war has begun, and if they're not careful, a fatality will tear them down.
NO SMUT OR SEXUALIZING ━ if any of the triplets are uncomfortable with this fanfiction, it will be taken down immediately.
matt sturniolo x fem! oc x chris sturniolo (LOVE T...
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𝖝𝖝𝖝𝖛𝖎𝖎. No More Kings
Maeve
THE DROPJET FEELS SLUGGISH on the air, heavier than usual. Maeve sways against her safety restraints, eyes lidded. The motion of the craft paired with the comforting buss of electricity has her half asleep. The engines chug calmly, despite the extra weight. More cargo, she knows. The hold is filled to the brim with the spoils of Corvium. Munitions, guns, explosives, weapons of every kind. Military uniforms, rations, fuel, batteries. Half of it is going to Piedmont now, and the rest is on another jet, returning to Dawson's mountains.
Montfort and the Scarlet Guard are not wasteful in their endeavors. They did the same thing after the Whitefire attack, stripping what they could from the palace in such limited time. Money, mostly, hauled out of the Treasury once it was clear Chris was beyond their reach. It happened in Piedmont, too. It's why the southern base seems empty, in the lodgings, in the administrative buildings once meant for grand war councils. No paintings, no statues, no fine plates or cutlery. None of the trappings great Silvers require. Nothing but what is necessary. The rest was pulled apart, sold, repurposed. Wars are not cheap. They can only maintain what is useful.
That's why Corvium crumbles beneath them. Because Corvium is no longer useful.
Dawson argued that leaving a garrison of soldiers was foolish, a waste. The fortress city was built to funnel soldiers into the Choke to fight Lakelanders. With that war ended, it has little purpose. No river to guard, no strategic resources. Just one of the many roads to the Lakelands. Corvium had become little more than a distraction. And while the Guard, Montfort, and the Rift held the city, it was deep in Chris' territory, and too close to the border. The Lakelands could sweep through without warning, or Chris could return in force. More would die, even if they won again. For nothing more than some walls in the middle of nowhere.
The Silvers opposed. Naturally. Maeve thinks they must be honor-bound to disagree with what anyone with red blood says. Annabel argued the optics.
"How many dead, how much blood spent on these walls, and you want to give up the city? We'll look like fools!" she scoffed, glaring across the council chamber. The old woman looked at Dawson like he had two heads. "Matt's first victory, his flag raised ━ "
"I don't see his flag anywhere," Cyrus interrupted dryly.
But Annabel ignored her. She pressed on, seeming like she might obliterate the table beneath her fingers. Matthew sat silent at her side, his eyes ablaze as he stared at his hands. "It will look like weakness to abandon the city," the old queen said.
"I care very little for how things appear, only for how they are, Your Majesty," Dawson replied. "You are very welcome to leave a garrison of your own to hold Corvium, but no soldier of Montfort or the Scarlet Guard will remain here."
