The King's Court

XXXIV

"How's your project going?" I asked Leon as we rode side by side. We've been riding in average speed lalo pa at malapit na rin naman kami sa Solaris. 

"They're all ready. Me and Markus have done the blueprint and it's manufacturing as of this moment. Eris shall oversee it." 

I nodded and looked ahead. 

"Do you think this is going to be successful? You have met Lorence countless times when you were there, Leon. How is she?" 

My brother looked as though he was reminiscing some memory he wasn't particularly fond of. 

"Well, she's a hard woman. She's tough. She's brave and this would just make everything on our end a hell lot harder. She won't be easily convinced."

"Should we have brought Eris with us?" 

Leon chuckled and jerked his thumb behind, to where Evelyn was. "You got your Emissary. Her letter convinced Lorence to grant us an audience. Perhaps Lorence will like your Evelyn and keep her there as her Emissary instead in exchange for peace. Who knows?"

The thought was dreadful. 

"You never talked about what happened while you were there," I said. Leon went traveling--at least that was what his excuse was when he went to Solaris to play the double spy. We had to be careful to carry out the act of being brothers with bad blood. We made it known to the Council, the whole Kingdom and eventually, it became news in other kingdoms as well. It went according to plan at the beginning.

The King of the South at that time was gullible and he easily believed that Leon wanted to usurp the Visaris throne for himself. He confided with the King of Solaris and the King did the same. Leon got important information from that. But luck wasn't on our side when the King decided to step down and crowned Lorence instead. Now, everything is done differently and all that Leon knew about the South was useless as Lorence had changed everything.

"It was fun. I get to dally with different women so it was something I missed."

I gave him a look and he just grinned. One thing about my brother is no one really knows what he's thinking. He's terrifyingly smart and he could easily use that to his advantage. One who doesn't know him would think he is just someone who doesn't give a single care to anything. But anyone who knew him knows that behind the sly grins, Leon was always scheming. Always thinking. And nobody could ever figure out what he was thinking about. 

"One thing I can say about Lorence is that she is terrifying," he started. "She's smart and she is impressively brave."

"It's rare for you to compliment someone with their intellect." 

His face darkened as he looked ahead. "Because she is smart, brother. She has all the qualities of being the Queen. Perhaps the King saw that and decided to step down to crown her. She's...extraordinary." 

I did not miss the tone of admiration in my brother's voice. 

"She beat you in terms of intellect?" 

He went silent and then looked up at the sky. "She was sneaky. She knows her strengths and she knows how to use them against me. Against my better judgment, I indulged her without knowing the consequences of my involvement." 

My brows raised. I am not sure if I was thinking the same as what he was trying to say. He must have read my mind and he shook his head while chuckling. "She made me kneel, brother. Not because she forced me to but because she had me completely wrapped around her fingers. She's a wicked woman and if I didn't know about what she was planning all along, I would have given up the mission and just married her right there and then."