It was a bit chaotic over the next hour. I’d sent Oslo back to Lucien’s castle with some trusted guards to remain with Arwen’s twins until this was over. Soldiers watched wearily as the kings and queens of Avalier amassed in the front of their castle steps. They were disarmed by our wolves and asked to wait off to the side. Their queen’s head was displayed on a spike in the center of town for all to see. The war was over, and we would not tolerate any uprising. Arwen and Drae had just arrived and now we were all assembled.
General Ibsen had surrendered and left to fetch Queen Zaphira’s eldest heir. Apparently, she kept them spread apart within her realm.
We’d blown the horn of surrender and the fighting at the borders had ceased as well.
We released the prisoners from the dungeon and every Nightfall citizen was told to wait in their homes. A curfew was in effect and we wanted as few people on the streets as possible in case there was a skirmish with the new Nightfall king.
We were about to tell Zaphira’s son that we’d killed his mother and the war with our people was over. If he didn’t pledge an alliance with us, we’d kill him too. She had six more living sons if I’d heard Drae right. So we’d kill each one until one of them signed a peace treaty with our kind and stopped the fighting.
The moments ticked by and then finally two men rode through the open gates, each atop a horse.
One was General Ibsen and the other was a man whom I assumed to be the new king of Nightfall. As he neared, I took him in. He sat tall and was muscular. More than the elves, less than the wolven. His dark wavy hair fell in a stylish quiff to his sharp chin and his eyes were dark hazel. I was pleased to see that they held a kindness that his mother’s had lacked. It was hard to deny how handsome he was.
He stepped down off his horse and stood before all eight of us. He wore metallic battle armor with the Nightfall crest; it was clean and looked unused. It was clear he hadn’t been on the battlefield lately and was probably only wearing it as a formality. He glanced once at his mother’s head on the spike but I saw no emotion there. Either he was good at hiding it, or he simply didn’t care that she’d died.
Bowing his head deeply with respect, he met our gazes. “I am Prince Callen. I am told that my mother has been killed and we have surrendered in the war.”
He was all business and tough exterior, showing no emotion, which I respected.
Drae stepped forward: we had agreed he would speak on our behalf. “You are King Callen now. If you want it. We only require that you sign a one-hundred-year peace treaty to never start war with our realms again.”
Callen seemed to consider Drae’s words, peering around at his mother’s loyal warriors who stood on the outskirts of our conversation. “And if I don’t sign it?” he asked.
Okay, that wasn’t a good sign.
“Then we kill you and move to the next heir in your line of succession until one agrees.”
Callen looked like he’d expected that. “Right then, shall we take this negotiation inside?” he asked with a flick of his eyebrows.
There was something in his face. Something that said he had more to say but didn’t want to speak in front of his mother’s warriors.
Drae inclined his head. “It’s not a negotiation, but sure.”
With that, Axil and I led the way into the castle which had been cleared of his people and was now crawling with ours. A wolven warrior stood at the opening of every hall and doorway.
When Callen entered the castle, he moved to go to the dining room but I pulled out a hand to stop him.
“You’re not going to want to see what’s in there.”
Your mother’s headless body, I wanted to say.
Dawning realization played out on his face and he moved away from that door and to another. We stepped inside and found ourselves in a large study with a sparse desk and one chair behind it.
Callen moved behind the desk and sat in the chair as we all fanned out around it. Kailani closed the door.
Once we were in the private space, Callen let out a long sigh. “I apologize for my apparent reluctance to sign this treaty. I had to play coy for my mother’s loyalists.”
Drae nodded. “So you’ll sign the treaty?”
Callen brushed his fingers through his hair. “Of course. But I might not live through the night if I do. My mother was an extremist, she and I didn’t agree on anything. Her men are loyal to her ideals.” His hands shook a little and my heart softened. He was genuinely fearful for his life, that much was clear.
“Do you have your own army?” Drae asked him.
He reached up to rub his temples. “I would hardly call them an army. I have twenty loyal men at a fort about one hour’s ride east of here.”
Drae shared a look with Lucien who dipped his head in agreement. Lucien glanced at Axil and Raife, and then it was as if they all shared some unspoken understanding.
Drae cleared his throat. “Sign the treaty now and we will keep three hundred of our men posted here until you can transition over to new leadership. You’ll have to weed out who is loyal to your mother’s ideals and who would best serve you.”
Callen stilled, his mouth opening in shock. “You would do that?”
“We want this to be a lasting peace and will invest whatever it takes to do that,” Raife added.
It was a great idea and would be more lasting if he could dispose of his mother’s loyalists.
Callen looked over at the elf king and swallowed hard. “I’m … sorry for what my mother has done to your families and your people.”
An apology? I hadn’t expected that. These types of takeovers were usually fraught with tension.
“Were you close with her?” I asked, trying to gauge how this normal and seemingly kind human came from her.
He barked out a laugh. “She wasn’t capable of closeness. Or love. No, me and my brothers each stayed with her until we were seven. Then we were sent away to live elsewhere and raised by a nanny. None of us share a father. She just wanted heirs to continue her bloodline. My eldest brother was the only one she was close with and he’s dead.”
My heart tightened then. Only with his mother until seven and then on his own? It was horrible and I thought of Oslo in that moment and how young and sweet he was at seven. He’d needed so much love and reassurance then.
“Will your other brothers try to take over?” Raife asked. I could sense the concern in his voice now too.
Callen let out a shaky breath. “I … honestly don’t know. We aren’t close. She kept us apart. I doubt anyone wants the responsibility. We all have our own lands to manage and are all independently wealthy. We have no desire to rule a kingdom.”
The burden of one’s lineage was something I knew Axil could relate to and in that moment he slipped his hand into mine.
“Are you married? Children?” Drae asked him.
He shook his head. “I run a profitable ore mine, no time for a wife.”
Arwen chuckled at that. “Well, you’re king now, that means taking a wife and having children.”
We’d suddenly all taken to giving this young man counsel on how to rule.
He looked stunned then. “I guess so.”
He appeared so overwhelmed and I felt for him, but we needed to make sure that this was a smooth transition so that Nightfall never rose to power again.
“I have an idea,” I proposed and everyone looked at me. “King Callen, this is your chance to change things, make them better than they were before,” I told him and he nodded his head in agreement. “What if, along with signing the peace treaty, you agreed to take a wife from one of our realms?”
The entire room fell into a stunned silence. His mother had been a purist, humans against those of us with magic. And then when she couldn’t naturally have what we had, she stole it.
“It would send a message to your people that the new Nightfall kingdom is one of inclusion. Not just an empty peace treaty with our kind, but one married into with generations of heirs,” Drae added, seemingly delighted with my idea.
Callen swallowed hard, as if the very idea of marrying a woman who shifted into an animal terrified him. “Please forgive my ignorance, as I live on a mountain and do not travel often. Could I … have healthy children with someone who is not my kind?”
Kailani chuckled at that. “Of course! Your children will be half human, half whatever your wife is. They would have some of her abilities, whatever those might be. I’m half elf.”
He relaxed after hearing that and I had to remind myself that this man had been sheltered away in the mountains and probably fed lies about our people his entire life.
“It was just a suggestion,” Drae said. “But it might be too much of a leap from—”
“No, I think it’s a good idea. A marriage to bridge our kingdoms. I would be honored to choose a wife from any of your realms,” he said diplomatically but I could hear the nerves in his voice. I wondered if it was because he’d just agreed to choose a wife who carried magic, or that he’d have to get married at all. He was very handsome and young and had just admitted he was rich. I was betting he could have any woman he wanted where he lived. He’d have to give that up, become king and change his entire life overnight. It was a lot to process.
Drae pulled the prewritten treaty out and spread it across his desk. “Alright, well if you sign here, we can announce your desire to take a wife while our men are still posted here just in case there is backlash.”
He grasped his quill and ink. “I appreciate that,” he told Drae. “I can’t imagine that news will be taken well.”
“You might be surprised,” Kailani offered. “I grew up here and many of the people just did what your mother said because they were scared of her, not because they agreed.”
Drae held out a hand over the treaty, blocking Callen from signing. “Don’t you want to read it first?” he asked. “It also requires the destruction of all of your mother’s magic-stealing machines.”
Callen shivered. “I hated that invention. Good riddance. I just want peace upon our lands.”
Drae moved his hand and Callen signed easily as each one of us sighed in relief.
It was done and by my account it looked like Callen was already shaping up to be a decent king.
One by one we shook his hand and I had to admit he’d earned my respect. It would be hard for him from here on out but he seemed up to the task with a little help.
“And I hate to add another thing but your mother had aligned with the necromerians and we killed their king too. He’s in your dining room.” I winced as I told him.
His eyes bugged. “The necros?”
So I was right, he hadn’t been on the battlefield. The outfit was all for show.
“There might be retaliation for that. You will want to amass a council to give you advice,” Lucien offered.
“I need a drink,” Callen said and we all burst into laughter.
Drae reached across the desk and clapped Callen on the shoulder. “It will be okay, young king. Just pretend you have it all figured out, until you really do.”
“Noted,” Callen offered, but was wearing a rueful smile.
With that, we left. The war that I hadn’t even known about two weeks ago was over and now all that was left to do was bury our dead and mend our hearts.
