Chapter 39: Irrevocably Mine
The Imperial Hunting Pavilion was set up in a sunlit meadow. Huge crimson and gold tents rippled gently in the crisp morning breeze. Dozens of high ranking nobles stood around in small groups, sipping imported wine and laughing.
Julian sat at the head of a long table covered with platters of every royal delicacy. But instead of enjoying food, he kept glancing towards the forest.
"Your Highness," an old baron said. "Should we not send a rider to check on Duke Aldric? It has been a whole night, and neither Duke Aldric nor the Duchess have returned from the woods."
Julian took a sip of his wine, his eyes gleaming with victory.
"Don’t worry," Julian replied calmly. "Duke Aldric is strong enough to handle everything. I’m sure we’ll hear about him soon."
Baron nodded and left. Sylas was standing at the corner of the royal pavilion away from the laughing nobles.
Have they survived?
A second later, the temperature in the sunlit pavilion dropped to freezing. Julian paused mid-sentence, his wine turning into ice. Then the glass in his hands shattered, its shards scattering across his plate.
Everyone stopped talking. Even the horses at the began to whinny nervously. From the corner, two figures finally emerged in front of them.
Eveyr and Esme did not look like nobles. They looked like ghosts who had just crawled out of a grave. They were both covered in dirt, sweat, and blood.
"Guards!" Julian shouted, jumping to his feet. "Stop him!"
Imperial Guards immediately drew their swords, rushing forward to form a protective circle around Julian. Eveyr lifted his chin and leveled a lethal glare at the guards.
Several guards collapsed to one knee before they could even reach him. Others couldn’t force themselves to take another step as Eveyr’s aura almost paralyzed them.
Eveyr and Esme walked straight past the paralyzed guards, towards Julian.
Julian stumbled backward, tripping over his own chair in fear. Eveyr reached into his coat and pulled out two large and heavy objects wrapped in a bloodstained cloak. He looked at them briefly, then put them on Julian’s plate.
The fabric flew away, revealing the objects. The women standing nearby began to scream hysterically. The two objects were nothing but
the severed heads of the two assassins Esme had killed near the cave.
Esme leaned over the table and picked up a shard of Julian’s shattered wine glass, examining it carefully.
"We killed a lot of beasts in the woods, Your Highness," Esme said. "Now, we’re here to collect the bounty."
Julian tried to smile, though a bead of sweat slid down his temple.
"Duke Aldric...your emotions are running high after such an unfortunate incident. Let us discuss this calmly."
"Calmly?" he repeated as he took a step forward.
Julian nodded.
"I’m sure there has been some terrible misunderstanding. We are all allies here."
Eveyr smiled bitterly,
"Your only misunderstanding was believing you could harm my wife."
Julian froze.
"You separated us. Then you sent assassins after her. And you still have the audacity to say it’s a misunderstanding??"
Julian instinctively took a step backward.
"Duke Aldric, I assure you..."
"No," Eveyr cut him off. "Now you will assure me why I shouldn’t decorate this table with one more head."
Julian kept moving backward, trying to put distance between himself and the monster couple, desperately thinking of a political way out of this situation.
"I know...what happened is terrible," Julian stammered. "But Duke Aldric, you are mistaken. These men must be rogue elements from the border. This forest has some bandits who steal imperial armour to frame the crown."
Eveyr took a step forward and raised his right hand. Instantly, a noose of black magic wrapped around Julian’s throat. Julian choked, his eyes bulging as the shadows lifted him off the ground.
Julian kicked frantically in the air as his hands flew to his neck, trying to remove the noose. But there was nothing to grab.
Everyone watched him in horror. No one dared to draw a weapon or even scream this time. Eveyr was just a second away from snapping Julian’s neck when Esme stepped in.
She put her hand on his forearm to calm him. She knew murdering Julian in front of so many witnesses will get both killed without any trial or so. She didn’t survive so much just to be killed by the Emperor.
"Don’t, Eveyr," she said softly.
"He tried to kill both of us," he said quietly.
"I know," Esme said. "But if you kill him here, you think we’ll survive?"
Eveyr looked at her pleading eyes and lowered his hand a little. He loosened the magical grip just enough for Julian to take a breath. He kept him hanging in the air, but for now, he had allowed him to live.
"The Duke has suffered extreme distress due to your... lack of forest security, Your Highness," Esme said, turning to the other nobles. "It will take some time to calm his nerves and prevent him from investigating these rogue elements further."
Julian stared down at her burning with humiliation.
"I believe the deed to the Southern Iron Mines will serve as a perfect apology for this morning’s inconvenience," Esme said as she demanded the kingdom’s most valuable and heavily guarded military asset.
Then she turned to Julian and smiled.
"Nod if you agree, Your Highness."
Julian who was terrified and humiliated, didn’t waste a second. He nodded instantly. Eveyr dropped his hand and the noose vanished. Julian collapsed on the ground and coughed badly, and wheezing as he rubbed his bruised throat.
Eveyr didn’t look at Julian again. He turned to Esme and pulled her closer to him.
"Let’s go home, Esme," he said.
Esme nodded and they both walked away towards their carriage. As the carriage finally rolled forward, the tense atmosphere finally broke.
Eveyr’s triumphant and intimidating smirk instantly vanished. He knelt beside her and took her hands in his.
"You killed people for me," Eveyr whispered. "You saved my life."
He lifted her hands and pressed her blood stained palms on his cheeks.
"You are completely, irrevocably mine now," Eveyr said, his eyes burning with absolute devotion. "Now...even the gods can’t take you away from me, Esme. Never."
