Chapter 27

Marching past the long table set in the middle of the Throne Room, I carefully observe the few men that watch me with contempt in their eyes. My stride is even, my back straight and shoulders back. With my head held high, I do my best to show these men that they do not scare me. If anything, they should fear me.

I nearly faulter when a mass of curly red hair crosses my gaze and I spot a woman sitting there, her own back straight and head held high. Her picture was not on the list of names and an idea of who she must be intrigues me. Suppressing a chuckle, I make it to the temporary throne that was placed at the end of the table. The Butlers did an amazing job setting this room for the meeting.

Taking my seat, I thank Alice as she hands me a binder, Sky and Arian taking the two seats positioned on my left and right while Lia, Mia and Alice stand behind me. Max, Mika and Alec take their position with one of them standing behind Sky, Arian and me respectively. Flipping open the binder, I look at the list of names and move to the last one. Taylor Knight.

"Is it safe to assume you are Taylor Knight?" I turn to face the woman, a smile on my face as I take in her appearance. She wears the uniform of a General, the dark blue -almost black- fabric fitted to her body. Her overcoat is pressed to perfection, covering the white dress shirt underneath. Her insignia on the left shoulder states she is a Brigadier-General, the lowers rank of all Generals. Although this is a semi-formal meeting, she does not wear a beret on her head, instead it sits on the table to the left of her neatly clasped hands. The hash marks on her sleeves tells me she has been in the military for ten years, making her the youngest General at this table. I am intrigued, ready to hear how she came to this rank.

"Yes, your Highness." She answers, her voice clear and firm filled with the authoritative tone fit for her rank. I nod, deciding not to give her too much attention for now as there are more pressing matter at hand.

"Well, thank you for your service in the Royal Nimairene Armed Forces. Now, if you can all turn your attention to the binders in front of all of you, I would like to start today's meeting."

"You mean a meeting about nothing." Someone scoffs as soon as I finish speaking. Looking to the far right of the table, a man with a balding head and closely shaven beard leans back in his chair, glaring at me. Frowning, I glance at the list of Generals and nearly grinned like the Cheshire cat. He was one of Juden's men.

"General Penn Gibson, leader of my military." I call out, watching his eyes widen.

"If you have a problem with this meeting, state it now." I order, watching him slowly sit straighter in his chair.

"Oh I have a problem all right. You come in demanding a meeting when we have more pressing matters to deal with!" Slamming his fist on the table, General Gibson lets known his frustrations until his voice is nearly shouting at me. Sky and Arian move to defend me, but I stop them. I do not need them to fight my battles.

"What pressing matters do you have that is more important than meeting your Princess and soon to be Queen?" I ask, giving him a friendly smile. I need to draw him into my trap, get him to tie the noose I plan to hang him with.

"How about relief to the poor in the outer provinces. Or maintaining the borders with the Crorus Kingdom to the south of us." He continues ranting on how he had to rush here on a last minute flight due to a fight caused by the civilians where his men are stationed, how they came demanding food and medical care. Listening to him continue his rant, a few men agree with him while others stay quiet two of the younger men rolling their eyes. His rant finally ends, his yelling and screaming finally over as he takes a long sip of his water. The trap is set and now it is the final blow.

"I know all about the fight caused by the people in Roten City. How they experienced a flood by the unusual rain fall this summer and many of their crops were destroyed. What I also know is that relief funds were set and would have been enough to sustain them and the surrounding villages and farmlands. I also know that just after the money reached your area of command, your family received many new items from clothing to jewelry to even vehicles." I state, my voice even as I pull out a list from my binder and set it onto the table.

"If all of you please take a look at the paperwork under "Juden Trilavantas men" you will see a list of names from Privets all the way up to General." I watch as the few men set to be arrested pale, their expressions changing from one of agreement to one of fear.

"You'll be happy to know that my Army is being cleaned up just like how my Royal Guards were cleaned up." With this line, the doors to the throne room are thrown open and fifty guards run in, guns in fifteen of their hands while the others work on capturing and arresting twelve of the twenty seven attending Generals.

"Those now cuffed are under arrest for crimes against the Crown including theft and embezzlement of relief funds, unlawful torture of civilians, accepting bribes within military ranks, conspiring with a Traitor, conspiring treason to dethrone the rightful monarch. And many other charges." Many of the Generals still seated look at me with awe and fear, making me wonder what they are thinking witnessing this spectacle.

"Arian has already collected evidence against you all and your family. Lieutenant-General Kolten Elliot and his men have helped co-ordinate the arrest of military personal that conspired with you and will be sent to military prison while awaiting their trial. All of you will be executed alongside Juden Trilavantas. Take them away men." The room slowly clears, leaving me standing at the end of the table looking at the remaining Generals in front of me.

"That was bad ass." Taylor chimes in from her seat, her face lighting up as she begins to laugh. I find myself smiling along side her before I too begin to laugh. Sitting on my chair, I lean back and accept the glass of water from Alice, taking a long drink.

"If it makes you all feel better, Lieutenant-General Elliot had to be vetted and interrogated for twenty four hours before he was allowed in on the plan." Sky chimes in.

"And unable to sleep during that time." Lieutenant-General Elliot calls out with a bit of mock anger in his voice.

"Blame me for that. I had to make sure I had someone I can trust to be the leader of my Army." I sigh out, motioning to the binder.

"Sorry about the commotion but this meeting was a farce to perform a coup d'état in the military and take back control over it. Juden's men are like fleas. You think you got them all but then a few show up unannounced. You are all free to take the binders and read what they are all being charged with but know that I have also thoroughly investigated every last one of you and your men." I continue explaining before my eyes lock in on Brigadier-General Taylor Knight.

"All except for you. You are a wild card." She laughs, standing from her chair and performing a salute, her green eyes filled with warms and laughter.

"I am honoured to be a part of your military Ma'am and promise to be loyal and just as a General in the Royal Nimairene Armed Forces."

"At ease. Today is informal between all of us now that the Traitors are gone." I wave her off, chuckling as she lets out a sigh of relief before plopping herself in her chair. With the large scale arrest made, I feel more at ease talking to the remaining fifteen Generals in the room. Brigadier-General Ryu Riordan suggests we go through the binder and come up with a plan to weed out any more Traitors that might have been missed and any men they believe should be promoted to help maintain the order in our military.

"One of the things we should do is cross training with the Navel, Armed and Air forces." Taylor suggests, a smile on her face.

"That is a good suggestion, Alice write it down." Sky agrees instantly. An hour into our talk, Alice became the scribe in keeping track of ideas we could perform to increase efficiency in the military. One of them being sending everyone from Privet to General for retraining at base located two hours away from Zalaris. From there we can see who deserves a promotion and who will be demoted.

After two house, Ellisia brought in dinner for us, the room filling with buffet style meal. What I thought would be a quick thirty minute meeting turned into a three hour one as we went to work in restructuring how our recruitment and training process will change to better Nimairene's defence.

We were all just sitting around the table, formalities thrown away with drinks in our hands. We agreed that this will need more than one day of discussion and with an agreement to implement the easiest changes of training and recruitment, we agreed to take a month of restructuring the Military before we gather once again.

"Taylor and Kolten stay back please." I call out as my Generals stand, ready to retire for the night in the rooms prepared for the night.

"Kolten in five days time my Cabinet will meet to discus laws, some are military laws." With the room cleared of everyone but my Elite, I begin to explain why I held Kolten back.

"Okay, so what do you need from me?" Confused, Kolten takes a seat beside Arian on the left, Taylor sitting beside him.

"Well, with Gibson now imprisoned, I will be promoting you as my General, leader of the Royal Nimairene Armed Forces. You will be stationed in the Capitol and so will your men." Shock crosses Kolten's face, his grey eyes shimmering with unshed tears.

"So why was I held back?" Taylor cuts in after I ask for Kolten to stay behind for the next week as I will need his help with these ideas we all came up with.

"You will be helping me train an all female team. You will become Kolton's Lieutenant-General and will help with creating a strong task force of women that can be used for espionage and relaying information throughout the Royal Nimairene Armed Forces. We will find a location for them to be trained in and I want you to pick out women you know from the Naval and Air forces to bring in." Her green eyes lights up and within seconds Taylor is saluting me once more, sincerity towards me for this opportunity shown in every ounce of her being.

"Thank you, your Highness. This is a life changing opportunity." She gushes, tears falling from her eyes. I smile, telling her to remain here for a week so that we all may converse about this arrangement before I dismiss them to bed. They must be tired from their flight here and time differences. Tomorrow I can meet with these two and discus plans moving forward.

"So that was a longer meeting than expected." Arian sighs out, leaning against his chair and letting down his hair. Sky reaches for the bourbon on the table, pouring a healthy amount into his glass before throwing his head back and gulping it in one go. Arian takes the bottle and directly drinks from it as Alice, Mia, Lia, Mika, Max and Alec join us at the table, bringing the food from the side table and placing it between all of us.

"You know, I did not expect the future Queen to be so laid back." Mia muses, throwing a grape at me. Chuckling, I throw one back at her and cheer when she catches it in her mouth.

"That's because like me, Alli grew up in the slums." Arian states with a smirk, handing the bottle of bourbon to me. I happily take a swig from the bottle. Enjoying this moment with people I am slowly considering my friends.

"And some how we both ended up in the Palace." Scrunching my face from the spiciness of the bourbon, I place the bottle back on the table and reach for some water. I think I will stick with wine.

"Anyways, there are going to be some changes coming in the next few days." Everyone around the table quiets as I look between Sky and Arian. Adam and Ellisia were right when they said Arian would make a good Captain of the Guards.

"I did some thinking when I was working in my Study." Taking a deep breath, I face Arian. He is reliable, organized and a strong leader. With him in command, I know my Guards are in good hands with him.

"Arian, in the next few days you will be promoted to Captain of the Guards." I state, watching his grey eyes widen. With a smile, I turn to look at Sky catching him watching me with a gentle gaze.

"Am I fired?" He asks, reaching out and taking my hand.

"No. You are still a Captain, its just your team only has five other people." Clasping his hand in mine, I look to the five other people at the table, Alice giving me a knowing smirk.

"Everyone, please congratulate Sky in being promoted to Captain of the Violet Guards." I state, the table erupting into cheers.

"Why Violet Guards. Why not the Elite?" Mika asks, pouring juice into is glass.

"Because the only people in the world to have violet eyes are members of the Royal family. And you six are Guards for only me and any future family I may have." Voicing my thoughts, I lean back in my chair after releasing Sky's hand. It feels nice having a table full of people to talk to. People I can trust with my life and in return have them trust me with theirs. The only people missing are Ellisia, Adam, Ron and Liz.

"Arian, you and Sky will need to work together planning the security for future events as well as the general security of the Palace." Accepting a glass of orange juice from Sky, I explain what I expect from them.

"That can be done." With an agreement made, I reach into my pocket and stand, passing around the pins I brought earlier.

"I had these made for everyone to wear in the Violet Guards. You actually have Adam to thank for the name." Watching as everyone stares at their pin, I return to my spot and hand the last one to Arian.

"He works closely beside Ellisia as her Guard but is also our spy within the Palace. Both are members of the Violet Guards but we will not disclose this to anyone outside this room." Turning to Sky, I hand a pin to him before turning to hand the last one to Arian.

"And with Arian as Captain of the Guards, he will wear one on the inside of his blazer attached to the inside pocket. I trust you all, even if I met a few of you today." Everyone begins to silently put their pin on, the amethyst shining in the light.

"Now, it is currently five at night and it has been a long day. Ellisia should have gotten your rooms ready by now so go pack what ever belongings you have and make your way to my wing of the Palace." With that, I stand and leave the Throne Room, deciding that I need a snack and maybe some time to relax. Familiar footsteps behind me lets me know that Sky is catching up and I slow my pace.

"Where to Alli?" He asks, coming to stand beside me and bumping my shoulder playfully with his.

"The kitchen. I want to get some cookies andmilk and a nap." Resuming my walk, I take Sky's hand in mine and drag himalongside me. He chuckles, allowing me to take the lead until we make our wayto the royal kitchen where I happily get to work ransacking the dessert sideand fill a basket with freshly baked chocolate chip cookies as Sky grabs acarton of milk and two glasses. I wave to Theon on our way out before Sky and Ihead to my bedroom. Maybe I can convince him to watch a movie with me and takethe rest of the night off.