Valdax ate a few bites from the various dishes before leaning back in his chair.
“What is it that you want of me, Alysa?” he asked.
“You dare!” one of the nearby knights shouted, lowering his weapon.
A sword flashed from its sheath and stopped against the knight’s chest, its tip hovering an inch from his throat.
Alysa waved a hand.
“That’s enough. Really, Valdax, that was childish,” she said, a slight smile crossing her face.
It was clear to her that the threat had never been intended to kill the young knight—only to humiliate him.
The knight’s face paled.
He had heard rumors of this man, but he had never truly believed them.
Alysa looked between Valdax and Rianna.
“You’re far too skilled a man to remain idle. I wanted to bring you back years ago, but unfortunately the council was deadlocked.”
“Not on what to do. We all agreed on that from the start,” Valdax replied.
“They were arguing over who got to make the offer. Neera of the Barriret family made it take far longer than necessary.”
Valdax visibly tensed.
The moment he heard Neera’s name, he knew what was coming.
“No,” he said before Alysa could continue.
“That’s not going to happen.”
Alysa laughed, a knowing smile spreading across her face.
“We didn’t decide on her. In the end, because of your connection to Rianna, the council settled on the Ken’rahels.”
She glanced toward Rianna, who blushed fiercely as she caught the hidden meaning behind the conversation.
“I like Rianna. She’s a good girl. But if I agreed to this proposal, she wouldn’t live long, I’m afraid,” Valdax said with a chuckle.
“My wife has a bit of a temper. If she even caught wind of this conversation, she’d make Rianna’s life hell—even all the way from Blackspire.”
Alysa had never really considered Valdax married.
Orcs didn’t practice marriage in the traditional sense.
They formed lifelong pairs, but it wasn’t a conventional institution.
“The marriage is just a tool to bring you into the nobility more efficiently,” she said matter-of-factly.
“Yes, that much is clear. But I don’t hate Rianna. And as much as you seem to think Ziri isn’t a threat…”
“What? Is the great Valdax afraid of his wife?” Alysa asked, smiling.
“Yes,” he answered without hesitation.
Rianna looked a little dejected, but she understood.
It was enough that Valdax was her mentor and, in many ways, like an older brother.
Hoping for more would have been greedy.
“Well, if someone you hate is acceptable, we can always go with Neera.”
“NO!”
Valdax’s response came so quickly that several people around the table jumped.
Even the thought of being paired with that woman made his skin crawl.
Alysa laughed.
“All right, it’s not ideal, but we’ll go with the second option. I can have you and Keldras registered as a low-ranking noble family. He’s not full-blooded, but he’s close enough that it shouldn’t cause any problems.”
Valdax was at a loss.
He had never expected Alysa to go this far.
He had no practical reason to refuse, yet accepting would almost certainly mean uprooting everything they’d built in Blackspire.
He found himself conflicted.
The move might be good for his son.
Keldras had become cold and withdrawn after enduring years of mistreatment from the other clans of Blackspire.
Watching him was like looking into a mirror of his own childhood.
He’s still young, Valdax thought.
He might recover if I bring him here.
With Rianna nearby, Keldras would also receive proper training.
“Keldras will, of course, be attending the academy if you accept,” Alysa continued.
“I know your personality. You don’t have the charisma to run a noble house, so he’ll need to learn the ins and outs of our society.”
Valdax froze.
Among the lesser noble houses, Keldras would almost certainly flourish.
But all ranks of nobility attended the academy, and some of the great houses could be far worse than those ham-headed orc clans.
“I’ll think about it,” he replied.
Alysa pressed her hands together.
“Now that business is concluded, I’ll have you escorted to your house.”
Valdax looked at her in confusion.
He didn’t have a house here, normally choosing to stay at the Amiable Arachne in the Lower District.
Valdax and Rianna were escorted by a well-dressed, bookish-looking elf through the streets of the Royal District.
They passed back through the gate and eventually arrived at an old, abandoned-looking property tucked away in a forgotten corner of the Noble District.
The neighboring estates weren’t particularly large or impressive.
They were only a step above the merchant-class homes in the Middle District.
As Valdax watched other mountain elf families playing together in their modest yards, he found himself thinking that perhaps this could work.
He opened the small iron gate and stepped onto the property.
The estate was smaller than the Blackrend Estate, though it offered more than enough room for himself and Keldras.
The rooms had been aired out, and despite appearing abandoned for years, the house was in remarkably good condition.
Valdax slowly turned toward the bookish elf, his eyes fixed on the man like drawn blades.
“Her Majesty expected this would be the outcome,” the elf blurted nervously.
“She’s had servants maintaining the property.”
Rianna wandered through the house with her hands clasped behind her head.
“It’s kinda small.”
Realistically, it was a small mansion.
Five houses this size could probably fit comfortably within the Ken’rahel compound.
An impish smile spread across Rianna’s lips.
“Are you sure you don’t want me?” she teased.
Valdax rolled his eyes behind his mask.
This shameless kid…
Even if he didn’t consider himself truly married by orcish customs, Rianna was still a couple hundred years younger than him.
His son would be a far better match for her than he ever could be.
An amused smile spread across his face.
Their mental ages were probably about the same as well.
Valdax collapsed onto an old couch in the main hall, letting out an exhausted sigh.
He still had to deal with Rianna’s mother if he wanted to bring her back to train Keldras.
The mere thought of negotiating with that old shrew was enough to leave him exhausted to his very core.
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