Later that night. Jaysa had just put Thelonius down to sleep. The child was so fussy all day. She had fed him and changed his diaper as well. She had to carry the infant around for a while to calm down. She didn't understand the sudden outbursts from the child. He was quite quiet before. So him to act out like that she didn't know if it could've that he somehow knew what was going on. Jaysa made her way over to the bed. She grabbed her nightgown that was professionally folded on the pillow. She changed and climbed into bed. She was exhausted. She glanced over to Danzel that sat on his side of the bed. His mind was somewhere else.
"Danzel." She spoke out, breaking the man out of his thoughts. He turned around to look at Jaysa. "What is on your mind?" Danzel crawled all the way onto the bed and leaned against the pillow.
"We have an issue with a Kingdom to the North."
"Oh…" was all Jaysa said.
"We have heard that the King wanted me off the throne. However, this was just something that Joseph had received from an intel. So, we waited to see if the man would do anything. Nothing happened. I had Joseph keep his ears opened just in case. Since nothing happened. He just assumed it was something misheard. Of course then, my attention was not on him. It was on you and the child. That was until I got a letter from his highness. It was a direct letter for war. The man wants to take over my Kingdom. He said that if I didn't want to start a war with him. Then I would either have to step down from the throne myself. Or become an obedient subject and do whatever the man wishes."
"So pretty much be a servant to the man." Danzel nodded.
"I will not bow down to anyone. Let alone another King. I have my own people, my own family to look after. I don't need this. Especially right now." Danzel yelled. He was starting to get upset just talking about it.
"I really hate to say this." Jaysa spoke as she crawled over to her husband and gently cupped his face in her palms. "I know for a fact that you would never step down from the throne. That is not the type of man that you are. And also, I know that you wouldn't bow down to anyone. Well, except me that is." Danzel growled at his wife. Jaysa just giggled. Her face changed. "If the last option that you have is war. Than that is the only option you can take." Danzel stared at his wife
"Do you really think that that is my only option?" Danzel questioned. Jaysa lowered her hands.
"I don't know politics like you do. I stay out of all that. However, I would say if those are the three choices. It's best to take the latter even if you don't want to."
"So. Would you support your husband if I said that we should go to war and protect this Kingdom?" Jaysa tilted her head to the side.
"Why wouldn't I. You are my husband. Also, I have several friends that live down in the village. So I would want you to protect only your family, but your Kingdom as well. So I would give you all the support you need." Danzel smiled. He loved that about her. No matter what. She would calm him down. Danzel reached out to Jaysa and pulled her into a soft kiss.
"Are you trying to say something?" Jaysa questioned. Danzel grinned.
"Are you saying that I can't?"
"Of course." Jaysa spat. She leaned down on her husbands naked chest. "But you can hold me like this." She placed her hands on his chest. Danzel wrapped his around the smaller body. He really wanted more, but this was nice every now and then.
Danzel sat in the chair that was in the strategy room. He had one of his legs folded over his other. He arms were crossed and he was staring up at the ceiling. Several things were going through his mind. Joseph was standing by the table looking over the map of the Kingdoms that were surrounding their own.
"So." Joseph spoke out breaking the younger man of his thoughts. "Have you decided what you want to do?" Joseph questioned. Three weeks. Danzel had sent out a rider to Kortanel. He was hoping that he could avoid going to war as much as he could. Along with the rider, he sent a letter with the man. He knew that it would take some time before his rider returned. Once the rider did return. It was not the response that he was hoping for. Joseph glanced down at the crumpled paper. He tried his best to fix it as best as he could. Yet the wrinkles were still there. The message that Danzel had received was stronger than what he expected it to be. He knew right then and there that the man was unwilling to back down in the slightest.
A few hours before, Danzel was walking down the hall. He was holding his son in his arms. The child was looking up at his father as Danzel made funny noises at the infant. Jaysa couldn't help but laugh at her husband. With the child, he acted so silly. She found it to be cute. She brought that up to Danzel before, and he got offended by it. So she would just say it in her mind.
"What are you laughing about back there?" Danzel asked. He could hear his wife giggling. He knew what she was thinking without her telling him. The two were suddenly stopped by a man running down the hallway.
"Sire!" The man yelled out. He stopped in front of the couple. He tried to catch his breath before speaking to the man.
"What is it?" Danzel quested the gasping man.
"The rider." The man tried to speak between gasps. "He is back." Jaysa looked over to her husband. That would mean one thing.
"So the man had returned. I hope that it's good news." Jaysa responded with a smile. The guard looked over to the young Queen. His face showed pain as he spoke.
"Far from my Queen." Danzel right then knew what the issue was. He turned around to face Jaysa.
"I need to go see what's going on." He handed over the small baby into Jaysa's arms.
"Take your time." Jaysa responded as she held the baby tightly to her chest. Danzel followed the young guard out of sight.
The two made their way outside of the castle. Danzel looked around for a moment. Another guard come up to him. He held the reins of the horse in one hand and a letter in the other. Danzel looked at the rider and knew right away what had happened. The rider did not come back alive like he had hoped. Instead, there were several arrows impaled in his back.
"Is this the way you found him?" Danzel questioned the men. They nodded in response. "And that," Danzel pointed at the letter in the mans hand. The guard looked down at the paper, almost forgetting that he had it.