Back in the throne room some of the Nobles lingered around. Some hoped to speak to the King while others wanted to leave.

"My King," a familiar voice spoke.

"Nathaniel?..." King Cyndre called out.

"It seems things didn't go as well as we hoped... I tried to convince Johnathan that Princess Rya would make a good Queen, but he wished to see her with his own eyes before making a judgment call," Earl Valerian explained.

Baron Johnathan came over as well when he overheard Nathaniel, "It's not that I doubt your judgment, Earl Valerian, but the girl's an elf. And her kind has never been the kindest to our race. I mean, look at our Queen... She looks under the weather, does she not?..."

Rianna was about to interject when her stomach started to turn. Miss Gretchen saw her ladyship was in need of assistance as she and two other maids hurried over with a bucket.

Queen Rianna held on just long enough for her to throw up in the bucket. Johnathan looked worried while Nathaniel just glared at his friend while Cyndre tried to comfort his wife.

It took Rianna 30 seconds before she cleared out her system and she felt great after that.

"Thank you, Gretchen... And you two as well, ladies," Rianna thanked.

"It's nothing, my lady," Gretchen replied with a smile.

"You're welcome, your highness," the two other maids said together.

Rianna recomposed herself and was about wave Gretchen and the maids off when her stomach groaned with hunger.

'Blasted body!... The last three days have been puke my guts out and stuff them up again!... Why can't my body just be normal?..." Rianna complained internally.

She was unaware that her body was pregnant with twins and she was having a little bout with morning sickness.

Rianna sighed heavily before turning to her husband and asked, "What's for dinner, honey?"

King Cyndre was at a loss for words.

"How about a nice bowl of beef stew?... It always calmed my stomach whenever I was under the weather," King Cyndre suggested.

Rianna usually thought beef was fine and it wasn't anything that special to her, but last week, the Queen had the chef's make a beef dish and it tasted heavenly to her. And when Cyndre mentioned the word "beef," her body reacted by making her stomach groan louder while her mouth started to water. It was like she was drooling at the thought of the meat.

"Yes!..." Rianna blurted out while letting her Royal etiquette go out the window.

Everyone was surprised to see the Queen let her royal demeanor disappear so quickly. It took her a moment to realize what she just did. She blushed a deep red in embarrassment and rubbed her stomach.

"I mean... Yes, darling. Beef stew would be lovely..." Rianna rephrased with her usual Royal tone.

Cyndre chuckled at his wife's antics.

"Alright, my dear. I will have the chef prepare your stew right away," Cyndre stated happily.

"Thank you, my dear," Rianna smiled warmly.

Gretchen and the two other maids bowed, "We'll advise the chef of the Queen's order right away."

"Very good," Cyndre acknowledged.

And the three maids hurried out of the Throne Room to find the royal chef.

Cyndre then turned back to Johnathan and Nathaniel who witnessed Rianna actually smiling at Cyndre again. They thought he was permanently in the dog house.

"Is something the matter?" Cyndre asked his two friends.

Johnathan was the first to regain his composure and he said, "No, your majesty. Everything is fine. I must have mistook, Queen Rianna's behavior as a curse, but she's as radiant as ever. Isn't that right, Nathaniel?"

Nathaniel was still in shock by the Queen's change in attitude, but Johnathan's question shook him out of his stupor.

"Y-Yes!... You have a glow about you, your Majesty... Did something happen to you lately?" Nathaniel asked.

Rianna recalled Rya expelling some poison from her body and Cyndre seemed to be enjoying her naked body more than usual. She thought she was still mad at him but her body had urges that he needed to take care of. Rianna didn't know why but she couldn't deny her husband's sexual desires or her for that matter. It was like her body had turned back the clock when the poison was expelled and her libido had returned. She was disappointed in herself for forgiving Cyndre so easily, but she couldn't deny his advances any longer.

Rianna was going to lie but stomach growled again and she was starving. She blushed at the embarrassing sound her stomach made, but everyone was chuckling at the Queen's adorable blunder.

Rianna's blush deepened and she mumbled, "I'm hungry."

Cyndre laughed and said, "Then please don't let us hold you back from enjoying a meal, my dear."

Rianna blushed at the endearing term.

'Did I forgive him already?... Why does he have this hold on me?' Rianna questioned herself.

She wanted to stay mad at him, but he was making it difficult. She was feeling weak, and she hated being this vulnerable. But every time Cryndre help her made her heart flutter. She was in love with him and that love was clouding her judgment.

Rianna stood up and walked over to him. She placed a kiss on his lips and she left the Throne Room.

Cyndre, Johnathan, and Nathaniel watched the Queen's hips sway seductively as she left the room.

'I think I need to massage my wife letter tonight,' Cyndre thought to himself.

The other two noblemen were having similar thoughts.

'Maybe Elizabeth needs to be cursed as well?... No! No... The just madness,' Johnathan thought.

'Haah... How is Rianna aging so well? She looks ten years younger all of a sudden... Cursed my ass, Johnathan... It must be nice being the King...' Nathaniel thought.

Everyone in the room could tell Rianna was happier, and everyone was wondering what happened, especially Alaric.

'Hm?... That's not good... If Rianna has forgiven my brother then that means he has one less worry to deal with... I might need to start a rebellion... Especially if Duval has outserved his usefulness... Wait... I need to let Leandra work her magic... Even if she fails to get the ladies of the court to ostracize the Dark Elf, we have the AphroAroma Wick. That's our last shot to make my nephew cheat on a different woman, whether he wants to or not... Let's hope that he fucks the brains out of one of those Wood Elf whores,' Alaric thought as he noticed Cyndre glaring at him.

The Duke didn't respond and started leaving the throne room with William and Alistair.

"Well that took long enough," Alistair grumbled under his breath.

William smirked at the Baron, "I didn't know the Great Baron Alistair Dravenhart couldn't handle standing in the corner watching Duval struggling to convince the King of a treaty."

Alistair Dravenhart was a big man with a full black beard that was showing gray around his chin. He wasn't annoyed about how the meeting turned out, he was happy with the outcome. But his main contention was that he was pulled away from his favorite hobby, hunting. And one of his scouts mentioned that he saw the elusive Griffin that has been seen near his lands recently. This Griffin attacked him nearly 15 years ago and no one believes him due to griffins natural habitat was on the southern tip of the continent. Where active volcanoes were more common as it helped the griffins soar higher and faster in the air.

"There you go again. I swear that I will hunt down that damn griffin myself. I will prove its existence and mount its head on my mantle. And if you still give me your shit eating grin again, William. Make sure to duck because I will knock as many teeth out of your head as it takes to wipe off that fucking smirk off your face."

William just laughed it off. He knows that Alistair is harmless. Well, unless the big guy was hunting or was on the battlefield. But that didn't stop him from poking the bear.

"Maybe you should stop drinking wine when you go on hunts. I sure that Griffin was a mirage made up by the wine in your belly," William said as they entered the hallway.

"Hahaha! Oh, I will show you a mirage when I get that griffin's talons around your neck."

Alaric heard the banter between his allies and normally he enjoyed Alistair's blunt comebacks towards William, but he needed to be that the Elves weren't around to hear them.

"Will you two keep your voices down."

Alistair just rolled his eyes.

"Please... You are too paranoid about those—"

Alaric turned on his heels and gave Alistair a death stare that made the Baron sweat.

"You will watch your tongue," the Duke whispered.

Alistair got the message as well as William and just as Alaric was about to turn around to leave was when Duval came hurrying towards them.

"Duke Alaric! May I have a word," the Prime Minister pleaded.

Upon hearing the Marquess calling for him made Alaric's face twist in annoyance for a brief moment. This partnership with Duval was starting to degrade into an inconvenience for Alaric. Ever since the in the Temple of Balance Duval has been demanding on what to do. Everything that happened made the church side with Rya and renewed the publics faith in their Goddess and with the appearance of two more goddesses on the Idol the public was more inclined to support the Elves as Mother Astra had stated the Dark Elf was blessed by the three Goddesses. None of the other priestesses or clerics dared question the High Priestess. So, the Church has been the loudest proponent in support of Princess Rya and Princess Hilda. So, Alaric put on a fake smile and greeted his ally.

"Prime Minister... What a pleasant surprise... How can I be of service?"

William and Alistair both had the same thought as they didn't want to be anywhere near Duval right now. But if Alaric was made to suffer, then they would suffer with him.

"It's about the Ladies of the Court... The biannual gathering is approaching and I'm worried that focusing it on your daughter won't make the ladies of Major Houses side with Leandra... Especially now that the Queen and Ysandra are going to attend," the Marquess said in a whisper as Count Sebastian Ingham and Viscount Octavius Blackwood came walking up beside the Marquess.

Octavius didn't like being this close to Alaric. He couldn't trust him as far as he could throw him and he was worried that Duval was going to reveal something to Alaric. Octavius was a stout man who wore a fine suit, he was a nobleman of some renown, and had been a confidant of Duval's father before he became the new Prime Minister all those years ago. He believed that Duval would prevent war between the other human kingdoms and believed in the stories about the mysterious outside force that would come to destroy their kingdom if it ever became an empire, but now after seeing how the Crown Prince acted and seeing the new Idols, he was beginning to question his beliefs. And he didn't like how Prince Zane Stoneworthh was acting as well. The few interactions he had with the Divine Three made him believe the foreign Prince and the others that were with him were nothing but puppets for the gods and that the Church was the real power behind the Alliance. It was beginning to worry him.

Alaric's right eye twitched a little when the Prime Minister brought up Leandra and his daughter, Esther. The Ladies of the Court was a field that he wasn't privy to and he trusted that his wife knew what she was doing. Alaric would usually let Leandra do as she pleases for events like the biannual gathering for the Ladies of Fiafyr. "If their one piece of advice I will give you, Duval. It's never question your wife in a field that you have no clue about."

Duval frowned, "I can tell my wife to help the Duchess but I can't tell her to like her when she like the Queen more... And Ysandra is bringing her younger sister to the Gathering as well because she's interested in meeting the Dark Elf... I know the Ladies of the Minor Houses will be against her, but if we can't get the extended families of the Major Houses to go against her, then how are we going to stop her then?... We are running out of time, Alaric."

Alaric was the one frowning this time. This idiot was speaking about their plans inside the Palace where three elves were living, and his brother was sure to have his people watching over them as well. He needed to end this conversation and quickly.

"That's what happens when the Headmaster of a magic academy wants to meet a powerful mage like that Dark Elf... Saffron L. Fairchild can do as she pleases... It doesn't matter," Alaric said as he tried to turn on his heels to leave but Duval grabbed his forearm.

"So that's it?... We just give up if things go wrong like what happened in—"

Alaric's head snapped towards Duval as his glare silenced the Prime Minister. Duval was just about to divulge that they rigged the Idol for Hilda. Alaric kept the fact from Duval that William screwed up and, by the grace of the Goddess, that she did show favorite toward Hilda. But fate turned against him when the Goddess also showed favor to Rya as well. Alaric's frown deepened which made Duval sweat a little bit he kept his glare on the Duke.

The other four nobles didn't know what to do as they watched the stare off continue for a minute or two before Ysandra and Caldorian walked up to the group.

"There you are... I had a question for you, Prime—" Caldorian stopped himself when he noticed the tense atmosphere between the Duke and Prime Minister.

Ysandra frowned at the two of them because they were acting like children, "So, are you two about to kiss?" The Baroness said with a hint of sarcasm.

Duval was the first to back off before Alaric did the same.

Duval straightened himself up before he cleared his throat.

Alaric was the one who addressed Ysandra, "You know better than to ask such a question, Baroness... Duval isn't my type..."

William was the only one to smirk at the comment, "We all know your type is the one you can't have," The Viscount said to Alaric.

Alaric gave a soft laugh at the William's statement, "Oh, that is true. But there's no one in this Kingdom or any other that would have me... But enough with this useless chatter... What's was your question, Caldorian?"

Caldorian glanced around the unusual ground. Duval and Alaric hated each other up to a couple of weeks ago and now they were talking to each other. Granted that they didn't like to talk to each other still, but they weren't arguing.

"Well, it was a question for the Prime Minister," Caldorian stated, but Alaric raised an eyebrow and nodded before he stepped back.

"Ask away," Duval said.

Caldorian cleared his throat before he spoke, "Ahem!... I know that you are worried about Princess Rya producing the next heir, but when I heard that the Crown Prince has been... Well... Active in the bedroom with her for about two months... Well?"

The Prime Minister face turned pale and his eye twitched from this line of questioning. He knew where this was going and he wasn't having any of it.

"Are you suggesting that the Dark—P-Princess Rya is pregnant?... It's impossible!" Duval nearly shouted at the Baron, but Alaric cut him off.

"Yes... She is a loose woman, Baron... But she's 29 years old... They usually don't have their first children until they're in their late 50s and she is still a child to the Elven standards..."

"That's for High Elves though... Wood Elves have been known to get pregnant in their early 40s and we don't know much about the Dark Elves, so maybe there's a chance that she's pregnant..." The Baroness Ysandra Fairchild countered Alaric's statement.

"So, what are you two suggesting?" The Prime Minister questioned the two nobles.

"We should ask the Queen if we can test her with the Lifebloom Relic... Just to make sure she's carrying the next heir... If she is then I see no reason not to enact the wedding between those two and—"

"There's no point!" Duval cut off Caldorian.

The Baron was confused, and Duval has never cut him off like this before.

"But... Shouldn't we make sure that Princess Rya isn't pregnant with the next heir before we decide on this issue?..." The Baron questioned the Prime Minister.

The Marquess recomposed himself before he responded, "She not pregnant, Caldorian... And we can't trust the results due to her being a mage. Some mages know how artifacts work and she could manipulate the artifact."

Ysandra and Caldorian looked at Octavius who gave them a I don't know look.

"Prime Minister... You said she could have cheated on getting the Goddess's favor during the ritual with no evidence and you were standing right there at the altar... I mean, do you even know how it's possible to tamper with Iyomelka's Idols?" Caldorian asked the Prime Minister.

Duval felt a pit in his stomach while William and Alaric slowly glanced at the Marquess who looked pale all of a sudden.

'Keep your fucking mouth shut, Duval,' Alaric thought to himself.

'Oh?... Is he going to give me credit for using the Ether Crystals on the Idol?... I wonder how Alaric is going to kill him?' William thought as he waited to see if Duval was going to maneuver around this question.

"No... From what I know, it's impossible to manipulate an Idol... But I can't put it past a Dark Elf to find a way to do the impossible..."

"But... Mother Astra banished you from the Temple grounds when you asked her if Princess Rya had manipulated the ritual... She said it was impossible, and they branded you an heretic for questioning the goddess' will," Ysandra countered Duval.

Alaric and William watched the exchange, while Octavius looked a little nervous. Sebastian had his usual stoic face but they heard him sigh from time to time during this exchange.

"I loved it, Baroness! You don't have to remind me!... All I can say is this Dark Elf conveniently show up to save the Crown Prince months before he was supposed to marry Princess Hilda who is the key to have peace among our neighbors to the south, who are humans by the way."

Everyone rolled their eyes at that latter comment while the Prime Minister continued, "A neighbor that would go to war with us at some point because we are letting Dark Elves into our borders without any oversight!"

'You dumb fuck!' Alaric thought while shaking his head at the Marquess's stupidity.

Ysandra frowned, "I understand what pressures you are going through, Prime Minister... But it seems like we are bending backwards to please the Holy Alliance and ignoring the possibility that they will demand more... Do you think that Baron Zellin Coldforge will be okay with the Divine Three dictating what happens to the Dwarven citizens? We could lose Galfrei Range Domain if you keep trying to please the Holy Alliance, and then what? We lose access to the purple slug for our farmers?

"What will happen when the dwarves are no longer willing to supply us with the Purple Slug and the only place that produces any agriculture would be the Aurora Plains and your Berger Domain? And we know that the Divine Three doesn't pay for anything!"

Duval felt like he was backed into the corner by his own allies... But unfortunate for them, he has no shame, "They won't demand that we do anything to our citizens, Baroness... If you think otherwise then your imagination has gone wild."

Caldorian couldn't believe that Duval would stoop to insulting a Baroness, a high noble in his court, in front of other nobles.

'Maybe he doesn't deserve to be the Prime Minister... Ysandra has always been a straight shooter... Nathaniel is right. It's time for Duval to step down...' Caldorian thought while Ysandra glared at the Prime Minister.

"If you have such little faith in my intelligence, Prime Minister. Then why did you agree to have me as your Minister of the Education?" Ysandra retorted.

The Marquess was a little annoyed with the Baroness's question, "Baroness! Are you suggesting that you wish to have us go to war? That will bring death to the innocent..."

Ysandra cut him off, "Do not patronize me, Duval! I may not be a military mind but I am smart enough to know that war is not the solution, but we shouldn't be the ones making all the compromises... We should make the Divine Three compromise too!"

"And how would we do that, Baroness? Would you like us to threaten the Prophet Paul with a war, because that will certainly end the same way the Wood Elves did..."

Ysandra was steaming but instead of screaming at him, she became cool and collected, "Prime Minister... I wish you a good day, I hope you find a solution."

Ysandra took a step back and gave a respectful bow. Before walking away and leaving the room.

Caldorian watched as she left and he couldn't agree with her more, 'I think Ysandra is right. We should fight for our freedom, not let the Divine Three take control over our Kingdom.'

The Baron did the same thing and bowed respectfully before walking away and leaving the room.

Sebastian looked at Duval like he was a moron. He probably just lost his Prime Ministership and his career, 'You idiot! What the fuck were you thinking?! You insulted two more of our allies!?... I need to fix this before things get worse.'

Alaric gritted his teeth, of all the times for Duval to fuck up it was during a time when his nephew was gaining support with the Major Nobles. His only saving grace was the Minor Nobles supported him but that wasn't enough to get him to where he needed to be.

The only thing he could do was be patient and let his wife try to turn the noblewomen against Rya, but if that fails, then they will use the aphrodisiac to make Quin cheat on another woman. And hopefully, it will ruin his nephew's reputation and relationship with the Dark Elf. Better yet would be for her to go on a murderous rampage like what the old stories say.

'Haah... I need to start getting the rebellion ready if Leandra fails me.'

"Well... This was eventful... I hope you gentlemen have a good day, I should get going," the Duke said before he turned on his heels and walked away with William and Alistair following behind him.

"Fuck!" Duval cursed under his breath

"Yes... Fuck..." Sebastian agreed with his colleague.

The Prime Minister sighed, "How the am I going to fix this?"

"I'll talk to them, Prime Minister... But I must say... Your stress is threatening your position. You need to calm down. I don't think you've ever been this stressed before. And you've handled more stressful situations in the past," Sebastian told him honestly.

"I know... I've staked everything on this peace treaty and I'm not going to let it fail without a fight. I'm not going to go down in history as a failure!"

Octavius looked at his two friends with worry. "Duval, what would happen if Princess Rya agrees to let the Crown Prince have a mistress or two? Nathaniel will try to push through the measure to make her the future queen and there will be little opposition... You will have to accept her as a part of the royal family."

"It won't happen, Octavius! You're dreaming if you think she will agree to the arrangement... No woman would be happy with a man having a mistress..." Duval argued.

Octavius wanted to say that they didn't truly know what Dark Elves were capable of or if they would be okay with the idea of sharing a mate. But the Marquess believed in the old tails about their kind being possessive and violent. The Viscount was starting to worry about Duval's ability to judge character.

"Ahem... Well if you think she's not right to become the Crown Prince's wife then I'm sure the his Highness will come around eventually... Just have faith in the young ones, my friend," the Viscount said, trying to ease the Prime Minister's mind.

"We don't have time to wait... The Alliance will demand that we have the wedding within the month or they will take it as a sign of war..." Duval explained, and then sighed.

"Then I suggest you find a way to make sure the wedding happens, or else... We might need to prepare for war..." the Viscount said.

Duval glared at Viscount for daring to tell him how to run his country. Octavius knew he went too far but he felt that the Prime Minister needed a dose of reality. He wished that they could live in a world with peace, but the other side needs to meet them halfway.

"Excuse me, gentlemen... I should take my leave..."

The Viscount quickly bowed his head before turning and walking out of the room.

Sebastian sighed.

"You're losing not only your temper but your allies," he remarked.

"Because they refuse to see what threats will come to our Kingdom if that Dark Elf is allowed to become the Crown Prince's bride. You think that it's only going to be the Holy Alliance that will start a war with us? What about the High Elves or the Dwarves? They will use this as an excuse to declare war against us... And I'm sure that the other human kingdoms outside of Agon will see use as a threat and try to wipe us out," the Prime Minister declared.

"I understand, but there are so many other threats out there in the world that maybe we can guild the Prince and Princess from trying to conquer the world... Those two are powerful but there's always something far more dangerous in this world that could destroy us all of they become reckless. It maybe more prudent to win over Princess Rya's trust and advise her in ways to help our Kingdom and the world in general," the Count reasoned.

Duval wasn't having any of it. If he were to fail then soon his kingdom would fail and become nothing but a memory.

"No... We have to get rid of that Dark Elf before it's too late. She has already corrupted the young Prince and we need to get him back," the Prime Minister proclaimed.

"So you plan on having the Dark Elf assassinated?"

Duval became silent as he looked around to make sure that nobody was listening in. Once he thought the coast was clear he motioned for the Count to come closer.

"It is a option that we might need to exercise..."

Sebastian closed his eyes in disappointment. He wasn't a fan of the idea but he can understand where the Prime Minister was coming from. But the Assassins Society has gone quiet over the past five years or so. Trying to find a quality assassin was now a crap shoot.

"Do you have someone in mind?"

Duval frowned, "Not yet... But we should start looking if Alaric can't come through for us."

"Yeah... Alaric would be the one to know where to find an assassin... But we shouldn't rely on him for everything... We can't fully trust him to try and weaken us after the dust settles."

The Prime Minister nodded his head in agreement.

"All this thinking is hurting my head... I need a drink... You should join me Sebastian."

"If that it was my Prime Minister's request, I wouldn't dare decline."

They both smiled at each other before leaving the office together. Sebastian had his will work cut out for him to bring back Duval's allies, but he wanted to relax first before he could tackle that problem.

***

Meanwhile, deep in the Eldermist forest inside the Eder Hills Domain a woman wearing a simple dress that commoners wore with a hooded cloak made her way through the thick brush and the darkness. The sun was still out but the forced vegetation was able to block the light from reaching the ground.

The woman stopped when she noticed a few shadows moving about. The woman knew what those shadows were and she wasn't worried about being attacked by them as she continued towards a cave entrance.

She made it to the mouth of the cave and entered. Once she was a good distance in, a voice rang out from behind her.

"Halt right there!" Roared a man's voice as four men armed with bows and swords were surrounded her while blocking the path into the cave.

The woman pulled back her hood and revealed her long brown hair, and beautiful blue eyes.

The man with the scar over his left eye was as confused as the rest of his men. The woman looked at all of them in a robotic fashion before she closed her eyes for a second and they could see her eyes moving around rapidly like she was in R.E.M. sleep.

She then opened her eyes which glowed with a Azure blue that Alac, Mast, Cyril, and Doug knew all to well.

"M-Mistress Rya!?" Alac stammered out as he lower his weapon and fell to his knees. The other three followed suit as Alac lowered his head in a bow.

Rya's grimaced at the four men. Sure she tortured them into giving up their information about Alaric's plan to kill Johan and made them sign a blood contract, but this made her feel like she was a villainess.

'Jeez!... Maybe I went to far?... Gah!... That's not important right now... I need to see how big this hideout is and then I'm going to turn up the heat on Alaric...'

"Rise Alac... And I'm not your mistress. I am Rya. Just Rya!" Rya's Golem said in her voice as she used her golem's hands to point at herself.

Alac and his crew looked at her with fear in their eyes as they didn't know why she was here.

"W-Why did you come, R-Rya?..." Alac asked.

Rya smiled at the four men which gave them dread.

"Well... It seems my golems can move around in a 500 mile radius of me... So?... Let's make the Duke pay for what he's done..." Rya's Golem said in a excited voice.

Alac, Mast, Cyril, and Doug all looked at each other with concern. The Duke wasn't a man to take lightly, but the Dark Elf was worse than the Duke. So, they went along with her plan as they stood up slowly.