Aine thought the memories of her mother that haunt her room at Vulstis Keep would force her into a constant state of consciousness, but all of the events of the day from The Dowager Queen and Preacher Elisedd trusting her word to King Min shedding his hard exterior for a mere moment to allow her to peer in and confirm the existence of his humanity, she is lulled easily into a deep sleep.
Her dreams are filled with her father's hearty laughter as he is the light to the former King of Vulstis's darkness. King Min Dowon is just as cold as his son, but Aine understands why now. He must have appreciated her father's kindness and awful jokes during his time as advisor. Aine glances to her father's left, and chuckling along with a bright, elegant smile that could illuminate any room, is Lady Epponina Sampson. Her mother. The epitome of beauty and grace, with her auburn hair plaited around her head, giving the illusion of a halo. Her emerald green eyes are striking, anyone they land upon is frozen in place. On King Min Dowon's other side, is the then Queen Min Chinsun, fussing with young Prince Min Yoongi, who seems to be sulking. Aine is almost stunned at the amount of emotion shown on the young Prince's face, and the lack of a scar.
"Aine, dear, come forth." her mother's voice rings out like a siren.
Aine, trapped in her seven-year-old body, happily obliges, giggling and skipping up to her mother and father. Her mother scoops her up into her lap.
"Now, have you been nice to Prince Yoongi recently?" Lady Epponina pries, raising an eyebrow as if she knows something.
"Only if he's nice to me!" Aine says snootily, crossing her arms.
"As if! She always steals my arrows so I can't shoot my bow!" Prince Yoongi snaps back, pointing an accusing finger.
"Now, now, what's this? I thought you two were friends!" Queen Chinsun states, looking between the two who are currently sending glares at one another.
"He's so annoying!"
"She's so annoying!"
The two yell at the same time.
Aine sticks her tongue out at the Prince as he turns his back on her, pretending she doesn't exist.
The adults burst out in a chorus of laughter.
And that's when Aine awakes in her chambers to the sound of maids knocking on her door.
"M'lady? We are here to dress you."
That wasn't just a dream. That was a memory. Ciar and Rian weren't my only childhood friends. King Min and I used to be childhood friends, too, ripped apart by those around us. Does he resent that one of his friends has tried to kill him multiple times? I wouldn't blame him for that, he's already cold enough because of his role...
"Mother, what have they done to us?" Aine whispers sorrowfully into the folds of her bedsheets before pushing them away along with the thoughts and allows the maids to enter.
The cut and fit of today's dress is the same as the day prior. The difference is the colour. Today the dress is as black as the constant storm cloud that rumbles above Vulstis Keep. As black as the coal dust that coats its halls. Instead of an object- an emerald- this dress symbolises Vulstis and the fleeting acceptance she felt from its most powerful people yesterday. The updo is slightly more elaborate, adorned with golden pins that are reminiscent of King Min's pointed crown. However, they serve as a reminder more than anything. They may look like a crown, but they still are just pins. If she dares to betray Vulstis at this point, their trust will be broken and those pins will be removed as quickly as they were put in. Despite this, if Aine could add some armour and a bit more coverage for the cleavage, she is on-board with this look.
As she strides through the corridors towards The Council Room, heels clicking against the stone floor, those she passes glance at her as if she is a dangerous shadow. Scary, yet respected.
She is the last to enter the room. All the usual suspects are there, with the exception of Braelyn Highmarch. Aine suspects Lord Highmarch has somehow weaselled her into being the cup-bearer for this meeting. She also notices that Braelyn's outfit is identical to Aine's, aside from the fact that it is in gold. Aine pays no mind, taking a seat between Min Chinsun and Sir Davys.
"Now that we're all here, and with clarity from King Jimin, I would finally like to finish addressing my list of concerns." King Min begins.
There are murmurs of agreement.
"The lack of guards on shift when Caylus Sampson gained access to Coimeach Pass. I originally wanted to blame it solely on Caylus, and therefore Aine, because I believed he got in by asking old friends for favours, but King Jimin's warning proves that what Aine says is true. I apologise for not wholly believing in you, Sir Conall." King Min continues slowly, looking to his Head of the Royal Guard.
Sir Conall bows his head. "Thank you, Your Grace, but you were only being careful. Forgive me for asking, but if the rat is not Aine, who is it?"
King Min's face darkens, and he stares at Aine, as if urging her to speak for him. Does he feel too guilty to say this? Too vulnerable?
"Advisor Hwang. He likely sent notices to your generals in the King's name to tell them to stand down." Aine says.
Sir Conall visibly considers this before nodding.
"Then, tell us, Temptress, why did you shoot an arrow at our King?" Lord Highmarch spits.
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It takes all of Aine's might not to roll her eyes at the new nickname. Her nonchalance is probably making the old man go insane.
"I thought King Min genuinely believed I was the Goddess Aine, so I sent a warning shot- I am not his puppet that will fall to his every beck and call just to be able to go back to my father. After all, the actual Goddess Aine did maim King Ailill Olom to get her way, I thought I could play into that." Aine explains honestly, "Besides, if I actually wanted to kill him, that arrow would have hit the target."
"I concur with that." Sir Davys says, "I've trained every archer in the Vulstis Guard, and none of them can hit the target as accurately as Aine does."
"Such nonsense, Sir Davys! This Temptress spends one night with the King and she has him wrapped around her finger, passing the blame onto Advisor Hwang!" Lord Highmarch hisses, Braelyn politely covering her mouth. Aine knows she's trying not to snicker.
Aine looks to King Min who is just as readable as the stone wall behind him. Typical.
Standing and slamming her hands on the table, she commands unwavering attention.
"Listen here, Berach Highmarch, I know your game. You've been after what the Sampsons have since the beginning of time, so now you're slandering me and my father at every opportunity to try and get us out of the picture. Well, let me tell you something. That may have worked with Ciar and now with Braelyn, but I'm not someone that's so easily brainwashed and manipulated. If your grudge is of greater importance than the future of Nocriam and Vulstis, then continue to pursue it and be a hindrance to the rest of the people in this room. I hope you enjoy sitting upon a Kingdom of rubble and ashes." Aine spells out in a low, calculated voice.
Braelyn looks like a deer in headlights, clutching helplessly onto the tankard of wine she is serving from and Lord Highmarch resembles prey being cornered by its predator, cowering slightly in his chair. Aine slowly sits back down in her seat, and scans the faces of the others. They all express some kind of smirk that validates her outburst. The foxes shall feast.
Well, except King Min, but that is to be expected. He just stares at her, endless pools of black meeting fierce fields of green. That is, until he speaks.
"Aine is correct. Hwang is the one who gave me the Goddess idea. He also always gave me the most aggressive and grotesque advice, at times it felt almost outlandish. He knows us Protectors of the Past aren't allowed to feel, so it was like he was coercing me into turning insane. But because I always thought his advice was too much, I always turned it down, making me feel like the sane one, but, subconsciously, his anger and resentment reflected in my actions and I redirected it at exactly the people he wanted me to, like a fool."
Aine's jaw nearly hits the flaw at his admission- isn't that too emotionally vulnerable for him? Seemingly, she's not the only one moved by this as Min Chinsun shifts from the chair beside her to embrace her son. Which is soon followed by a slap upside the head.
"Idiot boy! Why do you think your father employed someone as loyal and kind-hearted as Caylus Sampson as his advisor? And someone as out-spoken and honest as me to be his wife? Caylus and I best represented the emotions your father had but was not allowed to express himself! If you allow someone evil like that to represent you, they manipulate you and you gradually become as insane as them!" Min Chinsun screeches at her son, flapping around him as if she could physically waft Hwang's evil aura away. Aine wants to laugh, The Dowager Queen's actions reminding her of the memories she revisited last night.
"Nevertheless, where did Hwang even come from? He certainly didn't seem like a Vulstis native." Sir Davys inquires, trying to distract the King from his mother's embarrassing antics.
"The Isle of the Ordained." King Min states.
"The Isle of the Ordained?!" Aine repeats, aghast, "The only people allowed there are Preachers-in-training. They're only allowed back to the mainland once they've completed their training and pled themselves to the Gods. Hwang didn't seem like a Holy guy. Otherwise, that's Belltorian land. It couldn't be better protected."
"Good thing old Highmarch here got us some Belltorian connections through marriage, then." Sir Conall teases, roughly elbowing Lord Highmarch in the arm.
Aine raises her eyebrows, excited at the prospect of being able to uncover who Hwang is whilst being able to check in on Ciar.
"Good thinking, Sir Conall. I will send word to King Jungkook to set up a meeting with Ciar and her husband. I hear from Lord Highmarch that he has high military standing in Belltoria, even though I never signed off on the marriage." King Min comments.
Aine and Sir Conall exchange looks.
"Something still bothers me." Sir Davys speaks up, "If this person does indeed intend to inflict damage on Patrinis, why go for Vulstis and Nocriam? If you wanted to take Patrinis down, surely it makes sense to go for the Protectors of the Present: Nalentus and Belltoria? Verectias is too unpredictable, King Jimin would probably see it coming from one of his mysterious outside contacts."
"Maybe it's a personal grudge? At The Parish of Patrinis, I was the first and only person Hwang talked to. He didn't seem interested in anyone else even though Grand Duke Kim Taehyung was sitting right next to me." Aine recalls, that creepy smile of his etched into her brain.
They all take this in.
"But if it's you he's after, why infiltrate Vulstis first?" Sir Conall asks.
Min Chinsun, King Min and Aine know why. To steal Preacher Nocriam's necklace, but only select people are allowed to know about The Den of Vulstis Past beneath The Royal Chapel and the treasures it protects.
"The Fabled Five." Aine says quickly.
"What? The children's tale?" Sir Conall asks skeptically.
"Yes. It may be a tale but it was written by Mr Verectias so it has some truths about our history. Mr Verectias wrote about Preacher Nocriam praying on the land where the Hall of Witnesses is built now. Those prayers make up the Holy Scriptures...um..."
Aine paces for a moment, wracking her brain for the correct scriptures.
"Part One of the Scriptures says: 'Blessed be these lands we now call Patrinis, where we seek refuge from the past, present and future, fear will always persist, so remember one and all must embrace it to overcome it, do not allow the ego to consume everyman, woman and child.' Nocriam, as the Holy State, serves as a reminder to never forget this fear and Mr Verectias's telling of The Fabled Five confirms this. Both Vulstis and Nocriam remind Patrinis of its past and why we must remember the past, because it makes us resilient. He was trying to pit the two greatest memoirs of our past against one another. By going after the past, King Jimin wouldn't see it coming, because his responsibility is the future." Aine deciphers, the reality becoming more and more morbid as she goes on. That stupid children's book she resents ended up being exponentially useful.
"Oh, Gods." Sir Davys exclaims, wide-eyed in realisation.
"But why?" Min Chinsun questions.
"Since Aine mentioned The Fabled Five, Hwang could be the 'fear' the founders were originally running from, coming back to get us." Sir Conall concludes.
"T-this is ridiculous!" Lord Highmarch finally contributes, but everyone ignores him.
"No time for 'why's. What's his next move?" King Min puts to everyone, attempting to reel them back in from their frantic theorising.
Aine stops in her tracks, eyes widening, slowly turning to look at King Min with a hopeless expression.
"My father." she whispers, and everyone else seems to stiffen.
As the foxes were feeding on their own, the snow leopard has been prowling, ready to strike. The Knights of Subsequence are coming for Caylus Sampson's head.
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