Realm of the Sun

Chapter 6

Nervous was not the word Sylas would use to describe himself right now.

He had gone to bed with a plan in mind- wake up tomorrow morning, grab Yue from her depressing tower, and meet up with Gwen and Nicholas.

And hopefully, not run into Roza.

And even more hopefully, not run into his fiance, or her friend.

Of course, as luck would have it, he not only ran into not one, not two, but all three of the people he was actively trying to avoid. While technically Solarie was with Jin at the time, and Roza was with Gwen, it made his mood ever more depressive. At least the prince had the decency to be on time without his usual foul mood. Thankfully, Roza was also completely sober, and everyone else was fairly awake.

"So, General, why have you called this meeting? And with-" Nicholas gestured around the room. "Non-council members and child Elites?"

Because the real council chamber, the court senate, and all of the judicial proceeding rooms were booked in the late morning, the group had settled in the next fanciest unoccupied room they could think of.

The breakfast room.

"I think the membership aspect here isn't worth discussing. What's more important, is that none of us have the complete story about why the hell Solarie's here, and what's going on with Yue's visions." Gwen replied.

At the mention of her name, Yue shrunk back into her seat. It seemed that yesterday's headache clarity was not meant to last.

Nicholas glanced in Yue's direction, before turning his attention back to his general. "Why am I here then?"

"I thought your father would've told you about this. Are you seriously telling me you've been kept in the dark about your new cousin?"

"I thought she was my second cousin."

"Technically, she's your third cousin."

They all turned to Sylas.

"Sorry. But the king did mention a great-great grandfather, making you and Solarie third cousins."

"Nobody wants your input, Sylas." Roza rolled her eyes.

Sylas put his hands up in defeat, and sank back into his chair. "Can we get to the bit where we share whatever information we have? Let's start with Roza. She's the tutor, and I heard the king say that she knows the whole plan."

All eyes fell onto Roza, who actually dressed appropriately for their congregation. She sighed. "I don't know everything. The plan I was told was that because Solarie might be seen as a saint among variens, that she should be a face of representation- quote, the people will see a varien among them rise in the ranks, and their faith in the monarchy will be restored, end quote. I was given a list of things to teach her. At first, I thought about turning her into a soldier, but now that I've seen her fight, I'm starting to retract my decision."

"Rude." Sylas heard Solarie mumble.

"I'll go next. I'm the prince, and I know nothing other than I have a new third cousin. Uh, pardon me, but who is that?" He pointed to Jin.

Jin was surprised to be acknowledged by the prince, catching him off guard. He almost toppled to the floor, but quickly caught himself and steadied his balance. "J-Jin Lang, of House Crysallo, your highness." he stuttered.

"Oh. The disinherited-not disinherited kid. Why is he at the table?"

"He's my guest, and he stays. I unintentionally roped him in." Solarie replied in place of her friend.