The Noble: A Fenrir Godspeed X MC Romance

22: Tactics

(Kelly's P.O.V)

"You shouldn't be here." 

I stepped into Ray's office, but could hardly get past the door. Stacks of papers and books lined the floors in heaps, and various different maps of Cradle set with pawn's occupying various area's sat amongst the coffee table, office desk, and even nearly falling off the sill of the fireplace.

I swallowed heavily at Ray's forboding words, watching as he sauntered back and forth between his desk and the coffee table. His exhausted eyes that carried dark, heavy circles underneath them, looked over one map, moved a few pawns, then angrily turned away as he shuffled back to the next map.

Without his lieutenants, Ray was attempting to strategize the next moves of the Red Army on his own. All of his work, amongst the rest of his troupe, was piling up ontop of him..

Almost like...it was burying him.

"I came to talk about the night Sirius was stabbed." 

I had to reach deep into my heart to take out the courage to stand up to Ray. The King of Spades was beyond overwhelmed, and I knew that I was distracting him by being here. 

But only I knew what I saw that night. And it was important.

"There's no need. I already know everything about it." The King of Spades dismissed me once again as he leant over the map of Cradle that sat on his office desk. He furrowed his eyebrows and swiped all the pawns off of the various area's, then took them in his hand and began setting them up again, one by one.

I took a deep breath and carefully stepped over a large pile of folder's sitting in a heap on the ground by the door.

"You don't know everything, Ray. I promise you, I --"

thump!

The sound of the King's fist slamming itself on the table made me jump. I gasped and looked up as our eyes met.

His stare...it was everything painful that I couldn't possibly explain. It was sorrow, anger, resentment, confusion, and struggle...all mixed into one.

Ray grit his teeth.

"Our men are dying on the front lines. I'm using the bedroom's of our soldiers to house to wounded - my own best friend's room has been turned into an emergency room."

The thought of Ray having no choice but to use Fenrir's room as a ward for the fallen squeezed my heart painfully. In two days time, the King had gone from a calm, collected leader, to an overwhelmed militant.

"Alice...I know you mean well. But I don't have the time. Where I need you now, is tending to the wounded, so they can go back out and fight." In that instant, his eyes tore from mine and began once again searching for a solution on his map.

"I'm running out of option's. If I don't get a handle on this war soon, we'll-"

"Ray, it wasn't Edgar." 

I knew telling Ray now was going to cause even more pain and struggle in him. I knew that complicating things more was going to hinder him. But I had to try. I didn't have many options left to help, but I knew in my heart that I couldn't just sit back and watch the Black Army fall...

If Ray could understand what was really going on, and pivot towards the true enemy with any of the connections he had left...

Maybe my information was what could truly win this war, and bring Fenrir back to us.

I stepped forward again, this time with as much conviction as I could muster. The King looked up to me in confusion.

"What do you mean?"