Katrina held a fine velvet gown up, looking over the material with a raised eyebrow.

“So?” Illya said, leaning back and sipping on a bowl of wine. “What do you think?”

“It’s… really nice,” Katrina said, laying it on her bed.

“It’s the latest fashion in Torre’, and I wanted to make sure I looked presentable.” The Dae Krya smiled.

“What’s the occasion?” Katrina asked.

“Well, tonight’s ball, of course,” Illya started. “Honestly, Kat, you can’t seem to keep your head from drifting away lately. It’s my brother, isn’t it… I knew it. You shouldn’t take any offense from Boros’ confession. If I reacted in such a way every time a young and handsome noble attempted to court me, I’d be undoubtedly brain-dead.”

Here we go again, Katrina thought. “It isn’t Boros, Illya. Trust me. That was a while ago. Why are you still on that?”

“Because! As soon as my poor brother returned, he told me all about it, and I know that he’s sensitive about such things. The poor boy was so angry at himself. I told him that you would come around eventually. Spirits… you humans are strange, infuriating creatures.”

Katrina sighed, sitting on her bed.

“Did you know that Daniel got a slave from the city?” Illya said, looking at her sidelong.

Katrina perked up. “Daniel did what?” The words didn’t register in her mind properly.

“Oh yes…” Illya continued. “He went to a bar with Oros and came back with her a few nights ago. Even slept with her that night! Can you believe it!? He refuses me, then takes some filthy Doulos trash from the streets. It’s maddening, I tell you.”

Katrina sat up, looking her in the eyes. “Wait… do you mean to tell me that Daniel, our Daniel, got a slave? And slept with her?”

Illya sat up in excitement. “I know, right? It’s so disgusting,” she said, though not with as much anger as she had when she first had said it.

Katrina held her forehead, shocked at the news. “Wow, that’s pretty crazy. I didn’t think he was even capable of something like that.”

“You aren’t repulsed?” Illya asked. “I was mortified when I heard.”

“And who told you this, exactly?” Katrina smiled.

“Oh, just… people. I have many eyes and ears in Vul De Rah.” She began to stir her wine with a finger.

“You are having him watched,” Katrina jibed. “That’s so bad.”

“Perhaps.” The Krya grinned.

Suddenly, there was a knock on her door. Katrina called for them to enter, and one of the guards stationed outside her quarters poked his head in. “My Lady, Kryo Boros, is here. He wishes to escort you to the Ignos Palace. There’s a meeting of some kind.”

“Finally,” Katrina said, standing to grab her cloak. “I’m going to the Keep. I’ve been waiting for days to hear what’s next.” Katrina grabbed her incisor, placing the sheathed blade on her hip.

Illya stood up as well. “Well, I’m going too. I can’t miss an opportunity to hear all the latest gossip straight from the source.”

The two met with Boros, who bowed his head but made very little attempt at conversation. He had been this way ever since he confessed his attraction for Katrina in Torre’. The issue was incredibly frustrating to Katrina. She did like talking with him; she just wasn’t ready to have ‘that’ conversation yet. They made their way across the city, flanked by several guards, and into the Ignos palace above. They found Daniel and Oros, having just returned from Baa’Yega clan territory, sparring in the practice field near the gardens, and Katrina walked right up to the sidelines. Illya came up behind her, panting but still holding her bowl of wine.

“Spirits,” she huffed. “You move so quickly.”

Katrina folded her arms, watching the two men duel. Daniel was fast and aggressive, using impressive speed and control. She remembered her own duel with the man and shook her head. Standing on the other side of the small field, she saw a Doulos girl, holding Daniel’s officer cloak, folded in her arms while she sat. That must be the slave, she thought.

“Daniel has really improved,” Illya said, looking at him, her face gleaming.

“Yeah.” Katrina narrowed her eyes, studying the movements. “He didn’t move like that when we fought.”

“Think you can beat him now?” The Krya smiled.

“Of course she can,” Avria said, walking beside Katrina, who promptly bowed her head and saluted.

“Lady Avria, it is good to see you again,” she said.

“I trust you enjoyed your time away from me,” Avria said, placing her hands on the small stone barricade. “Have you been keeping up with your forms?”

“Yes, my Lady, of course I have.” Katrina had spent much of her time training with Boros, who was a fine warrior but had a completely different style than Avria. She could use some refreshers.

Katrina heard the fight intensifying and turned to see Oros go on the offensive. The Dae Kryo whirled his blade with a speed she had never seen before. The Dae was a blur of bone and crimson. To Daniel’s credit, he blocked a few of them but was soundly hit and tumbled to the sand below, grunting and cursing. Oros stood over him, breathing heavily, and beamed with that infectious grin he always wore. He extended his hand, and Daniel took it, groaning as he stood.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Katrina heard Illya chuckle as the Doulos girl ran to Daniel, giving him a large canteen of water. He took it, thanked her, and began to drink from it.

Illya hissed something under her breath, something Katrina couldn’t quite make out. It was no doubt directed toward the slave.

“We must meet with the Hego,” Avria said, watching Oros intently as he patted Daniel on the back, and they laughed back and forth. “Let’s go.”

~

Daniel found himself once again standing beside Oros at the flank of the Hego. The throne room was in the process of being filled with nobles and military leaders, invited to hear the Hego’s grand plan on how to deal with the Rexunii threat to the south. It wasn’t so long ago that Daniel found himself here, afraid, and fighting for his life against Delmos. He glanced to his right, seeing Oros, a man who had stood to defend him even against his own father, the Hego.

“My Lords and Ladies,” Agron began, standing from his throne to address all present. “It is with great pride that I see you all here, the future of Lokkon, the leaders of our court, and prominent houses all. Your loyalty and your faith in the house of Ignos will be rewarded.”

This brought cheers and applause from the crowd.

“High King Phobos has asked me to lead a coalition of honor-bound clans, to march south and eradicate the treacherous Rexunii. They are a stain on all of Eleutheros! They, who corrupt with disingenuous words, and murder honorable sons of Lokkon.” He turned to face his sons, who still stood on either side of his throne. “Oros,” he said, putting his hands behind his back. “You will lead this force.”

Oros bowed his head, and Daniel knew, having spoken to him at length about the monotonous affairs here at court, this was an answer to the Kryo’s prayers.

“I will not fail you, father. The Rexunii will tremble at the sight of our army,” he said.

Agron turned back to the crowd of nobles. “With the support of the Torre’ financing and unparalleled warriors of Lokkon, this will be a short and swift engagement.”

~

After the grand announcement, a much smaller group of high lords and generals remained for strategy and council. Daniel was dismissed and found himself sitting on a comfortable stone chair, padded with feathers of some kind, sitting outside the throne room.

Beside him stood Rin, who held several things for him. Daniel didn’t like the idea of having her stand or hold anything for him, but she had insisted that it would look strange to the other nobles and might invoke a complicated situation.

“How’s it going, Dan?” Katrina asked, walking up to him. “A little strange that they leave us out now, huh?” She looked at Rin, who bowed her head.

“Spirit-Sent,” she said, “you are a blessing to us all.”

“Uh huh,” Katrina replied, her eyebrow raised. “So, when were you going to tell me you got a… an assistant?”

Daniel shrugged. “I really didn’t have a choice, Kat. It was either that or let her old master pull her fingers off.”

“Holy shit,” Katrina said, “I think Lokkadonia is great and all, but this business with slaves… is just ugly. I don’t like it.”

“Yeah,” he agreed. “We can’t do much about it, though, Kat. We aren’t in a position to help much. Hell, we’ve been here all of five minutes; we can’t expect to change hundreds of years of Lokkadonian culture.”

“Doesn’t mean we have to contribute,” she said, looking at Rin.

“What? Her?” Daniel asked. “I told you already, it wasn’t my choice, and If I treat her differently, the other Lokkadonians will make a big ass stink out of everything. I am treating her well, though.” He looked over at Rin, who seemed to be blushing. “Right? I’m not mistreating you, right?”

She shook her head. “No, my Lord. You’re very generous to me.”

“People have been talking, Dan,” Katrina said, putting her hands on her hips. “There’s a rumor that you took her to your bed a few days ago.”

“Good God,” he said, letting out a heavy breath. “No, I didn’t do anything inappropriate with her. And you can tell these gossipers, or gossiper, to mind her own damn business.”

“Aw, come on, Dan. She’s just a bit jealous, that’s all. Maybe if you paid a bit more attention to her, it would be better,” Katrina teased.

“Why are you so interested in it?” Daniel leaned back in the stone seat. “I don’t see you on the arm of Boros right now. Why are you holding back?”

The amusement left her face, and she stared at him warningly. “You know why.”

“Exactly, you have your reasons. I have mine as well,” Daniel said. “You think I don’t find them attractive? Every single Dae woman here is nearly a solid ten on earth, but seriously, do I look like Captain Kirk?”

Katrina laughed heartily, then sat down next to Daniel. “Oh, Dan, to think it’s taken almost a year to get your dry sense of humor out of hiding.”

Daniel grumbled, yet couldn’t help but let a smile crack his demeanor.

Katrina looked up at the ceiling above them. Vaulted and colored with a strange Dae style of artistic masonry, the melding of different colors of stone swirled together to create images and patterns, and was intriguing. “We’ve come a long way, haven’t we?”

“Yeah,” Daniel said, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “I just hope this rebellion business doesn’t cause too much of a problem. The last thing we need is another upheaval.”

“We won’t be anywhere near this,” she said, still looking up. “Avria said that Oros will take care of this pretty easily. He’s probably the most powerful warrior in Vul De Rah, aside from Agron and Telmos.” She closed her eyes, resting her head against the stone wall. “She told me that Oros will do everything in his power to bring Robert back. I hope he can, having him back here would lift a weight off my shoulders.”

“Guilt?” Daniel asked.

She looked at him, her head canted. “Yeah,” she said. “I want a chance to tell him I’m sorry. For everything that happened. Everything I said to him.”

“Well,” Daniel said, standing and stretching. “I hope it works out. Robert didn’t deserve anything like that.”

“Where are you going? I wanted to ask you what you found on your little excursion into Baa’Yega? You got back last night, right?” Katrina said, standing as well.

Daniel’s face darkened. “It was in response to information Oros got of a human girl in over there.”

Katrina blinked. “Oh… Oh! So what happened?”

“By the time we got there the temple she was being held in by some cultists was destroyed. And she had been rescued, by, get this, three other humans.”

“Holy shit!” she said, her face a mask of disbelief. “There are more of us. Here in Eleutheros. Dan we need to find them, we need to bring them here!”

“I know, Kat.” Daniel huffed in frustration. “And it isn’t just them. One of the cultists rattled off the names of all the humans they’re keeping tabs on. You and me included. They’re watching us.”

“Scary,” Katrin said, shivering.

“But most importantly he gave me one of the names I’ve been waiting to hear since I got here. Angelo.”

“Oh, Dan that’s incredible! Wait, he’s alright… right?” she said.

“Yeah, he’s fine. After all this nonsense with the Rexunii is dealt with, Oros and I are going to go get him back.”

“Dan, that’s… that’s really great news.” Katrina leaned back and smiled. “I might just come with you guys. See more of Pelemont. Might be fun.”

“Yeah, sure,” Daniel said. “You’d be more than welcome to. I just need to figure out what to do now that Oros is going to be gone, kicking the crap out of Rexun.”

Katrina’s smile widened. “Maybe Avria will let you train with us. Might be interesting to see how you fare against her.”

Daniel chuckled. “We’ll see about that. She may decide to slip and chop my head off.”

“She’s really not that bad, Daniel. She may be tough on the outside, but she has a tender side.”

“I’m not really interested in seeing her tender side,” Daniel said.

“Are you sure?” Katrina prodded again. “She is one of the full tens you were talking about, right?”