“Yes, that tends to happen when you get your arm chopped off,” Artima Lowe barked.
Emery felt completely humiliated by Petir’s outburst. He had tried his best to steer the meeting towards a successful outcome for everyone, but he knew Petir was not going to be satisfied.
However, the worst thing about it was that Emery instantly began to question himself and the decisions he was making.
Was Petir right?
Am I a coward?
“I’m sorry, Emery… but we cannot accept your terms,” Tobius said.
“And why the hell not?” the Old Bear spat begrudgingly.
“It’s simple, really. Ciana will be staying in Andervale with her husband. Wesley and Ciana were united before the Moon Mother. The True Luminance spoke the sacred words and they were Bled.”
“So have the marriage annulled, and we can forget any of this ever happened,” Emery said, getting more and more frustrated.
“That is not possible, I’m afraid,” Oren Harrin sighed. His tone and accent were obviously aimed at soothing Emery, but it was having the opposite effect. “Annulments do not exist in Caldaea. Once a couple is united before the Moon Mother, their unification is for life and death. A couple cannot separate, or even remarry after a spouse’s death.”
It took all of Emery’s willpower not to grab the closest object and hurl it at the infuriating men before him. Bennet Decaster continued to smirk at the realisation that Emery was losing his temper.
“There must be something you can do,” Emery said. He knew they only wanted to keep Ciana for the political claims her blood and name provided. A Seynard had not married so prestigiously for generations.
Ciana was a priceless gift for the Seynards, and Emery, staring down Tobius like a predatory bird, could see their true intentions behind the façade of religious decrees they had established.
“Perhaps there is something else we can negotiate on?” Oren Harrin asked. His calm demeanour was waning on Emery’s patience.
Dark clouds were beginning to roll in, blocking out some of the sun and blue sky with a lifeless grey. Thunder continued to rumble in the distance, but something about it seemed a little off. The clouds had a strange shimmer to them.
Emery did not let up on his deep, determined stare. “We are not leaving here without confirmation that Ciana will be returned home.”
“That is not going to happen, Emery. I will not be giving my son’s wife away,” Tobius said.
“Need I remind you of the treachery your House has already committed upon my family?” Emery threatened. “The maiming of my son, the incident in Crown Bay, and of course, this whole narrative about your son with my son’s wife?”
“All of which paints your House out to be nothing but treasonous and deceitful,” Artima Lowe added.
“All kings are liars,” Tobius shrugged. “Let me give it to you clearly, Emery. Your daughter is an incredibly valuable asset to us. You knew that! That’s why you married her off to bring an end to the war you were losing! She is going nowhere. Maybe after she’s shot out a few sons for my boy, I will give you what’s left of her. Until then, Ciana is a Seynard.”
Decaster snickered, his ginger hair ruffling in the growing wind. The bastard was enjoying Emery’s suffering.
Emery was seething. “How dare you-”
“King Emery, please,” Oren Harrin said gracefully, attempting to quell his anger. “King Tobius is happy to hear you out on any other requests you may have in order to come to an agreement.”
The thunder was growing louder as the sky grew darker. The sun was swallowed by billowing clouds. Something about it did not strike Emery as natural, however. Yet he was far too angry to even comprehend it.
Emery stood up from his seat, leaning forward with his hands on the tabletop in a menacing gesture to try staring his rival down.
“If you mean for us to go to war again, Tobius… be a man about it. Say it to my face.”
Tobius began to squirm like a nervous child at the threat, offering nothing in return but a quivering lip. Emery was seeing right through his false façade.
The shadows of the rowhouses grew longer on the streets. The Citadel seemed to groan. The air fell still.
Oren Harrin laughed nervously. “Nobody said anything about a war, King Emery.”
“I came to this armistice of yours to make peace with your people, and you return the favour by insulting my son, threatening my daughter, and questioning my intelligence,” Emery hissed.
Tobius launched up from his own chair, matching Emery’s cold stare across the table. “I’d choose my next words very carefully, if I were you,” he warned.
“I’ve made my conditions clear. You will have peace when Ciana is returned to me,” Emery said.
“That is never going to happen.”
Emery could say nothing more. He glared at the king, holding a strong expression upon his own face. He was not going to give in.
A crack of thunder exploded from the sky above Tellersted, so loud that the goblets on the table vibrated. Flashes of red and orange blinked within the storm clouds.
It was so sudden that everything else went as silent as a graveyard. Those at the meeting peered up into the sky as an air of uncertainty spread amongst them.
“What was that?” Bennet Decaster said.
“Sudden thunderstorm, my lord?” one of his guards suggested. “Shall we move indoors?”
The flashes were unlike any lightning Emery had ever seen. The clouds were glowing, like a spectacular fire in the sky.
A deafening rumble came before another boom rocked through the city, far louder than the previous one. The entire earth appeared to shake with it.
Windows rattled before shattering, sending millions of pieces of glass raining into the streets. Townspeople began to run and scream, fleeing for shelter as the strange thunder escalated in both volume and
