just wanted to talk about Adnan. Besides, Niki's condition was none of Hayl's business.

"He said: tunnel, Kear's manor, and everyone in the noble court," Niki continued as if nothing had happened.

"What does that mean?" Kai frowned.

Niki threw his hands up. "He said that the Regent would understand. It really doesn't tell you anything?"

Kai shook his head and suddenly narrowed his eyes. "Out of all people, why would he give a message to you?"

Niki blinked a couple of times. "I was trying out a spell, and I accidentally bumped into his spiritual body."

Kai knew that Niki would often experiment with the savage magic, so this was not particularly unusual. But for some reason, he felt uncomfortable that Niki was now spiritually exchanging messages with Adnan all of a sudden while Kai was left on the sidelines. One day he'd have to ask Niki to teach him that spell...

"When did you bump into him?" Kai asked, trying not to betray his complicated emotions.

Niki was quiet for a while, then he said: "A week ago."

"A whole week! And you are only telling me now? What the hell is wrong with you?" Kai exploded.

"Don't you dare shout at him," Hayl stepped in front of Niki like some kind of loyal dog. This behavior was getting really old really fast.

"Don't you dare tell me how I should talk!" Kai glared at the former general.

"I wasn't sure if it was important," said Niki. "There were other things on your mind at the time."

Kai wasn't listening to him anymore – he was pondering on Adnan's message. He couldn't understand why Adnan would try to communicate with his uncle, considering that they were not on the best of terms. And that was putting it mildly. Why wouldn't he rather send a message to Kai?

In any case, one part of Adnan's words was more or less clear – there was something important at General Kear's manor. So this was where he was going to go. Right now.

"Will you tell the Regent?" Kai heard Niki's voice behind his back.

"What do you think?" he shook his head. His uncle could burn in hell for all he cared.