The Hathway Kingdom (Book 2)

Eleven.

~Eleven. ~

The next day, Larissa sat in the meeting hall, which sat just off the throne room, fiddling with the dagger that she had found the day before, the letter her mother had written her tucked neatly away and out of sight. She had been unable to go down into the city to see just how bad the damage from the fighting had been as the lords and ladies of the Hathway Royal Court had called for an emergency meeting to discuss something, which she had later found, was not needing to be discussed. She twirled the dagger between her fingers as she made it look as though she was listening to those gathered in front of her, all seated at a large rectangle table, arguing about one thing or another, but she wasn't paying attention to what was being said anymore. She had stopped paying attention about twenty minutes ago.

"They don't deserve to be members of the Royal Guard! Especially not after everything that they had done!" one of the lords, Verginius Herodotos Larissa recalled, exclaimed as he slammed his fist down on the table and several others made noises of agreement.

"They have as much right to be a part of the Guard as any of the others that have applied for the job and gotten it!" another lord, Jupiter Zhao, said as some of the others agreed with him instead of Verginius. His eyes narrowed on Jupiter before he spoke up again.

"They attacked Her Majesty as she tried to come home before her Uncle, may the Fates be kind to him in the afterlife, died from wounds he sustained during his fight with them!" Verginius exclaimed, his voice rising to a shout at the end.

"It wasn't any of Julius' men who killed my Uncle, Lord Herodotos..." Larissa said in a calm voice and the entire room fell silent at hearing her voice. They all turned to look at her now, the man in question giving her a curious look from where he stood behind Larissa and next to Tristan. Verginius looked at Larissa for a moment before he spoke again as the others sat back down, his tone taking on a condescending sound to it.

"With all due respect, Your Majesty...Mr Nomvera..." he began to say before being cut off by Larissa as she stabbed the dagger into the tabletop angrily and stood up, her eyes locked on the lord.

"With all due respect, Lord Herodotos...None of Captain Nomvera's – let's use his proper title - men were the ones to plunge their sword into my Uncle's stomach, injuring him so severely that the Hathway Healer – the second greatest healer in the world, I might add – couldn't save him," she snapped as she stared the older man down. Verginius held her gaze before he looked back down and sat in his seat as Larissa's eyes wandered over those that sat at the table with her.

"The person who was...No. The person who is responsible for my Uncle's death is Prince Isidore Wade, King Methodias' son. Now, I have dealt with Isidore and, provided he does not try anything like that again, he will no longer be an issue. The Captain here has explained to me everything that has happened, and I have heard our men's side of the story as well. Other than being exceptional fighters, the Captain's men are guiltless. I have more blood on my hands than any of them," Larissa said, and the group of lords and ladies gathered all began murmuring upon hearing her say this.

"What...do you mean by that exactly, Your Majesty?" one of the ladies, a Lady Laurentina Githas, asked her and Larissa glanced at her before she continued speaking to the room.

"The Captain's men have the same right to be a part of my personal guard as anyone that I have already in there. More so than any of the men that you all have in your employ. And, upon accepting my proposal, it gave his men the right to have the same burial as is tradition for the Guard the second he did. And I will be giving them that right. No matter what any of you say," Larissa said as she looked around the room at each person, as if she were daring them to challenge her decision.