The King Trials 2: Beyond.

~Letting It All Go~

Primus Kelan P.O.V

"I will heed to this farce no longer!"

"Then leave," I prompt.

"....No."

My rear slams against the chair pain lances through my back—I cover it before Reinsbure can see. I loathe how he can do that, then he burdens me with his own concerns. I shift uncomfortably, seated behind an arched table that meanders in front of the oversized window. Peculiar. But at least a great source of light.

The thought of rouge Avangard soldiers is deplorable. Let alone ones that have been contributing to this mayhem is even more mortifying. But I have muted my reservations and widened my vision to all the prospects on the grim to grisly spectrum of possibilities. It is all too alarming that terror factions from Urium would plague foreign counterparts that have no business or reason to care for the politics of our realm, and the plight of our regime.

"That tavern-scoundrel could have been lying."

"But why those lies?"

I stare off into the distance, waiting patiently for his rebuttal.

"Wait." His footsteps thud closer to me. "What is this?"

My head rotates to watch him snap forward, snatching the letter off the table, skimming over it before he skewers me with an aghast look. He holds it up and waves it pointedly.

"The letter sent to Duce Merian. Why do you have it?" He shoots out a hand. "No, no. I should ask what absurd conspiracy have you spun now, pertaining to the Crown's summoning, directly from the High King?"

"I thought you agreed that a measure of validity has diluted the absurd factor in my theories."

He tosses it back. "You are not answering my very direct question."

"There is something awry about the summoning." I flick my hand towards it. "The instructions, in particular, it was oddly specific about the routes we had to take. If he feared that alternatives would have been compromised or that there is a crisis we are yet to be appraised of. Understood. But I recognise these roads."

My eyes gesture to it.

Groaning irritably, he picks it back up and rereads it.

"All those roads are unmonitored; I do not believe that there is a military presence stationed out there, at nearly any of the appointed landmarks. If this was a matter of the realm's security or the safety of the purebloods. Why choose unpatrolled routes?"

"The mountain pass at Ravenpeak, along the Lapice river to Fanghills is monitored by a Vanguard garrison," he says with certainty.

I shake my head. "The outpost was decommissioned; they were relocated further to the border. I remember because General Deport informed me that there was a lot of terror activity straddling the crossing near the kingdom of Aelron. I personally notified their bureau, commanding them to send more troops to the region, and discourage nomad aggression."

His certainty falls from his face.

"Exactly." I pivot my shoulders to observe him better. "Which is why I will not gamble any more risks. If by chance this is a forgery." My anger breaches a new tier in a millisecond. "I will not stupidly walk into yet another ambush. No. This time I will be several steps ahead."

"And what if the High King truly awaits our advent?"

I casually throw up a hand. "It will not matter; we will travel to Urium. We have no choice but to, regardless of the summoning. The troubles that brew like the wind, where it comes, and where it goes, is yet to be known. The only thing I will change is how we get there; it will take the same duration, but I will use different routes."