After sitting all alone in the throne hall for more than an hour, Mintaka went back to his bedchamber. Even though he was fretting inside about the way Eltanin humiliated him in the court, he knew it was the right time to back down.
When he reached his bedchamber, he was expecting to see his wife, sleeping or sobbing or angry, instead he saw her pacing the room. He took his cape out and ignored her. This wasn't the time for argument. So he went to bed and lie down on his back with his hand on his eyes in order to get some sleep.
Alina watched him as he went to bed with disgust. She came storming to him and said, "Don't you have a kernel of respect for your own respect? You allowed that wretched man to insult you in your own court, in front of your own courtiers!"
Without removing his arm, Mintaka gritted his teeth. "Shut up, Alina. I don't have time for all this nonsense. Tabit has gone with gifts to Lerna and the matter will end."
There was a long pause in which Mintaka became suspicious. He removed his arm from his eyes and narrowed them to look at Alina. She was biting her bottom lip. "What have you done?" he growled.
She looked away from him and took a few steps back. "I did what was right as a king and queen of a kingdom."
Mintaka's face became ashen white. He rose from the bed and swung his legs down. "What have you done, woman!" he snarled. "Speak it clearly!"
Alina took a deep breath in and said, "I didn't let Tabit go to Lerna. Instead--" she hesitated. "Instead, I sent Draka's tattered flag to King Eltanin."
Mintaka lunged at her. "Alinaaa!" He struck her hard on her face. She shrieked and fell on the floor, slipping some ten feet away. Mintaka stormed to her and grabbed her by the throat. "On whose permission you did that!" he shook her wildly.
She coughed and wheezed as she gasped wildly for air. "I--" She caught his wrist. "I-- I did it for the kingdom!"
Mintaka struck her again. She screamed in pain as she fell down on the floor with his face planted down. Her lip split and it started bleeding. She started wailing.
"You didn't do it for the kingdom, you fucking bitch! You did it for yourself! You have put me in this mess because of your foolish and inflated ego!"
Alina grabbed his collar. "It was for you also. You have been insulted!"
He backhanded her and she slammed across a table, her forehead splitting. She screamed in pain.
"Who are you to decide that, you dimwit? Because of you Orion is under a threat so dangerous that--"
A heavy knock on the door sounded.
While the Draka army was preparing for the war, Fafnir dressed as a common man. He applied mint oil on his body to hide his smell and then ate a lot of garlic.
Taking advantage of the mess, he slipped through the gates of the palace. He knocked a soldier and dragged him to a corner. In the next five minutes, he took his clothes out and changed into them, dumping his naked body.
As he walked inside, cautiously, he padded his way to Tabit's chamber, according to Rigel's information. There were way too many guards and soldiers, stomping in and out of the palace. He kept to the corridors, but walked with confidence in front of every soldier. He overheard a soldier saying, "The Draka King has declared a war on us!"
He reached the wings where the princess was. And for some reason, he realized that there were more soldiers than required to protect her. He reached one of them and said, "His Highness has called you all for the war. You better go to the grounds. Now!"
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m