Once their talk finally ended, and Evie now returned to her subjects, the King and Queen remained in the tent.
"Husband mine," Beatrice whispered out softly as she held the king's gaze.
"My darling…" the king rubbed his forehead with his palm. Now it was just them both, there was no need for him to hide the weariness and worries that he had been holding back within himself earlier.
"I will go with Evie." she suddenly told him, and the king drew in a deep breath. He looked like he had already seen that coming. His wife was not a queen who would sit and hide in the palace. This had been proven time and again. "I want to protect Evie. Not just her, but our dearest grandchild too, Belial."
Belial knew how long Beatrice had been dreaming for a grandchild. When they found out that Evie was pregnant, Belial had seen how happy she was. She was almost as happy when she found out that she was pregnant with Gavrael back then.
And that was why when Evie told them her plan, he already saw this coming. Beatrice will not just sit here while Evie went out there and fight.
"Don't worry, I will not be reckless." She cupped the king's face. "I think I will ask Evie to ride with her dragon just so someone could watch her back all the time. I just need to be there to watch over her, husband. I do not intend to go out and be a heroine. I promise I will come back to you safe and sound. Evie and everyone too."
No matter how his heart protested it, Belial knew he could not and should not stop his dearest. There was no way he could stop her and both of them knew that.
So he could only pull her into his embrace and kissed her forehead.
"You better keep in mind that if I feel that you're in big trouble, I'll come to you flying, Beatrice. And nothing can stop me, not even you." His voice was firm, a contrast to the gentle and loving actions of his body.
"I know, my king," she kissed his lips, smiling.
And after a few more exchanges, the king finally summoned the lords for another meeting. Now it was time for him to appoint new Lords and new leaders who will replace the fallen ones. He also needed to discuss a plan of their own in case things take a turn for the worse.
…
"Forgive me, Your Majesty! Please let me join in the war. I'm not going to stay –"
"Shut up, Zirrus." Evie's cold and clipped voice cut the man off from his outburst. "You will stay back. That's an order. I need you to keep healing Vermillion until he is fully recovered. Do you understand?"
Zirrus dropped his head submissively. The cold and absolute look that had flashed in the queen's eyes told him that even if he continued begging, the queen would not relent. She was definitely punishing him.
"I will leave half of the light faes to stay back with you this time too." Evie declared and the light faes, including the ones who came from the Great City glanced anxiously at each other. "Kariza, I am appointing you as leader over them."
Kariza bowed her head. And after a few more words to the ones she was leaving behind, Evie finally approached the small group of vampires in the corner. All of them looked gloomy and had slight expressions of blame on their faces.
Evie knew that the rest had already found out about Zolan and that was why the atmosphere over them was heavy.
However, when they saw Evie approaching, they tried their best to stand tall and hide their emotions.
"Please don't have any of us stay behind again, Your Majesty," Levy was the one who spoke. Luc and Reed bowed their heads as well. The three of them no longer refraining from expressing their desire to fight alongside her.
"Don't worry, I will not ask any of you to stay behind this time." Evie relented.
As soon as those words reached their ears, the three men's heads snapped up and they beamed at Evie.
"Thank you, Your Majesty! You're really the best!" Levy comically held Evie's hand as he bowed. "We promise that you definitely will not regret that decision in the least!"
Evie raised her brow as Levy moved between Luc and Reed and put his arms on their shoulders. "We might not be as strong as those two behind you, but we are –"
"Don't talk in my stead, Levy. I'm as strong as those two." Luc retorted and cut Levy off with a snort.
"What?! Stop being arrogant, you show off. Can you defeat Samuel then? Huh? Huh?!" Levy challenged him.
"I'm stronger than Leon. The only thing is that he's just faster than me." Luc boasted, wanting to get the last say.
"Shut up, you two." Reed finally interjected, sighing. He wished that he could bump these two's heads together. "The queen's already gone."
"What?!" Luc and Levy simultaneously whipped their heads forward only to see that the queen had indeed already walked off and left.
"If the queen changes her mind and leave us behind because you two cause trouble, I'll kill you both. Just you wait…" Reed crossed his arms and stared threateningly at the two in question who were older than him and yet acting like they were actually way younger than he was.
"This is your fault, you… dumbass!" Levy elbowed Luc and the other retorted.
"Who are you calling dumbass, you dumbass? Stop blaming others. You are the one who…"
Somehow, the two slowly quietened and straightened their stance at the feel of their leader's death glare trained on them. Samuel did not need to speak but they knew what exactly that glare meant.
They could only behave themselves and it was then that they noticed their queen speaking to someone else. It was Queen Beatrice!
Both queens then approached the men, and everyone's stance became overly straight.
"Glad to meet everyone again. I will be joining the battle alongside you guys!" Queen Beatrice told them cheerfully and the men's eyes visibly stretched wide with surprise.