Countless guests occupying the great hall of throne room had their eyes fixed on the bride in blue robe. Men had chalice of wine in their heads whereas the women wearing backless gown gossiped about how the way bride's hair was braided. The braiding would have ruined beauty of the most elegant girls but Rikilda looked unaltered. Those women who had arrived there just for the sake of getting admired or to light jealousy amongst other women had to wait for another wedding. Nobody could upset the bride on her day.

The women had to imagine what the men in there would have said about their dress since every man in there was in verge of getting drunk. Thinking about women was what men did during first few sips. After getting past it, there were only men and their wine.

King Lacroix was there already. Nortze feared he would pass out on the table when lunch was ready. A king not remembering his own son's wedding would have been shameful so Jehaule occasionally whispered in his ears, requesting him not to keep drinking. But the king had left the phase where there were thoughts in his head. His lips never left chalices. Nortze kept him distracted for a while. Then only Jehaule got to watch the wedding ceremony happen.

Rikilda knelt on a mat infront of Prince Tudor whilst three priests revolved them. One priest had a bowl of fire, another had water whereas the last one had a slaughtered goat head.

Jehaule remembered the tale of a goat which ate fire and ran for ocean for killing his pain. It met the fish which became the goat's wife. The ocean was not full of food so the goat brought her things to eat from land.

One day the fire appeared inside goat's stomach again and the goat went back to his wife. But this time he had gone there without food. The fish refused to give him a drop of water because he hadn’t brought her anything to eat. Angry, the goat exhaled fire and dried the ocean.

Priest took out a moving fish from the bowl and threw it in fire.

"May the evil die here." Another priest raised the goat head. The priest emptied the bowl of water on fire, extinguishing it.

Even drunk men cheered. Later they coughed due to smoke.

In the lore, the evaporated ocean had refused to rain on earth after seeing the menace. Volcanoes had got scared so they had exploded to block clouds from leaving Ouskerus. They blocked clouds but the people in Ouskerus had started to suffocate. They coughed till they died.

Jehaule coughed till one servant opened a window.

When the last life in the land had perished, clouds thought they should return back to their land. They melted themselves and came down as rain. The fourth priest sprinkled water at bride and groom. Droplets of water landed on their faces. They made sure none of those drops touched other individuals than those who were getting married.

Jehaule got bored of the ceremony as he could not remember the legend behind the ritual which proceeded afterwards. It was not interesting unless it was happening to him. Watching kin's belly swell was more interesting than the ritual which would last for another hour. The music in the hall frustrated him instead of relaxing. Jehaule pushed away the piper then told the drummer to tone down his enthusiasm.

King hammered empty bottle on the table. Servants with wine recognized his music despite of drums, flutes and violins being played. They came to him with refills. One servant tried to fill Bloudkast's mug but he denied it in a polite way. Bloudkast patted king for approval of leave and the drunken king granted his wish by a hiccup.

Stolen novel; please report.

There was no conversation left to have with King Lacroix but plenty with his personal squire. Nortze was surprised how Saer looked. Saer could get in mix of nobles if he did not have a tray in his hand.

Saer stopped walking and leaned on a pillar by his shoulder when he saw Nortze coming at his direction.

"You are roaming too much here." Nortze said, "You may not be aware but you are under Jehaule's watch."

"I am fine with it as long as he is not suspicious about the girl with prince."

"Nobody is. They look good together." Nortze lifted a chalice from the tray.

"Good would be an understatement."

"Prince Tudor would have been a perfect husband for my daughter if this curse didn’t exist."

"Your son would have thought the same."

"He wouldn’t have cared."

Braden walked Trov through the crowd. The dog wagged its tail to every woman who stroked it. Saer's eyes matched with Braden when Saer decided which woman he was finding most attractive. Braden pulled the dog, leaving many women who had been waiting to touch the golden dog for once. He dashed past them with never ending look of hatred.

"Can't believe a thief from Pryeg replaced my son." Nortze breathed out, "Braden is everything I wanted Gervase to be like."

"Why did Gervase leave?"

"Because of me." Nortze was sobbing, "Unlike me, he believed those threats were real."

"Didn’t he know he would be safer inside your house?"

"A decade ago, he preferred listening to cut-throats who had come knocking our door."

"What did they say?" Saer asked.

"They said this house won't guard us for long when Wutke comes."

"It is a speculation made by us cut-throats after hearing about Wutke's powers."

"I shouldn’t have killed cut-throats." Nortze said, "They were attempting to open a stubborn man's eyes."

"Their death has done so. They will be pleased in heaven –"

"Do you realize I would have killed you too if you were in the inn that day?"

"Even then my last words would have been well wishes for your family."

"My son will spit on my face if he knows what I did."

"He will be glad you changed your belief."

"I hope." Nortze put the mug back on Saer's tray.

"Won't he come back if you apologize to him?"

"He never demanded my apology." Nortze unfolded a piece of paper, "Gervase tells me to come and stay with me."

Saer read the letter which did not have address.

"He must know he is unsafe." Saer handed over the paper to Nortze.

"Yes he should."

"Has he always been staying in Deragra Forest?" Saer narrowed his eyes.

"Gervase in Deragra?"

"My eye tells me so."

"Then the days of him being a free bird is over." Nortze stuffed the letter in his pocket, "Bring him here. I will not let him die."

"You are the one who can teleport anywhere. Why don’t you do it yourself?"

Nortze's face grew more serious. Saer saw the hard side of a father's love, he reckoned until he realized Nortze was looking through him. Saer turned his head back and saw real Rikilda near the door with some guards.

"STOP THIS WEDDING." She raged.