Chapter 28: Deception.

Dorian walked back into the palace with a smile after watching Kalon leave with Roland; He had managed to do it. He was worried that Kalon would be a little more childish than he was and demanded to see his mother before accepting the job. But it seemed like Octavian's constant torture had made Kalon mature a little more than a regular twelve-year-old.

"That boy makes me proud sometimes," Dorian said under his breath as he thought about how he should reward his heir for making his job easier when it came to dealing with Kalon.

He didn't tell Octavian to target Kalon, and at first, he didn't like the fact that he was finding different ways to torment his younger brother. Still, it seemed like it worked out in Dorian's favour as he manipulated Kalon's naivety.

"Sir, I didn't ask, but for what reason did you allow Kalon back into the palace? The last thing I had heard was that you banished him and his mother to the forest to live in solitude. But yet you still brought him back for some reason." Eli asked as he walked beside Dorian.

Dorian's attitude suddenly changed; it seemed as though he was fed up with playing nice, and his eyes glowed with more intensity as he glared at Eli.

"Eli, You might be like a father to me, but I should warn you that the courts business is left to those who are on the council. I offered you a place on the council many years ago, but you refused and instead became my stable manager. It would be best if you didn't meddle with things like this. It's for your own good." Dorian said with a cold stare as a sinister smile crossed his lips while looking deep into Eli's eyes.

"Yes, of course." Eli felt a cold chill run down his spine, and every fibre of his body was telling him to run away as he replied but as soon as he did, the feeling vanished.

"I'm glad we understand each other," Dorian said before walking, taking another path as they came to a crossroad. He didn't say anything more to Eli and went about his way back to the palace where he had an important meeting to attend.

He walked throughout the palace, gaining greeting from his knights and aristocrats that were there to make sure that the country was being governed and well maintained before stepping outside into the yard and heading towards the tallest building within the palace grounds.

A single tower stood out above everything else and drew the eyes of everyone who looked up from the town and toward the palace that stood upon a huge boulder.

Dorian entered the tower and walked toward a small wooden square at the far side of the room before pulling down upon a rope hanging from the ceiling.

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The sound of metal clashing against each other rang out for a few moments before the ground beneath Dorian began to rise. The floor slowly floated up along with the ceiling above his head until suddenly coming to a stop as a flash of light came into Dorian's sight.

"Thank you, Scorm," Dorain said as he stepped off from the wooden floor onto stone where a large orc was standing with a rope in his hands that was attached to a circle that seemed to spin as he gave it a little tug.

"You're welcome, sir," The orc replied before releasing the rope slowly, which caused the wooden platform Dorian was standing on to descend back down to the bottom of the tower. Dorian looked straight ahead to see a double set of wooden doors in front of him and then stepped towards them before pushing with the palm of his hands.

The doors flew upon the shove that he gave them, and a breeze pushed into the room, causing silence to occur as he entered a room that around twenty people were sitting in at a long table in the centre of the dimly lit room.

The silence lasted a few moments until Dorian stepped foot forward into the room and began to walk towards the back of the room with the sounds of his footsteps echoing around the room.

"Sir,"

"Your Majesty"

The room split in two as both responses called out to greet Dorian while making his way to the head of the table to make sure everyone could see him.

He then took his seat and rested his arms on the table before taking out a clean quill from his jacket and then looked up to the group of men awaiting his acknowledgement.

"At ease, gentlemen. Please be seated." Dorian said before sliding a pot of ink over to his portion of the desk.

"We have a lot to talk about." He added before looking up to see that someone was missing from the group. Until suddenly, the door to the room opened once again, and red glowing eyes peered in from the darkness.

"Your highness, you can't. The council is in there." The orc shouted out as Octavian walked into the room with a smile on his face.

"Ah, there we go. Now everyone is here." Dorian said with a smile as the rest of the council members looked at him with confusion.

Suddenly a flash of purple light shot out from Octavian's body, blinding everyone that looked at him before dying down to reveal a tall skinny figure in a dark hooded cloak.

"How was my performance, your highness?" The man asked as he made his way into the room and sat down in the only empty seat, which was directly next to the emperors.

"You did great, Penrith. You even surprised me at first glance. I didn't expect that one bit." Dorian smiled as he thought back to how Octavian had interrupted his talk with Kalon.

"Thank you. Your majesty." Penrith said before sitting down beside the emperor.

"Not this guy again." One of the council members muttered from under his breath as Penrith sat down, but that was quickly silenced by Dorian speaking up once again.

"I have some good news for those of you who are starting to get sick of this war," Dorian said while holding up a rolled sheet of paper in his hand.

A few of the council members gasped as they looked at the paper. Many assumptions ran rampant through the room before a man whose features resembled a panther's raised his hand before speaking.

"Is that a treaty, sir?" The man asked while looking at the emperor with a dumbfounded look on his face. The room fell silent once again as they thought about what it might have meant for the emperor to have signed a treaty. Eyes of distrust shot around the room as a few members became enraged at the thought of the war coming to an end, and the room erupted into silent chaos.

"A treaty with the humans? Now that's a funny joke. No, this is much better than a treaty. If you recalled, a few days ago, Penrith proposed an idea to me about sending my youngest son Kalon to the human kingdom as a spy to home valuable information.

Well, you will be glad to know that the plan has now gone into action, and Kalon is on his way to the mountain pass right as we speak." Dorian said with his signature sinister smile as the atmosphere in the room evaporated with just his words alone.