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“Isabella?” Lord Balrus called out, at first he wasn’t sure if the woman walking in front of him in the corridors which led to the King’s chambers and the council chamber was really the Isabella he knew, but when he was certain, he was a bit shocked.

Caught off-guard and not expecting to be seen so soon, Isabella turned back so disappointed in herself. “Balrus?” she pretended to be shocked, but it was so fake that even Lord Balrus noticed it. Isabella sighed and walked slowly towards Balrus “Somehow you always find things out, don’t you?”

“What are you doing here? These are King’s chambers” Lord Balrus whispered softly while looking sideways to see if anyone was looking.

“Relax Balrus, I was looking for you” Isabella lied, the lie was so easily spotted by Lord Balrus who suddenly turned from being concerned about Isabella to being suspicious. There were signs that he saw on Isabella’s face and he knew straight away that she was lying.

“A famous courtesan lurking in the corridors of the main palace. We usually meet outside in the garden, or at your work place... what do you want Isabella?”

Defeated and exposed, Isabella sighed again “I received a letter from Raven where the whore King sits on Silver throne. My friend apparently sleeps with the Hand of the King who happens to be the King’s sister and she...” Lord Balrus was a little bit confused but he tried to keep up with the pace and paid attention.

“Olivia?” asked Lord Balrus “She sent you a letter?”

.....

“How do you even know her?” Isabella was stunned.

Lord Balrus ignored that “What did she say?”

“She told me to inspect the palace and make sure what she heard was true”

“About the existence of dragons?”

Now this time Isabella was shocked again, Lord Balrus was very much well informed that one can absolutely not put a thing past him. The spies who were killed after they sent out information to Lady Aryan, hence by this time Lord Balrus knew the news must have spread if not within the walls of Raven’s palace then mayhaps to Gandalf and Aryan.

“It’s a false news” said Lord Balrus and started to walk away. Isabella followed him “It was the Queen’s washerwoman who personally wrote to Lady Aryan, could it really be false?”

“Yes, because the washerwoman who spread the gossip was beheaded. By the order of the king, she and her other companions who spread such news about the Queen were put to sword. So will you if you linger in the palace for long, our king hates spies”

This was a warning to Isabella, but actually it was a warning to Gandalf and his sister because Isabella went out to tell Aryan that their spies have been put to sword. The washerwoman mentioned some of the knights who pretended to be there for Artemis, but all along they spied for Gandalf.

“Thirty false knights were put to sword, five servants including the washerwoman and do inform your friend to tell the Hand of the King that Artemis will behead all the spies she will send again and the last one will be her brother, if she keeps pressing matters”

“Yes, my lord” Isabella bowed softly with her head down. There was a smile on Lord Balrus’s lips, he grabbed Isabella’s shoulders and walked out of the palace with her. They walked straight to Lord Balrus’s house which was a little bit far from the main palace, and Lord Balrus used this time to learn more about Lady Aryan and her paramour Olivia.

Olivia was once a lady, a highborn from Penrith one of the Liberty Cities. Her father was a magister there and they lived in a huge house with a blue door on the front, and lots of trees including mango tree, papayas, lemons, and they were famous for their fruits which they sold at the market square.

Penrith was a huge city but until then, no one knows exactly what happened to Olivia’s father – magister Torol. Hence Olivia’s last name was actually Olivia Torol instead of what she calls herself, Olivia Kent. Isabella was the only one who knew her whole story, and she didn’t hesitate to tell it all to Lord Balrus in exchange for pardon since she committed treason and conspired against the King.

The next day Lord Balrus crafted a well worded letter to Olivia Torol, this time he instructed his loyal trusted rider to safely deliver the letter to Olivia Kent. “It mustn’t pass to anyone except Olivia, and make sure she’s alone when she gets it” those were Lord Balrus’s instructions.

While all the spying and threats were happening in the main palace, the whole of Blackmount was celebrating the birth of Prince Jahery Arteides, the heir to Sweet Waters throne and prince of Blackmount. With the birth of Jahery, Princess Aeryn found herself losing two tittles – the Princess of Blackmount and apparent heir to Sweet Waters throne. This she didn’t take lightly although she expected it, or maybe she didn’t.

Neither did Lady Allysa Octavianus who was still in Green Town, the news of Prince Jahery’s birth broke her down to tears. She prayed day and night for Aurora to give birth to a girl, but maybe she prayed to the wrong gods. The people of Storm Town believed in water to have super powers and hence they prayed in rushing rivers, ocean waves and during the storms.

Lady Allysa told her daughter Ursula “You must secure this town by giving your husband a son, or we will all go back to rugs and dirt” and from there Ursula tried everything in her power to get a child with Jon Grimwald, even though she was still a young girl shy of her sixteenth name day.

Prince Jahery never left his mother’s side and Aurora never needed the wet nurses since she fed the prince at her own breasts. Artemis thought it was so brave for Aurora to deny the wet nurses and feed their own son by herself, sometimes he would just watch and be mesmerized by the show of pure love between his wife and their son.

Their dragons, all five of them never left the chambers neither. They played with Jahery and Aurora all day, sometimes Artemis would tag along. “They must smell you and feel your touch every day, dragons never forget their parents” Aurora advised.

“Parents? Are we their parents?”

“You were the first one to hold them when they came into this world, they will never forget about you, nor me their intended mother and Jahery... the promised prince”

It was the hour of the wolf when Artemis and Aurora were having this conversation. Jahery was fast asleep in his cradle while the dragons surrounded him, it’s been five days since Aurora gave birth and she hadn’t healed yet hence there was no sexual intimacy between the two but just talk, mostly politics and whatever was going on in the main palace which Aurora needed to know.

“Have they found Lady Daella yet?”

“My understanding is that Lord Petrus has perhaps arrived in Raven already, but it will take time till he finds her. Let’s hope he does”

Aurora inspected the somber tone in Artemis’s sentence and she was concerned “Are you worried for him?” she asked.

“It’s not him my love, it’s the spies... I ordered their execution because Lord Angun thought it’s wise for me to eliminate any threats to the crown, but...”

“You feel like you didn’t do the right thing?”

This time Artemis let out a deep sigh and looked at Aurora “I put thirty knights to sword, five women... I’m not a murderer or a tyrant”

“Bringing justice to the foes doesn’t make you a tyrant”

“What does that make me?”

“A just king! You protected your queen and your son against those who would want to do them harm. Artemis, don’t beat yourself to it. Jahery will grow fast and we will have everything, together. Our own dragons, you and I will fly side by side and nothing will stand against us then, nor our children”

This somehow brought a smile on Artemis’s lips, then he leaned on to kiss Aurora’s lips and placed his head on her thighs. “How many children will we have?” asked Artemis.

“That my husband, I cannot see”

“Good, I like surprises” The jokes continued for the rest of the night until both of them fell asleep between each other’s arms.