Kilian pointed to the signature of the Count at the bottom of the paper.
The other signatures on the paper belonged to Cratos Valen and the king and there was no mistaking the seal of the kingdom, which had a luminescent glow to it.
The seal itself was created by magic. It could not be forged, or mistaken for anything else than the will of the king.
The Knight commander clicked his tongue and smirked at them, pretending he had not seen the paper that edicted the divorce between The Countess Ameria Valen and Roman Heathgrave.
It would mean Kilian's mother would go back to the family to which she had been born, which was Valen, and she would become the young lady of the Archduke's house, and no longer a Countess.
Since there was no queen or princess, she would then become the highest-ranking female in the noble circles.
'They are not going to let her leave.'
Kilian could tell by the malicious look in the Commander's eyes, that they had no intention of bringing the Countess to them.
'Are they stupid, or do they not know that we can legally invade the property to look for her ourselves?'
They had The Cratos Valen, the Archduke of the country with them.
Had the fame the man once had not reached the corners of the kingdom?
'They are a bunch of inbred idiots.'
Kilian shook his head, watching the grey eyes of the man on the other side of the fence, staring him down with a creepy smile.
It gave Kilian chills, but he shook it off.
"Tell Roman Heathgrave to come out here, he can not defy the will of the king."
This time Cratos had spoken. The knights around them nervously shifted on their feet, and some tightened their grips on their sheaths.
Several men moved from the mansion and up towards the fence, and two forces were now staring each other down, only separated by the tall metal fencing.
Kilian sighed.
A brown-haired man walked out of the Heathgrave building, him his two sons followed.
Flames were starting to circulate in the hands of the man, and the Heathgrave knights split to create room for the man to walk up to the fence.
"The Countess is dead, there is no one for you to claim, she sadly perished back when that welp was born."
Kilian's father gestured directly at Kilian, and several angry outbursts were heard from the Valen knights.
Kilian smiled innocently and spoke calmly.
"I had a very nice conversation with my mother, just a few months ago."
He pointed to the medallion he was wearing with the griffin insignia.
"Lies."
The Count cut him off, and ignored Kilian, addressing the Archduke instead.
"By law, she is a part of the Heathgrave family when we married."
The Count had a sleazy smile and continued.
"She was buried in the Heathgrave mausoleum, and she will remain there."
Kilian felt his insides tighten, even if the Count was spewing lies, the probability of them trying to make it a reality to support their claims was high.
In fact, at this moment, they could be trying to lay her in that very mausoleum. Or maybe they already had.
Kilian felt sick, sick of these people who would do anything for their own gain, and he could no longer contain the anger within.
He felt it was as if his grandfather was just waiting for him, for him to start.
Kilian stared at his father behind the fence. A stinging pain crept behind his eyes, and he took a few moments to concentrate on the tingling source of power that his body started to take in from his surroundings.
"Move."
The word was low, and a surprising look brought the Count's attention back to Kilian.
"Wha.."
In that instant, the metal gate was bent and pushed off its hinges, slamming directly into the Count and several of the knights in its way. Throwing them all to the ground.
The metal fence had moved.
Everything was then chaos.
Metal hit metal and something strong pulled Kilian aside, right as a sword swung through the air, where his neck had just been.
He may have a useful power, but in this chaos, he couldn't concentrate. He could barely tell who was friend or foe.
Strong arms held him close to a muscular body, and Dante was quick to bring Kilian out of the center of the fighting.
"Did you get hurt?"
Hands moved over Kilian's body, making sure the Young Duke was all in one piece, and after a bit, Dante sighed in relief.
"We need to find her."
Kilian almost yelled over the noise from the conflict around them.
Fire was seen in the distance, and the Valen knights were blocking incoming fireballs, cast by the Count.
However a cold wind had wrapped around everyone present, and the cold air stung as Kilian breathed in.
His grandfather would not get defeated by mere embers, and Kilian turned to Dante.
"Let's go!."
Dante followed Kilian who ran straight towards the mansion, Dante following close by.
They had to find her. If his mother was already dead, then the Valen family would have to take the consequences of the fight.
However, if she was still alive, then they would be able to get past this incident.
Kilian ran up the stairs to the entrance, the doors already open, and ran inside.
A servant saw him and tried to grab Kilian on the way in, but Kilian had drawn his thin sword, stabbing the man as soon as he was close enough, then hit the legs with the cane, continuing forward before the man had even hit the floor.
The many weeks of training had helped, but his legs were already complaining of the sudden use, and he was heaving for his breath.
He had to act fast before his body gave in.
He remembered the exit to the back garden, when he had first visited his mother, and ran straight for the round building in the distance, by the forest
Two men were dragging a woman out of the house, and Kilian cursed to himself, he was too slow to reach them.
"Arrg!."
His legs gave in and he fell to the ground rolling over the grass from the momentum, knocking the air out of his lungs.
Feet ran past him, and he saw how Dante left him there, drew his sword, and stabbed one of the men in the back.
The sword pierced straight through the person like butter, and Dante flipped his grip on the handle and sliced sideways through the body to release the blade.
It all happened in just a few moments, and Kilian gasped for air while trying to get on his feet.
There was a noise behind him, but he didn't look. He just had to get to his mother. If he just got to her, it would all be ok.
Dante was now fighting the other man, and the woman had run to the door of the house, hiding behind it.
"You are here for your disgusting mother, huh!"
Something hard hit his abdomen as Kilian was trying to get on his feet, leaving him to retch at the ground.
A foot went for his stomach again and he hunched to try and protect his body.
"She will be dead soon enough, and you can follow her."
A hand grabbed his hair pulling his body up, the pain making Kilian scream in anger.
He looked into a pair of dark blue eyes, and Lucien stared at Kilian with a condescending look, that bordered on crazy.
Water flowed on the surface of Lucien's second palm, and he pushed the palm to Kilian's face.
"How sweet, you came to greet your dear brother like this, what a treat."
The grin on the man's face was wide.
"I have long wanted to do this, though this time I sadly do not have any wine on me."
Kilian couldn't breathe, and the desperate tries to get air, only brought water down his throat.
He panicked and coughed, but the tight hold over his mouth and nose was not budging.
All he could see were those repulsive dark blue eyes. The eyes that had tormented him for years.
The memories of the young Kilian were now his own, and the resentment he had for this family would not go away easily.
"The Archduke might win, but we only meant to stall, while killing that thing over there, after that even the mighty Cratos Valen won't be able to creep out of his hole in the North."
The voice whispered in Kilian's ear, making sure the message was delivered, but Kilian never looked away from the condescending eyes.
He felt it.
Within.
The command was simple, he just had to will it. His mind was still in a panic, as his whole body was needing air.
But it still happened.
Kilian creased his eyebrows and smiled under the hand.
The dark blue eyes that were staring him down turned grey and faded, and the hands covering Kilian let go immediately.
"What... What did you do!"
Arms were flailing out at Kilian, and the water magic Lucien had, was thrown in random directions.
Kilian coughed, his body shaking, but quickly rolled out of the way from one of the frantic attacks.
He grabbed his cane and the thin sword, holding the rounded handle, feeling the amber in his palm as he arose, staring down at the sorry excuse of a brother, who could no longer see.
"You are the broken one now." He spat out.
He raised his short sword when thin arms wrapped around his body, and waves of golden hair covered his vision.
"Kilian, I am ok."
The voice was coarse but calm, and Kilian embraced his mother.
Dante checked Kilian's body as he had earlier, making sure there were no wounds.
He then picked up the Countess in a carry, and all three of them ignored the crying Lucien who was crawling on the ground.
No one dared to stop them on their way back.
The clashing of swords was still strong in the distance, but when Kilian exited the doorway to the mansion, every knight, one by one stopped their fighting to turn and look at the Young Duke and his personal knight.
In the arms of the red-haired knight, laid the Countess, alive and unmistakenly a Valen.
Even if the years had not been kind to her, she still held her youthful beauty with her golden hair and eyes like both Kilian and her father.
The Valen knights bowed in respect for their Lady.
Sounds of metal swords hitting the ground were all Kilian could hear, as they walked towards the Valen knights and his grandfather.
The Heathgrave knights had laid down their weapons.
Surrendering.
They no longer had any reason to delay the intruders. They now knew they were the ones who would be punished when the king heard of what had happened.