Fea watched with a mixture of curiosity and amusement. This human, this Champion, this Felix, was certainly interesting. His opinion of her beauty wasn’t entirely unexpected, many had said similar upon first seeing her.

The form she took, and indeed the form any dragon took, was an extension of themselves. It was true that they could change or adapt that form, but there were certain features that almost always carried through. In this case, it was her unquestionable beauty.

At least that’s how I like to think of it, she mused to herself, the barest hint of a smile showing. However, it quickly dissipated, she couldn’t afford self-indulgence. There were more pressing matters at hand…

“Tell me…Felix, why have you surrendered? You do know what your fate will be, no?” she asked, sounding almost disinterested. That couldn’t be further from the truth, though.

The human, for his part, did not flinch. In fact, he was still regarding her beauty.

“Answer her questions!” Nevrim shouted, startling Felix back to the present.

“Apologies… What was the question, Your Highness?”

Now her guards looked ready to pounce on him. I better say something, no need for violence…yet.

“I asked why you surrendered.”

“Ah. That’s a rather complicated answer–” The human was thrown to the floor by one of the guards.

“ANSWER THE–”

Fea raised her hand, commanding all to obey her. “Stop, let him speak. That is why we are here, after all.”

“Thank you… Your Highness.” Felix said, grunting as he picked himself up off the floor. He took a moment to recompose himself before he continued.

“You see, Your Highness, your question requires me to tell a lengthy story. May I tell it? I think it will answer several questions.”

Fea leaned sideways in her throne as she considered his words. Honestly, I wasn’t planning on this taking too long… However, before she could speak, she caught Nevrim’s expression. He gave a slight nod.

“Very well, I shall listen to your tale. But there better be a point to all this. I must decide if I should hand you over to the elves or handle this matter myself.”

There were several disapproving shouts from the gathered crowd, all from elves. I can hardly blame them, but he did surrender to one of my people.

Of course, she was sympathetic to the elven cause. But, they didn’t just want his head, they wanted to be the ones to separate it. And that is what complicated things here.

What a damn mess… she let the thought go as the crowd grew more rowdy. “I will have order in my court!” she shouted, using a tinge of mana to subdue the crowd.

It worked well enough as the dissenters immediately quieted down. She turned her attention back to Felix and gestured to him. “Please, begin.”

“As you wish, Your Highness,” Felix said with a proper bow. And, once he had straightened himself, he began…

***

Fea listened quietly to the human’s tale, to his plight. She remained silent throughout, not once interrupting. It wasn’t needed, plenty others had tried to do so on their own. But she was ready for that and used her magic to quickly silence any who dared to speak up.

And, while outwardly she kept her disinterested look, internally it was a different story. Gods, what a horrible tale… She did not fully trust the human to tell the truth, but she could easily read his mana.

Besides, there is another way to know if he is being truthful… And so, as Felix finished his heart wrenching story, Fea looked to Nevrim.

“Confirm it for me.”

Nevrim bowed, “As you wish, Your Highness.” He quickly turned to Felix and planted a hand on Felix’s head.

The human blinked in surprise. “What–”

“Silence! I am confirming your story. Now, hold still. This will hurt.”

Felix gulped but gave him a nod. Meanwhile, Fea leaned forward. She could no longer pretend to be indifferent.

Nevrim began.

At first, nothing seemed to happen, but Fea knew better. She just needed to wait a little bit longer…

The screaming started, as Felix suddenly began writhing in pain. The guards assigned to him immediately grabbed hold of him and held him still.

The entire process lasted only a few seconds, but it was enough. Nevrim lowered his hand as the human’s pained screams began to subside.

“What did you find?” she asked, as Nevrim faced her once more.

“He is telling the truth, Your Highness.”

Fea went still and her expression became serious. The crowd watched in silence, though that was mainly from her doing…

I think I see why Nevrim wanted me to grant him an audience. Honestly, we could make use of this. She wasn’t stupid. Felix could prove to be rather useful still. The question is, how?

After several long moments, she relaxed into her throne. All eyes were on her.

“Everyone except the human, Nevrim and…” Her eyes scanned the crowd until it settled onto one particular individual. “…Aluin, leave.”

There were the sounds of protest but at this point, she was past caring. Raising a single hand, the room fell silent. “You will obey, all of you.”

There were no further complaints. And, as the crowd began to leave, she turned to her guards. “That includes you all.”

“Your Highness–” One started to protest, his face filled with concern.

“Nevrim will be here. Besides, do you think so lowly of me, that I cannot defend myself?”

The guard’s expression turned to panic. “N-no, Your Highness!”

She nodded to him. “Then, please leave us.”

“A-as you wish, Your Highness!” The guard turned to his companions and began issuing orders. A few moments later, they too exited the room.

Silence once again fell. That is, until the elven sage approached.

“Your Highness,” Aluin said, addressing her with a proper bow.

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“Aluin, you are to remain here as a witness for your people,” Fea responded.

“As you wish.” The elf’s tone was neutral, but Fea could tell he wanted to do more than just observe. She knew he wouldn’t do anything foolish, however, boundaries had to be established.

She took a deep breath as she returned her gaze back to Felix. “Now, what to do with you…” She let her sentence trail off, curious how the human would react.

To his credit, Felix had recovered from his previous experience and now was stoically awaiting judgment.

In one swift motion, Fea stood up and began to approach him. “You say you seek atonement, is that correct?”

The human nodded, “Yes, Your Highness.”

“And what makes you think you can atone for your–” She stopped mid sentence to think of the appropriate word. “–Sins?”

“I don’t, I can only try– Even if I can only atone by execution.”

She came to a stop right in front of Felix and properly studied him. Handsome… A pity really. If things were different, I might have considered making him a concubine.

“And what if that isn’t enough?”

That question made him react. He gave her a confused look. “Do you mean to torture me?”

“As I said earlier, I haven’t decided what to do with you,” she said with a slight smile. “The easiest option for me would be to hand you off to Aluin there,” she gestured to the elven Sage. “I’m sure he and his kin know exactly what to do with you.”

For his part, Aluin remained silent and Fea continued. “But! Nevrim seems convinced that we can make use of you.” She moved to stand in front of the person in question. “Tell me, what is your idea? I know you have already come up with something.”

“Your Highness, I believe we can use him against his own people. You heard his story, he was controlled. They all are controlled. A spell wraps and weaves through their mind.”

“A curse,” Felix spat. His interjection caused both to look at him. “I don’t know how, but the High Prophet can place a curse, a miasma of fog that subtly alters your mind. He used my emotions against me, strung me along with a promise, and numbed me to death.”

“Yes, you mentioned that,” Fea said before addressing Nevrim again. “But how can that help us? We break the spell they’re under and then…?”

“And then, Your Highness, we use them against the High Prophet.”

She considered his words. “A rebellion?”

“Indeed, and one that is led by their Champion.”

Not a terrible plan…on paper. However, there are a lot of assumptions and not to mention, can we trust him in the long run? “Can you break the spell?” she asked Felix.

He nodded. “I know how it works now.”

“But that doesn’t mean you can break it,” she pointed out.

Felix gave her a smile. “Your Highness, I can demonstrate it.”

Hearing those words, Fea couldn’t help but be curious. “Nevrim, go and fetch a prisoner. Meanwhile, we shall move to somewhere less ostentatious.”

“Yes, Your Highness…”

----------------------------------------

Felix found himself walking down yet another large hallway. This one, though, wasn’t nearly as long and had an intersection that he passed.

In front of him was Fea, she seemed to not be concerned with having someone like him right behind her. And, maybe, the reason was that the great elven Sage was behind him.

He knew of the Sage, in fact they had fought each other before. The elf was a formidable opponent, and now he was at Felix's back…

Curiously, Aluin had not uttered a single word. He merely fell in line as they began their trek to…somewhere.

Felix held back a sigh, he was nervous but not in the way one would expect. He already knew his life hung in the balance, that wasn’t what made him worried. It was his proclamation. That, and he was surprised to find out that the dragons had prisoners, human prisoners.

It shouldn’t be that surprising, I guess. I just didn’t notice any others while Nevrim and Ithea had me down in that prison. During his stay with the two dragons, he had not seen a single soul outside of those two.

And, as for his proclamation? He was confident he could do it, however he had yet to actually try it out…

Lost in thought, he nearly ran into Fea as she came to a sudden stop. Though, as he looked up, it was obvious why. They had reached another set of double doors.

Fea opened them without saying a word and the three of them entered. Felix quickly found himself in a rather small study. There was enough room for a desk, table, a few chairs, and a small bookshelf. Just the three of them had already made the space cramped.

The juxtaposition between its size and the rest of the Citadel, almost felt comical. However, he did not laugh. Still, his surprised expression was enough for Fea to notice as she faced him.

“My personal study,” she said as if it was supposed to explain everything.

However, it only piqued his curiosity. “I mean no offense, but why is it so…quaint?”

She raised an eyebrow. “Because, otherwise I would have an army of people here. As I said, it's my personal study. I come here when I wish to be left alone.”

Makes sense… “I see, smart.”

“I know,” she said, her expression becoming less serious. “I’ve been queen long enough to have figured all this out.”

Fea made her way over to her table and sat down in one of the chairs, gesturing to one of the others. “Might as well sit.”

“Oh. Thank you, Your Highness.” He had not expected that but quickly took a seat opposite of her. Aluin, for his part, took a chair in between them.

“Tea?”

Her words once more surprised him. “Yes please– Your Highness.”

“Aluin?”

The elf gave a slight nod. “Tea would be wonderful.”

Fea produced a bell from seemingly nowhere and gave it a gentle ring. A sudden knock at the door startled Felix.

“Come in,” she called out.

The door opened and a servant entered, giving her a bow. “Yes, Your Highness?”

“Tea, for the three of us.”

“As you wish…” The servant disappeared as quickly as he had come.

An awkward silence took hold of their group that became increasingly uncomfortable. Felax scrambled to think of something, anything to say. Thankfully, Fea finally spoke up.

“Tell me something. What exactly happened to the elven capital?”

“Ah…” He had, admittedly, omitted some details, mainly because even he didn’t fully understand what happened. But that might just come back to bite me… He gave the Sage a quick glance. Aluin was watching him, but his expression was unreadable.

“Unfortunately…it was destroyed–”

“We are aware of that but what happened?” She stressed the last part.

He gulped. “I destroyed it, along with my army.”

“You still haven’t answered– Wait, you destroyed an entire city and its occupying army?”

He gave her a slow nod. “I… I am not sure what happened. The only thing I remember was wanting to find atonement and…”

“And?” Fea pushed.

“And peace,” he muttered.

Memories of everything he had done began flooding his mind, his breathing began to pick up as his heart started to race. His palms became sweaty and his vision narrowed–

For a brief moment, Felix felt an invisible hand upon his shoulder. It was enough to bring him back to the present.

Floriana… The feeling was gone but so were the memories.

Despite him regaining his composure, the change of his demeanor was noticed.

“Are you…haunted by your past?” Fea’s question was careful and, curiously, sincere.

“I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “Ever since I broke free of the High Prophet’s curse, I’ve had a few instances of…that.”

The elven Sage chose that moment to finally speak. “I’ve seen similar episodes before.”

“As have I,” Fea agreed with a hint of pity in her voice.

Felix felt awkward at the current topic and quickly tried to end it. “All the more reason why I must strive for atonement.”

“Perhaps, but–”

Another knock at the door cut her off.

“Come in!”

The door opened, revealing Nevrim with a bound human and a tray. He stepped into the room, the door closing behind him, and dropped the prisoner onto the ground. With that done, he approached and set the tray down onto the table.

“Your tea and prisoner, Your Highness,” he said with a grin and a bow…