192 Chapter 192 : The treaty

“They’re here,” William announced to his brothers as he peeked out the window at the carriage from which his sister and the silver haired king were disembarking.

“How does the situation look?” Bahram asked anxiously, he had not gotten any feedback from his wife about how things went in Guria so he wasn’t even sure if Astrid received his letter or not.

William watched Elric reach for his sister and help her out of the carriage before they began walking towards the palace entrance. “They are holding hands, and that bastard has a really annoying smile on his face.”

“What? What could that mean?” Jonathan blurted out fearing the worst.

“Isn’t he supposed to be infuriated if nothing happened between them?” Alexander added on.

William stepped away from the window and started walking towards the exit.

“where you going?” Bahram asked his youngest brother. Sometimes he worried about William, he was too impulsive with the decisions he made and always saw them through no matter how much trouble he would get into during the process. He was like this even when they were children, it was both his strength and his weakness.

“I’m going to talk to Melissa,” William said simply, “we can’t just sit here and keep guessing. Melissa’s words will confirm wether or not Astrid received your letter and also if she forwarded our message to Gareth.”

William was right, I mean it’s not like they were banned from speaking with their sister right?

.....

When William reached the foyer he found the couple being welcomed by their parents, most likely they too were curious about how the honeymoon went.

“Your majesty..” William muttered tauntingly to Elric before taking his sister’s hand and kissing her knuckles, “your highness.”

“Sir William, always a pleasure,” Melissa responded with a bright smile. She always loved being around her brothers, William especially, because they had spent most of their lives together. And to top it all off, he had helped out of tricky situations with Elric multiple times and she was very grateful for it.

Unfortunately those were the traits that made Elric dislike William, he always knew that the knight was against the relationship Elric had with his sister, and many times he had been the one pulling the strings to ruin it, he just didn’t have proof of it yet. Maybe letting them leave the palace was best, he really didn’t like William and the rest of the Morrell brothers poisoning his marriage while they were here, the further they were from his wife the better.

“Formalities aside Melissa I missed you,” William spoke, his tone was genuine and his eyes were true, he really had missed his sister, he didn’t spend as much time with her like they used back in the day. “I came across a rather interesting book while you were gone and I can’t wait to show it to you. Do you a few minutes to spare?”

Melissa was about to respond when Elric grabbed her wrist and gave William a fake apologetic smile, “it’s very sweet of you to want to spend time with your sister but don’t you think she is tired from the journey? Besides, considering how productive our honeymoon was she may need to rest for a while.”

The air in the room instantly thickened at the utterance of those words, William wouldn’t believe it, everything that came out of Elric’s mouth had a hidden agenda and he wouldn’t believe anything happened between them not until he heard it from Melissa’s own mouth.

“Actully your majesty,” Melissa interrupted the silent battle between the two men, “I’m not all that tired. I could spare a few minutes to catch up with my family before they leave.”

Emma, Marceline, John and William all looked at Melissa with questioning eyes. Leave? Leave for where?

Melissa took the king’s hand and looked at him with her big blue doe eyes, “you promised you would allow them to leave didn’t you? Let me spend a bit of time with them before that.”

Elric sighed before nodding his head in agreement, “if that is what will please you my love. But don’t be too long now, you need rest.”

In that very moment, Theo, Elric’s right hand rushed to the silver haired man and whispered something in his ears that made a scowl paint Elric’s face.

“Is everything alright?” Melissa questioned the man who was clearly fuming but was trying his hardest not to show it.

The king forced a smile and planted a kiss on Melissa’s forehead, “everything is just fine my love, just some royal duties I have to attend to quickly. You spend time with your family, I will see you at dinner.”

Melissa watched Elric briskly walk towards the royal meeting hall with Theo on his tail. She wondered what sort of duties had evoked such a reaction from him, she could literally feel the dark aura oozing from him when Theo was speaking to him.

William grabbed his sister’s hand and gave his parents a mini salute, “I believe it’s my turn to catch up with Melissa now, I will have her back momentarily.”

*

Elric pushed the doors of the library so hard they almost fell off their hinges, at the large table in the center of the room sat his royal council and all wore very grim expressions on their faces.

In front of the king’s seat was a rolled up parchment, Elric walked to his chair and immediately he saw the Gavarian seal on the paper his eye twitched in annoyance. This couldn’t have come from James Burchard,he was too timid, this was from his son, that pointy eared bastard Gareth.

Elric pried open the parchment and read through its contents, it read ;

‘King Elric of Meria, I the king of Gavaria and the colony Baiviles, wish to draw a treaty of peace and equality between our two powerful kindoms. I have noted that you rule by tyranny and instilling fear in the hearts of the people and we recommend you end this madness at once so that peace may reign. In addition to this request, I humbly implore you to return the nosfetratu Princess of the snowlands to me, her rightful blood half. You have fourteen days to comply or we march for Meria, I will also inform you that I hold with me the support of not only Gavaria and Baiviles, but cenia, Ervelon and Lenora as well. Decide wisely your majesty.’

Elric had to fight the urge to crumple up the letter he was holding, how dare he. How dare that elf speak to him in such a presumptuous way?! The king handed the parchment over to Theo who read through it before passing it on to the council members who each read through it.

When the last member was done reading it, Theo took it and held on to it.

“Who delivered this?” Elric asked. He had his face cupped in his hand and the room was stuffy from all the dark and negative energy he was releasing.

“A messenger boy from Gavaria your majesty, and not too long ago.”

“And you are sure this is from the elf?” Elric knew it was from him, but he still hoped this was just a facade to throw him off.

“The messenger boy was actually an elf himself,” Theo explained, “he also informed us that the elf Gareth was crowned king of Gavaria not to long ago and has amassed a great deal of allies in Gavaria and Baiviles. He is working with a ruler from Cenia and is being accompanied by the Dwarve king, that is how he is able to command so much military strength.”

The room was filled with silence for a long while until one of the council members spoke up, “your majesty, from the letter it is clear that king Gareth outnumbers us in military strength, if we wish to secure the kingdom it seems we have no choice but to meet his terms.”

Elric shot his eyes at the man speaking making him immediately sink into his seat, the king had a certain aura to him that would make even the devil quiver in fear. “Have you you read what his terms are councilman?”

“I... I did your majesty,” the man stammered.

“What is it he wants? Could you say it out loud?”

“Well your majesty from what I read,” the man responded nervously, why did he feel that this was a trick question. “The new Gavarian king wants to foster equality between the races.”

“And..?”

The councilman looked up at the king who was encouraging him to speak and gulped. “And he did mention something about returning the queen to him?”

Elric sat up straight and scoffed, the small smile that tagged his lips made the poor councilman clasp his legs under the table in fear he would soil himself. The king was actually more terrifying when he smiled like that, he preferred him scowling and angry.

“So let me get this straight,” Elric responded, “and correct me if I’m wrong. You want me to give up your queen, my wife, the future mother to the heir to this throne, away to that eleven bastard?”

historical

The man did not responded, neither did he move or blink. He was so terrified he could barely breath.

“I asked you a question councilman, I expect an answer.”