* VIVIANNE AESTERIN *

The amalgamation was tomorrow.

It had been two days since Elliot infiltrated the palace and told me his real identity, the actual reason why his father wanted us to get married, and the more I thought about our fraudulent marriage, the more it made sense why His Majesty, king Edric wanted to get done with the amalgamation as soon as possible and the more I realised how intricate and cleverly he was playing this game.

A shiver ran down my spine when I finally concluded his whole plan, firmly sure I didn't miss out anything. King Edric had been keeping a good relationship with our country since the moment he'd retaken Elysia and declared himself as its true ruler. Over the decades, my father and him were in good terms -- both in acquaintance and business and my father saw the king in him. In fact, Elysia had always been our one of the top allies, and so were we to him.

After my father fell sick, king Edric made several visits to us all by himself. While other kingdoms and their kings sent their regards with letters and servants and countless gifts, king Edric came himself and gave his prayers and I noticed how empty his prayers sounded, as if he didn't believe in them at all but for the sake of formality, he said those words.

The last time he came here to visit my father, my mother and he had a long talk after the visitation that lasted till evening. At night, when my mother was sleeping soundly, out of curiosity, I'd taken a decision to enter her recent memories -- just to see what she and king Edric was talking about and now that I thought about this whole negotiation, from another perspective, after hearing Elliot, my admiration for king Edric's quick thinking and slyness grew more.

"You seem quite stressed out, Agatha," the king said, with a hint of worry in his voice. My mother and he were close friends, so it wasn't abnormal when I heard him addressing her that way in private.

My mother sighed, shaking her head. "The empire will fall apart. Ever since Herreon fell sick, nothing has been going right. Julianne is doing all she can do, but she's young, Edric. She's just a girl. She can't do it all alone," my mother expressed, swallowing and suddenly I found myself being ashamed for not being able to do anything, for being a useless daughter.

The king intertwined his fingers, pressing his lips firmly. "What are you planning to do about this? Do not take me wrongly, but Herreon does not seem to get better. He is well now and then, but it is not enough -- he needs to heal fully and if this keeps going, the empire is bound to fall apart,"

My mother's golden locks of hair covered her emerald eyes, making her tuck them behind her ears full of earrings. "I need something powerful. Something that can help me control the subjects and the people conspiring against my land, people who are rebelling against my family. I want something potent, Edric,"

Something flickered across the king's eyes: perhaps a twinkle of shrewdness, and that was the moment when king Edric of Elysia came up with a plan -- in such a short amount of time. It was this exact moment, when he came up with this little game of benefits, or maybe he didn't -- maybe he came up with this plan long ago, when he realised my mother had daughters and one of them could be used for his son's benefit. Maybe he'd planned this before any of us could even imagine.

"Something potent?" He smiled, a small smile that hid all the calculative tactics he had within him. "Should I recommend you something, then?"

My mother looked at him confusingly, eyebrows knitted. "Whatever do you mean by that?"

"You know me," he said, leaning back to the chair. "I don't play around the bush, and I don't like to sugarcoat anything. I will be straight to the point,"

My mother smiled now, as if she was finally getting what he was talking about. "You think I am sitting here with you, sipping tea in my personal garden with no guards whatsoever for no reason? What is it, Edric?"

"Ezèrian. I'm talking about Ezèrian," he said, his eyes dead serious, reminding me of prince Emerson. "The Ezèrian are potent. Seize them. Use their powers to press dominance and fear. Show the subjects and the rebels that you have something far greater than any of them: godly beings who can wipe out the entirety of rebels within your order and you will not hesitate to do that at all,"

My mother didn't say anything for the next few seconds, but when she did, I was wondering how a person could change so much in such a short time. But then again, I didn't think it was my mother's fault at all. It was the way king Edric proposed his idea, with that pretentious face of his -- where beneath his smile, laid a sly smiling fox and no matter what you did, no matter how conscious you were of your surroundings, no matter how clever you were, you were bound to fall into the fox's trap. Because this fox always came up with traps for any situation.

"My land barely has any Ezèrian left. Most of them killed themselves. I can't even remember the last time I saw one or even heard of being seen by anyone. They're extinct here. Elysia is the only place which has the most Ezèrian," my mother explained and continued. "And even if I send my men and make them hunt down every Ezèrian left in this empire, I'm not even sure if they are going to be skilled as there's no point in inexperienced Ezèrian. They're no better than Naughts,"

King Edric tilted his head to the side, a sly smile playing on his lips. "But do you think the Ezèrian will help you to assert dominance in the empire? Do you think they'll help you?"

It was a conversation between a fox and a mouse, the mouse constantly being manipulated by the fox's meticulous tricks and the mouse trying its best to no fall into his traps but in the end, it did, and the fox smiled again. The fox was giving the mouse a chance, an idea of simple dominance. It was giving the mouse an independency of sharing its own opinions, by asking if the mouse thought it was a good idea, if the mouse had its own thoughts about it. The fox made sure it wasn't like as if it was pressing its own ideas, as if he wasn't commanding it at all. The fox knew itself it was going to win.

"I think it will. If I think about it rationally, the Ezèrian are potent beings. If I have even a half dozen skilled Ezèrian, it is enough for me to take back my powers from all the people against me. It is enough to restore Eirlys back to what it was - the strongest empire to ever exist," mother looked at the king determinedly. "What should I do?"

The fox smiled, ever so slightly, pretending to think. "Make a contract with me. I will give you as much as Ezèrian you need while you will wed one of your daughters with my son, Elliot,"

My mother took a long pause after that. She took the cup placed on the table and took a sip. She placed the cup down, lacing her fingers. "And how do you benefit from this?"

The king also took his time to reply, as if trying to convey the fact that he didn't have a calculated answer of that, as if this wasn't his plan for a long time, as if he was truly trying to help here.

"Elysia and Eirlys' relation will be stronger than ever once our offsprings wed another. Nothing will ever stop us from being allies. The world will fear us for our alliances," he said slowly, cautiously, trying to stitch his lies within my mother's head smoothly, and it did work well.

"I get your Ezèrian and you get my daughter as a proof of our loyalty to the kingdom of Elysia. Is that what you are trying to propose here, Edric?" Mother arched an eyebrow, bobbing her head like a cradle.

"Yes, Agatha," the king confirmed and before I could witness any more of my mother's memories, my body had given up on me, evidencing the fact that all energy needed for this memory infiltration had come to an end.

"You all get paid for nothing," I commented, looking at the servants who were wiping the floors of my father's chambers poorly. They turned their heads at me and apologised and then got back to work. "It has been two days since that fool of an Ezèrian flooded father's chamber and all of you still can not clean the chamber," I let out a huff, crossing my legs, my eyes firm on my father's closed ones, waiting for them to magically open and call the wedding off. But nothing sort of that happened.

He still remained still, his eyes closed peacefully, his face pale, his body cold. I took his wrinkled hand in mine, pressing a kiss in the back of his palm. "I'm sorry," I swallowed, letting go off his hand. "I have always been a nuisance to you, haven't I? You were always there for me whenever I was sick, but an Ezèrian had to heal you when you're in so much pain. I could do nothing. I only watched," I said, pressing my lips.

"Do you remember when I was fourteen and—" the door opened, revealing Marianne dressed formally: a long, light green off-shouldered dress hugging her slim body, with laces and furls, revealing her bare arms, small flowers embroidered in the waist. A thin necklace embraced her neck, the white gemstones in it blinding like the earrings that stretched till her shoulders as they dangled. Her hair wasn't done yet as they were set loose, her straight hair, unlike mine, was being brushed by her fingers.

"Why are you not dressed yet?" She asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

I raised my eyes brows. "Dressed for what?"

"Do you like to do this? Always acting like you don't know anything that's going on?"

I let out a huff, infuriated, angry and about to lose my calmness. I stood up and smiled at my sister. "Do you like to do this? Always picking fights with me whenever you get the chance?"

She let out a sigh, shaking her head slowly. "I don't have the time to do this today as well. Listen to me," she said, glaring at me with her siren eyes. "I don't know how you don't know about this announcement despite the whole court talking about it all day but. . . "

"We are leaving for Elysia. Tonight. After an hour," and that was it before she turned around, her laced dress twirling with the movement, leaving me dumbfounded at this sudden declaration.

"We're leaving for Elysia? Why?" It seemed I asked the question to the air because Marianne simply couldn't care to give me an answer. "Marianne!" I yelled, huffing, as she closed the door behind me.

"That little fool," I mumbled. I ran a hand through my hair, standing up and taking a look at what I was wearing: a thin light coloured gown that I always wore before sleeping but it seemed I'd have to change now — but first I had to know what was actually going on.

My eyes landed on the servants glued to the floor, and seeing me eyeing them, they scrubbed the floors even harder, trying to convey the fact that they were, indeed, giving their best here.

"You know anything about this?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, Your Highness," one of them answered, his voice low and fearful.

"Well?" I urged them to speak further. "Are you guys slower when it comes to talking as well?"

"King Edric sent an invitation yesterday to Her Majesty, which stated that the investiture ceremony of prince Ira's knight is to be held tonight and Her Majesty and Her Highnesses are requested to attend it,"

"They are holding a ceremony as big as an investiture, that too before the day of a wedding? Is this some sort of a comical play?" I let out a laugh. "And how come I was never told about this?"

The servants hesitated to speak more and I resisted myself from entering their mind and making them speak. "Your Highness, you were too occupied aiding for His Majesty the whole time so that might be why,"

Heat spread across my cheeks as I took a breath. It was true, nonetheless. I was barely doing anything at all. All I had been doing was just sit by my father's side and talk to him as if he was awake. Not knowing about what was currently going on in the palace and the court was understandable. I'd been too neglectful of my surroundings.

"Very well, then," I let out a sigh. "One of you go and inform my maid to prepare everything for me. I will be in my chambers in a while,"

One of them nodded and got up, bowing his head before leaving the chamber. I stood, facing the mirror across the wall, wondering what Elliot might have planned for tomorrow. Whatever he was going to do, the plan was to go with the flow because we didn't have the time to discuss the actual plan. But If I was going to Elysia now, it meant I would see Elliot as well and I could also talk about tomorrow with him. Whatever plan he had, I could help and discuss with him as well.

We will stop the wedding anyhow. We will.

Nothing was going to go wrong tomorrow.