The War Of Crowns | #ONC2023

Chapter 7

Leia could not believe what she was hearing. "You want to do what?" She asked. She sat back in her seat as if blown away by the sheer ambition of the prince's plan. The lumpy old chair, carved from wood and slowly rotting away in the tavern poked into her back at odd angles, which made it difficult for her to keep good posture while leaning back.

"If challenging our father the first time got us exiled, I wonder what might happen if we overthrow him?" Atreyu said calmly. His dark, smooth hand curled at the top of his cane in front of his seat. He cocked his head towards Dakath, waiting for a response.

"A wild and daring plan if I had to say myself," Roarke said. Leia watched as he swallowed a full cup of beer in one gulp. If anything, she would assume he thought it was all a ridiculous joke.

She sat up in her seat, placing her elbows on the table. "How are you going to make a whole new dimension for the Land of Faeries?" Leia asked, confused. She couldn't imagine how much power that would take.

Dakath matched her pose, though his face was still rigid. She felt the heat of his skin where their arms were dangerously close to touching. Like a flipped switch, the brightest grin spread across his face and Leia felt her heart flutter in response.

"If we all join our magic, we can do it. I'll use an enchanted item to tie the dimension to, so that it has a power source to feed off of, for the borders to be maintained. All we need is for you to get your mother to meet with us so we can convince her to move back her army from the front so we can initiate the splitting of worlds at the borders of our land." He pulled a tiny pearl from a necklace that hung beneath his shirt and showed it to Leia who did her best to keep her face blank.

She felt a queasiness wash over her as she remembered what the maiden had told her. There are worlds to be created, which now sounded like a prophecy to her. The pearl was within arms reach of her.

The words echoed in Leia's mind, A pearl, tiny as a droplet. Bring it to me when I come. The maiden had come alright. She tried to keep her hands from shaking, clasping them tighter on the table, but her head was spinning with the realization of what she had done. Your soul is now for sale. Would the maiden really take her soul if she didn't bring the pearl to her in time? She pushed the thoughts from her mind, focusing on the situation at hand.

"I have a few conditions," Leia spoke. The three of them gaped at her. She straightened her back and took her time to look each of them in the eye. Without her, they would be shot before they could even get close to the borders. She wasn't just a puppet for Prince Dakath's plan to work. She was the key to it working. "What? Did you think I would blindly follow along with your demands without having my own conditions?"

Dakath gave her a curious look, but it was the sparkle in his eyes that caught her attention, the ruby in his irises glinting with something unspoken. She felt her confidence falter under his stare.

"I demand that you outlaw human slaves and this use of glamor on them. I also want the girl you sent to my room earlier to come back with me to be my lady's maid."

"Done," Prince Dakath said.

"Outrageous," Roarke said at the same time.

Leia looked between the two brothers who were now staring each other down.

"Brother, you yourself use them at your parties, you can't possibly be thinking to abolish the use of their aid?" Roarke's skin glowed golden as his blood rushed to his face. He struggled to keep himself composed but Leia knew she got under his skin with her demands.

Prince Dakath had no such problem with his composure. "I only utilize their services to keep up appearances. To be honest I am not fond of their look under glamor. To me, they are quite... what's the word you humans use..." He looked to Leia which startled her slightly to have the attention put back on her. His eyes then lit up with mischief, "creepy."