The next day went as usual for the family. Or so it seemed.
Aramith's mind didn't stop going wild with thoughts of the previous day's encounter. The girl's declaration, Lia being poisoned, it was all a mess in his head, but he did his best not to show it
Mozrael noticed a few things, but she didn't dwell on them as they didn't seem to be anything major- Aramith spending less time on his walks, and more time in the Library, reading faster than usual...the signs were there, but she didn't interrupt him. It was on the second day, when they were reading in the library again that he asked a question and she started to think.
"Is it possible to add more poison to increase the effects of that specific poison, or adding more would just kill the person?"
The question sounded out of place in the quiet library, and for a while Mozrael ignored it, thinking he was just reading out loud.
But-
"Mozrael?"
She raised her head and saw him intently looking at her.
"I asked if it's possible for the effects of a poison to increase if more of it is given to the person, or it will just kill the person like an overdose?" He sounded so serious, that Mozrael hesitated, observing his expression. But then she realized he was waiting for an answer.
She cleared her throat and then answered carefully. "I don't know, but it should depend on the poison."
Aramith nodded like a student listening to a teacher, then continued to read.
Mozrael looked back in her book, but her mind wasn't in there at all.
After a while of mulling it over, she decided to get up.
"A-Aramith?"
He looked up without saying a word.
"Can I… look?" She gestured at his book hesitantly.
He shrugged. "If you want to."
As she stepped closer, her eyes skimmed over the contents, and realization dawned. He wasn't reading about cultivation. Every book on the table detailed poisons, their effects, antidotes, the time required for symptoms to appear and subside.
The current page he was reading was about how the effects of a poison can change depending on the dosage.
Her stomach twisted.
He's trying to figure out what happened to Lia.
She didn't bother him after that and just went back to reading her own book, though her mind barely registered anything in what she read.
The next day bled into another, time slipping unnoticed. But Aramith noticed—he was running out of it. He needed answers. He wanted to prove to himself that he could be of help- more help than a stranger.
Aramith paced the halls, the weight of uncertainty pressing against his mind. Two days had passed since the girl set out to investigate the poisoning, and the wait gnawed at him. His refuge had become the library, where he pored over every recorded case of poisoning in royal history, dissecting symptoms, and antidotes.
Mozrael sat across from him, her gaze flickering between the books he had spread out and the tension etched into his face. His fingers curled tightly around the spine of a thick tome, eyes scanning lines of text that no longer registered.
She wanted to say something—reassure him, distract him, anything—but every time she opened her mouth, the words faltered.
Then, with a sharp exhale, Aramith snapped his book shut.
"I'm going out for air. Are you coming?"
It wasn't really a question.
Today was the day the girl would come with her findings- if she were to keep to her word. He felt very uneasy about the whole situation.
Outside, the cool breeze and the warm kiss of sunlight helped calm him down a bit, but the effect was almost negligible the moment his mind started racing again.
They weren't outside for long before Aramith saw the same silver-white hair, the same choker, a different dress, but still white.
His chest tightened, breath short. The answer was near. Too near. He made for Henndar's study. That was where Henndar would be, and that was where she was being accompanied.
Henndar was expecting the girl, and couldn't hide the slight confusion that crossed his face when Aramith barged in with Mozrael following close behind.
"Is there something you need?" He asked, eyebrows raised.
Aramith nodded, breathless. "I need to be here. I need to know what she found."
Understanding flickered across Henndar's face. Under normal circumstances, he would have sent Aramith away, explained that this wasn't his concern. But there was something different this time—the intensity in the boy's gaze, the weight in his voice. Apart from that, this was the first time he'd requested something from Henndar in a while, so he couldn't find it in himself to say no.
Henndar agreed but told them to stay quiet. He ordered them to sit close as they waited for the girl to enter.
They didn't have to wait long beforea knock sounded at the door. Permission was granted and she stepped in with all the confidence in the world painted all over her.
Two soldiers flanked her sides, accompanying rather than restricting, and then, the room fell into silence.
The girl didn't waste time as she approached the table and placed two things before Henndar.
A single glance at the table was enough to make Henndar's expression harden.
First was a detailed list of names- Nobles, servants, and a few merchants. All either connected to the poisoning, or suspected.
The second item was a vial containing a murky liquid. Henndar scanned it and realized it had the same composition as what Aiden had shown him the other time.
Henndar thought for a while as he looked through the list. A few of them matched a list he got earlier. She was right.
But still...
"Who did you work with to get these?" Henndat made sure she was tailed and knew the answer, but he still wanted to hear from her.
The girl shook her head. "I work alone in matters such as this. Especially when I need to get something."
His eyes narrowed. "You knew far too much, far too quickly."
Kesha leaned back, folding her arms. "I take my work seriously. You should too." She wasn't looking down on him, just saying what she thought.
Henndar placed the list on the table. "I can't say I truly trust you, but you have helped me in this matter."
She raised an eyebrow, knowing where this was going.
"Out of respect, I will grant you your request. Just don't overstep. And since this is a personalatter as you said, I believe you will not involve your empire in this."
The girl thought for a bit, then took something out.
"I wasn't going to give this to you, but since I'll be requesting something important, I believe it would only be fair. I made an antidote to cure the sleeping girl. If you don't trust it, you could let some skilled people check it."
It was another vial, but this time, it contained a clear crystal-blue liquid.
Once again, Henndar was on the receiving end. He told the soldiers in the room to excuse them, then focused on the girl again.
"Your behavior is strange. You've already made your point, so tell me what you want."
Just as the tension thickened, her gaze shifted to Aramith. She studied him for a moment with an alluring smirk playing at her lips.
Then, as if discussing the weather, she lifted a hand and pointed at him.
"He," she paused, her smirk growing ",will be my husband."
"WHAT?"
"WHAT?"
"WHAT?"
She met Henndar's gaze evenly. "You heard me."
Silence. Pure, deafening silence.
Mozrael stared at the girl as if she had just declared that the sky was edible. Henndar's face contorted into an unreadable expression. Aramith, on the other hand, looked like he had just been hit by a falling star—his eyes distant, and his mind was getting more and more confused down by the second.
Suddenly, without warning, the girl stepped forward and took Aramith's face in her hands, pressing her nose against his.
"I accept no objections," she stated, her icy tone somehow contradicting the possessive glint in her eyes. "You belong to me now," she inhaled deeply, a small but noticable expression of ecstasy appearing on her beautiful face before disappearing.
"Your scent is enough for me to want you, and there's even more about you."
Aramith stiffened as though he had been turned to stone. Slowly, very slowly, he attempted to move his head back, but she followed, keeping their noses touching. He shifted left, she mirrored. He leaned right, she pursued. A horrifying game of cat and mouse, except he was trapped, and the cat had already decided he was hers.
Mozrael took one step forward, her voice calm but laced with lethal intent. "Let. Him. Go."
The girl didn't even spare her a glance. "No."
Henndar, at this point, was holding his head in his hands. "Mozrael, calm down."
"I am calm."
Henndar turned to the girl. "Lady, you can't just waltz in and decide something like—"
A loud CLANG cut him off.
Everyone turned.
Mozrael stood there, gripping a sword that none of them had seen her bring in. A very real, very sharp sword. The tip of it scraped ominously against the floor as she took a slow step forward.
"Where... where did you get that?" Henndar asked cautiously.
Henndar squinted. "Where did you get that?"
Mozrael tilted her head. "Wouldn't you like to know where it's going?"
Aramith, still trapped in the girl's iron grip, made a strangled sound as she nonchalantly ran her fingers through his hair. "He is soft. He will make a good husband."
"That sword is dangerous," Henndar tried to calm Mozrael down.
Mozrael ignored him. "You're dead."
The girl remained unimpressed. "No, I'm engaged."
Henndar quickly put himself between them. "Alright, alright! Let's put the weapon down and talk about—"
"I'd rather put it in her."
Her tone surprised Henndar.
The girl turned to Mozrael and spoke nonchalantly "Listen to your father and put that toy down."
Mozrael twirled the sword. "I'd rather put this in you."
Aramith, meanwhile, was engaged in his own life-or-death struggle. He was trying to pry the girl off him, but she clung like a stubborn vine. "Let. Go. Of. Me!"
She glanced at him as if he were a petulant child. "Stop struggling. It's already decided."
"BY WHO?!"
Mozrael lunged. Henndar caught her by the back of her collar. "No. Killing."
"It will be a mistake."
"No."
A loud BAM! interrupted them. The grand doors burst open, revealing Kethra, standing tall with a single hand raised.
Vines shot out, coiling around the girl and yanking her away from Aramith. She landed a few feet away, still eerily composed.
Kethra sighed, brows creased as her gaze sweeping over the chaos. "Henndar. How did you let this happen?"
Henndar groaned. "Why am I getting blamed?!"
Mozrael hurled a fireball at the girl. Kethra swatted it away with a flick of her hand, barely sparing her daughter a glance.
"Sorry," Mozrael said blandly. "Slipped." She was anything but sorry, you see she was still frowning.
Kethra exhaled. "Mozrael, no murdering our guests." Kethra found Mozrael's intense enmity overbearing.
Mozrael glared at the girl. "She's NOT our guest."
The girl smoothed her clothes, unbothered. "I'll be family soon enough."
Mozrael conjured another fireball.
"Don't." Kethra shook her head.
"Fine."
Silence fell as all eyes turned to Aramith.
He sat there, eyes vacant, staring at nothing.
Henndar waved a hand in front of his face. No reaction.
Mozrael snapped her fingers. Nothing.
Kethra tilted her head. "What's wrong with him?"
Henndar sighed. "I think... his brain just shut down." As a man, he understood the pressure.
The girl nodded approvingly. "Good. He's accepting it."
Mozrael grabbed her sword again. "HE IS NOT."
She ignored Mozrael and went to Aramith's side, but Henndar pulled her aside as a fireball rushed past her.
"Mozrael. I thought I said, no harming?"
Mozrael just looked at Henndar defiantly. "Then keep her away."
"Do you even know who I am?" She asked Mozrael seriously.
"I don't and I don't care. Just keep your distance."
The girl shook her head. "No wonder. Fine. I'll introduce myself. I am Kesha Frostborn from the Glacial Empire." She smirked at Mozrael.
"Who cares?"