Lady Ri's eyes flinched when Kin called her the Light of Dura. The last she remembered, she had never been given such a moniker—or any title for that matter.
"It seems it's just a different shell. He's just as annoying as ever, even when he was fat," Ri muttered.
"I'd suggest we get straight to business since, as we all know, time is everything but on our side. However, I would like us to postpone all meetings and arrangements until tomorrow," Ri said.
"Agreed," Kin replied, "But there is one thing I must insist on addressing right now."
"Oh, I think that defeats the purpose of waiting till tomorrow," Ri replied, raising an eyebrow. "Once we start, I doubt we'll stop until—"
"I promise you it won't take long—just a simple question," Kin interrupted.
"Okay, go on," Ri said.
"Did you attack the outlying villages in Dura at any time or for any reason?" Kin asked.
Ri was genuinely surprised by his question. She was well aware of the rumors her uncle had spread about her and her men, but there was little she could do to quell them. She had tried to help defend the villagers, but her uncle had led them into traps more than once. They had barely escaped, and it was all thanks to her blessing. Ri knew the prince wasn't entirely naive and wouldn't deny the truth when it stared him in the face. She responded in one breath:
"No. Neither I nor my men have ever indulged in such activities," Ri said.
"Good," Kin replied, turning away. "Let's go to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a long day," he said, leaving the room.
Lady Ri stared at the boy as he walked out. She, alongside everyone else, was surprised. They were beginning to see Kin grow into the kind of king his father was—and perhaps even more.
Jim, Ri's cousin, showed them out of the room after their meeting. Now that they had finally reached their target, it was time for them to rest. Since they were new to this place, Jim led them to another door, which opened to a room where they could rest. Judging by the setup, Kin was sure they were no longer in Ri's dimensional space, but he didn't bother to ask about it. He wasn't particularly interested in how her blessing worked.
Kin simply asked Lieutenant Sanjay to place Su Yin on one of the available beds while the others took the rest. Kin wanted to discuss what Ashell thought he should do concerning Su Yin, as her presence with them seemed to place her in more danger than he was comfortable with. However, the moment his head touched the bed, he fell asleep from sheer exhaustion.
***
Later that night, in a room in Fadis...
Two men and a woman sat tensely in a dimly lit room. Fear and worry etched their faces, with one of them even showing outright dread.
The silence was broken when one of the men finally spoke.
"I've brought us here to discuss our surrender and how we'll handle it," he said.
"Sultan Burak is still trying to fight, despite it being a losing battle. But I won't risk my life or the lives of my people for such folly any longer."
"You're right," Sultan Lee said, nodding in agreement.
"Although I hate to admit it, fighting Jai now seems like a lost cause" Sultan Lee added, earning a scoff from Sultan Nadia.
Both men turned to her, their expressions full of displeasure.
"Lord Burak sent you with the army to Sworis and Amresh. How did you return without even taking one of the cities?" Sultan Lee asked angrily. "You ran back here with nothing to show for it! You are part of the reason we are in this situation. Now, our army has been halved, Bintan has fallen, and Jai camps just outside Hadia."
"You cowards have no idea what's coming for you," Sultan Nadia snapped. "Nothing will go as you have planned. Even if you put Burak's head on a pike, wave it from the city walls, and open the gates, Jai won't spare us."
"That is why I called us here," Sultan Hafe said calmly.
The other two turned to him, their brows furrowed in confusion.
"What do you mean, 'That's why you called us here?'" Sultan Lee asked.
"I've been negotiating with King Jai..."
"What?!" Sultan Lee shouted, his anger boiling over. "You mean to say you've been in bed with the enemy this whole time?"
"I did no such thing," Sultan Hafe retorted. "I've been loyal to Lord Burak. But I was approached by a man a week before we marched to Amresh. He claimed to have been sent by Jai."
"Of course he was," Sultan Nadia scoffed.
"Will you two just listen?" Hafe snapped, silencing the room.
"Now, like I said, he approached me a week before we left for Amresh. He told me we were fighting a losing battle and had underestimated our enemy. He claimed that Jai would defeat us without question, even without Omi's backing, and that we would only incur losses. I thought he was exaggerating Jai's abilities—until he said he could prove it."
Hafe paused, then continued.
"He told me the battle of Amresh would last just one day and that our forces wouldn't hold out. At first, I thought it was a joke... until it happened. But that wasn't all. He said Bintan would fall next, then Fadis, and then Lyokis. Afterward, Jai would turn to Cosant, but only after finally destroying Hadia. He claimed all of this could be avoided if we swore loyalty to Jai and joined him."
"You expect us to trust the word of a traitor?" Nadia interjected.
Hafe ignored her and pressed on.
"He told me Jai wasn't an ordinary man anymore—that he now carried a demon within him."
"A demon?" Lee asked, his tone skeptical. "You mean he's cursed?"
"No," Hafe replied. "I mean he's literally possessed by a demon. Although, I thought he was lying, but, whatever power it is that Jai is using, it's working. He now has the upper hand in the war, and the longer we delay, the less leverage we'll have—and the more likely we are to lose our heads."
"And what assurance do we have that he will accept us if we surrender?" Nadia asked.
"He said we have his word—but only if we betray and abandon Lord Burak. All we have to do is refuse Burak's call in this dire moment. That will be proof of our loyalty," Hafe explained.
"That's why you stopped us on our way to Hadia," Lee said.
"Exactly," Hafe confirmed. "King Jai already has everything he needs to solidify his rule. He has already won. Very soon, he will have Sum and the prince as well."
"Sum and the prince? What do you mean?" Nadia asked sharply.
Hafe opened his mouth to respond, but before he could, a voice cut through the tension.
"That's enough, Lord Hafe," Larry Dew said as he stepped into the room.