“Do you know how to play?” asked the King.
“Yes,” I responded truthfully.
“Then let’s begin.”
Theophrastus moved the King’s Pawn forward in a conventional opening, and I immediately responded by moving my Queen’s Pawn forward in a Scandinavian defense. Theophrastus moved his King’s Knight, setting up a Tennison gambit.
After a few moves, I realized that Theophrastus intended to incite me to attack aggressively and use that opening to take my Queen. If I was a beginner, he would have beaten me long before Lord Orion arrived with the staff. As it was, I took us to a Tennison variation that would give me an advantage.
By the time the opening phase of the game was complete, I held an advantage in board position and a piece advantage of a single pawn. The King’s instincts were sharp, and he abandoned his gambit before it put him at too much of a disadvantage.
“Who taught you how to play?” King Theophrastus asked with a smile. “It certainly wasn’t your father. I had him in checkmate by the tenth turn.”
“Books,” I responded tersely but honestly. I was trying to visualize the next few moves, which made it hard to focus on the conversation. The King was a much better player than I expected. My initial plan to hold back and aim for a draw would have to be abandoned since I had to try my hardest just to keep myself out of check.
“Is that right? I apologize for mentioning your father. I can tell that he is a sore subject for you.”
I looked up from the board in confusion. The King must have interpreted my short response as anger at the mention of my father. I took a deep breath, and it was only on the exhale that I felt a knot of anger in my chest. Theophrastus speaking about Armond did anger me, but I wasn’t even completely aware of it.
“Did you know my father well?” I asked as King Theophrastus moved his bishop.
“Quite well. When we met for the first time during the Rose Rebellion, I realized we were kindred spirits. He was always much more at home on campaign giving speeches, training soldiers, or engaging hundreds of men in combat single-handedly.” The King sighed. “He was always meant to be a soldier, but he was forced to be a count after his brother died in that accident. I’m not going to defend what your father did to your family, and you are well within your right to hate him, but I ask that you try to understand his perspective. He loved your mother, and he has been grieving in the only way he knew how.”
“By incinerating thousands of orcs?”
“Precisely. Fire burns in the core of the children of Imogene Drac. I mean this in a very literal way.” The King’s eyes glinted slightly, indicating to me that he had just activated a sight-based Skill. “When I look at your mana, I can see an arcane rune of fire carved into your upper core. It is the same with your father or your eldest sister. You are spiritually tied to flame. It is only natural for a Feldrast to seek the cleansing power of fire in times of emotional turmoil.”
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What the Hell was he talking about? Did he mean to say that I had a biological propensity to light a bonfire when my feelings were hurt? What a load of crap! The [Hellfire] Talent only changed the user’s body and mana output; it didn’t change the user’s brain. Armond decided to abandon my family because he wanted to, and [Hellfire] had nothing to do with it.
I was able to keep the burst of anger from appearing on my face. With a perfectly calm tone, I said, “Thank you for your advice.”
With a slight smirk and a raised eyebrow, King Theophrastus said, “Is it getting hot in here?”
I breathed out, and the air from my lungs came out in the form of visible steam. Though I couldn’t feel it, my body temperature must have increased substantially. My body had become so hot that it increased the ambient temperature of the whole room. That was one indicator of anger that, no matter how hard I tried, I could never fully control.
After several deep breaths, the steam puffing out of my mouth like a tea kettle subsided and I said, “I’m sorry.”
The King laughed. “Don’t be. When Count Armond was here, military briefings were always a few degrees hotter. That has to be my favorite characteristic of the northern lords. I always know when they’re angry.”
Just as I turned my attention back to the game, a middle-aged man with golden-gray hair entered the King’s office. The man held a long oak staff in two hands. There was a sense of reverence in the way he held it. At the end of the staff, a polished red orb had been embedded into the wood.
The man, Lord Orion Arcturus, stepped over to the King’s side. As he walked, his eyes lingered on the deer mask clipped to my belt. Quietly, Orion Arcturus said, “My liege, I have brought the Staff of Imogene Drac.”
“Excellent. Now, please, hand it to our guest, Lord Thale Feldrast.”
“But sir…” Orion Arcturus began to protest. He knew the power of that staff, and he did not want an enemy of the Lich Cult to command such power.
The King held up a hand to stop Orion in his tracks, “I have already made up my mind. The Feldrasts have shown themselves to be allies to House Polaris.”
With a sigh, Orion held the staff out to me hesitantly. I reached a hand out, and grasped the staff firmly. Immediately, I felt the mana flowing through the staff and felt it resonate with my own. My own mana flowed into the staff, and some of the mana within the staff flowed back into my cores.
A pathway formed between myself and the staff without my input. Something within the staff initiated the process. The arcane pathways changed within the staff to be more like my own. Within seconds, the staff became like an extension of my hand.
The connection ended after a few seconds, and I looked up from the staff. I didn’t know when it happened, but Theophrastus and Orion had moved to the far corner of the room. Either they moved when I wasn’t looking, or Theophrastus used [Time Stop] to move Orion. Some of the papers on the King’s desk had caught fire, and the two men in the corner were visibly sweating.
Even to me, the staff felt slightly warm to the touch, indicating that the heat originated from it. I dropped the staff to the ground, and the heat began to dissipate quickly.
“I didn’t think it would be instantaneous.” King Theophrastus chuckled.
“What was that?” I asked.
“That was a soul bond,” Orion said, clearly not happy about the events unfolding in front of him.