Almost a month.

It had been almost a month since a princess of Dragonsbane was forcefully taken from the kingdom, it had been almost a month of continuous deliberation and persuasion, with only a handful of them willing to risk going into the kingdom of Astaroth to rescue back princess Lyra. King Kade weighed his options, the queen, Gwyn, offered little or no input, and Jenny made her own choice clear that they just let everything be. But to let everything be was to allow Astaroth to do as they wanted and be free, to let everything be was to give permission for other kingdoms to do the same if they so wished to.

But then, the will to ensure the people of their safety within Dragonsbane dominated the King’s thought of peace, and he had no choice but to give his blessing. Finally, the plan to go rescue the Dragonsbane princess was being debated on and finalized, and no one could be more excited than Eris himself. 

He stood at the head of the table, surrounded by the other generals of Dragonsbane and a few more soldiers. The party would not be much so as not to draw any form of attention to themselves, they were not going to start or instigate a war against the kingdom of Astaroth. No, that would be madness. They were simply going to retrieve what was theirs.

What was forcefully taken away from them.

Deltora was the kingdom’s capital, and it was here, in the Duke’s mansion that they had agreed to meet and debate and finalize, to assemble and to get ready, because the whole rescue plan was handed over to Eris Dumieres, Duke of Deltora, and it would be from here that they would move out towards Astaroth.

“It is a two-day ride from here to the borders of the kingdom’s capital. Two days from here to Kilead, the capital of Astaroth.” A general spoke up, fondling the hilt of his sword which rested in the sheath hanging by his waist.

Eris grunted, his expression straight and focused. He studied the map that was laid out on the table in front of them, detailing the different routes they could possibly take and the one they had decided to tread on. The kingdom of Astaroth was much larger than any of the other kingdoms surrounding it, and it was definitely much stronger and more powerful too, but they only needed to sneak in, take the princess and flee. And that was their plan.

“Good.” He spoke and stood up straight and took a deep breath in, his eyes never leaving the spot where the kingdom of Astaroth had been drawn on the map. “Good.” He repeated.

“When do we leave sire?” A soldier asked.

“It’s high noon, I say we leave immediately.”

“Aye, sire. I will ready the horses so long.” The soldier bowed and then spun around towards the door before making his way out.

“Alright,” Eris clapped his hand once as he spoke. “All ready, said and done, let’s not waste any more precious time. We will…”

“Eris!” He was cut off with a yell. Interrupted by his wife and duchess of Deltora, who had barged in and was walking towards him, anger in each step. Eris sighed and waved a hand, dismissing the men so he could be alone with Jenny.

“Ready the horses and the weapons, I will be with you shortly.” He addressed them.

Jenny waited until the last one of them had left and until she heard the door shut before she spoke. She did not want it to seem like she was not in support of her sister being rescued, but she also knew it was more than just rescuing a princess of Dragonsbane.

“You’re doing this, Eris?” Her voice was low and pained, almost like tears disturbed the sounds that came out of her mouth.

He looked at her, and a frown crossed his eyebrows briefly. “What do you mean by I’m doing this? Of course, I’m doing this, this task was handed to me. So of course I’ll be doing this because I have to.”

“You have to or you want to?”

“Your sister, the queen of Dragonsbane, and her husband, the king of Dragonsbane have given their support and their blessings. This is no longer just my choice, Jenny. And you know that.” He said and turned away from her back to the table and continued studying the map.

“I know that because they are the king and Queen of Dragonsbane. They have a duty to their people and a duty to Lyra because she is supposed to be their daughter in the eyes of the people. But you…” She came up to him, leaning on the side of the table beside him so she could look at his face. “What duty do you have towards her, Eris?”

He looked up at her face, the frown clear. “What duty?”

She sniffed and stood straight. “Who are you going to rescue?”

“What do you mean, Jenny. You know who…”

“Are you going to rescue the princess of Dragonsbane, or are you going to rescue your lover?”

“Jennifer!” He yelled, slamming his fist on the table. “Enough of your nonsense!”

“Or what?!” She wiped off a tear from her cheek aggressively and sniffed. “Or what, Eris. Do you think I don’t know that you still love her? That you still have some feelings for her? That you hadn’t agreed to this marriage in the first place but had to be persuaded when we had clearly bonded!”

“Jennifer, that is enough. I do not want to have this conversation with you anymore.” He turned to leave but Jenny ran in front of him to block his path. He sighed and looked away to the floor, placing his hands on his hips.

“I know for a fact that you still want her, you’ve always had…”

“Jennifer!” 

“It has been thirty-eight years! we have a grown-up son together and yet every time you hear her name or see her, you become incapable of controlling yourself. She’s not even a total human!” She yelled at him.

“You are thinking too much Jenny, this is just a rescue plan. To rescue your sister…”

“She is not my sister!” She blurted out and the room went silent. Eris stared at her in disbelief, his eyebrows furrowed in surprise and his mouth hanging slightly open. Jenny sniffed and turned away from him, she could not believe she had just said that. And out loud too.

“She’s not my sister.” She whispered and sniffed again, trying to hold back the tears.

Eris knew that she was not exactly far from the truth. Yes, he still liked Lyra, just as much as he had when they had first met, and although she had made it very clear in her attitude and expression that she did not like him, it did not deter him from pursuing her, until that night when everything had gone south. He still loved her. And he knew that he was not being fair to Jenny but he wasn’t able to control what he felt, and how he felt for Lyra.

Eris sighed and approached Jenny, placing his hands on her shoulder but she shook him off. “Just go, Eris.”

“Jenny, listen…”

“I don’t want to hear it, just go!” She sniffed and took several steps away from him. “Just go, please. Go rescue your princess of Dragonsbane.”

Eris stood a while, just watching her shoulder heave up and down and hearing her sniff. He knew the woman he married, if she didn’t want to talk, then she would not. Maybe he knew that he should not leave with her in the state that she was in, but he turned and reached for his sword on the table behind him and walked out of the room. He would go for Lyra and he did not need Jenny’s approval for that.

Revvyn waited quietly at the door until he could hear nothing else but the sniffing sounds from inside the room, he turned and poked his head in to see his mother on the floor crying, and his heart went out to her. He sighed and walked in quietly. He knew his parents were having some sort of trouble but never in his wildest dreams would he have imagined that it had something to do with his cousin, Lyra.

He walked up to his mother, went down on the floor and gather her in his arms. Jenny did not look up to see who had come in and held her, she did not need to, she knew the scent of her son.

“I’m sorry Rev.”

“It’s alright mother.” He hugged her closer and kissed her hair. “It’s alright.”