The Inevitable Betrayal

Was he alright? Kyle chewed on that question for a moment as Kari continued to hold his hand.

“…No,” he confessed. “I don’t understand what’s going on anymore. This should have been the epilogue. But we keep doing stuff that’s the wrong genre! Romance stuff, drama stuff, I don’t get it! Why any of this?!”

Kari kept Kyle’s hand close. “Sir Kyle, I do not understand what you are saying.”

He’d avoided trying to reconcile letting Kari marry a man who’d left a trail of destruction in his wake. He’d tried to make the best of it. But if Demerius had lied, all bets were off. Kyle looked her in the eye. “Is this what you want?” He gestured to the castle, the town, the banquet hall, everything around them.

“…It is the reason we came here,” said Kari in a hushed voice.

“Don’t give me that,” he shot back. “You can fool everyone else in there playing the part of the queen-in-waiting. But not me. Is this what you want?”

Kari remained quiet. “…Please stay,” she whimpered. “I do not wish for you to go. I would give anything.”

But Kyle shook his head. “Live your life the way you want. But don’t ask me to watch you do it. I need to go.” He couldn’t stay here. Not if he was right. His village, the people he knew, all of them  were in harm's way.

In the dead of night, Kyle rode out from Castle Zoroman alone. He never looked back.

-----

The talk of the castle the next morning was Kari’s refusal to leave her room. Servants gossiped about hearing crying from behind the door and what could have caused it. The popular theory was she was homesick, though some guessed that she’d suffered an estrangement from her family.

Fiona and the bandits left immediately after breakfast. That proved a point of contention amongst them, as some of the men wanted to stay and celebrate in the lap of luxury. But Fiona put the kibosh on that idea hard and over and over again. They’d been lucky enough to avoid getting caught so far, she’d tell the holdouts – did they want to risk letting something slip in a drunken outburst?

That left Abagail in an uncomfortable limbo. By all rights, she had no interest in attending the wedding. She had gold to spend and a house to prepare.

Only two things kept her from walking out the front gates after Fiona and Kyle. The first was something she hadn’t expected – genuine concern for Kari. With everyone else gone, she was the only one left the elf knew. Abagail hadn’t tried to approach her yet and wasn’t sure how to even try.

The second was her mother’s old spellbooks. In all of her magical training, there were some books her mother never let her study from. Abagail had snuck a few of those into her own collection when she was older, but a few had stayed behind at their old home when her mother was fired.

One book in particular caught her eye. It was bound in red leather, its pages yellowed. This book in particular was the only one with handwritten notes from her mother. Abagail sipped at a drink as she poured through the book. This was a fascinating read…

----

Demerius was sipping at his own drink as he sat in his private quarters. His chosen beverage? Tea. The look stuck on his face? Unbridled glee.

His quarters were a pair of rooms. One was the bedroom, containing what he knew from his past life was a king-sized bed with the highest quality sheets money could buy. The second was a private meeting room, with upholstered chairs and a table where he could receive important guests.

Everything seemed to be going his way. While that moronic witch had failed to warn him about Kyle, his existence posed no real threat to his plans. The fool seemed happy enough with what Demerius had told him.

Pacing through the room was a second Demerius, this one wearing a business suit – CEO Demerius, given his previous life.

“It’s all falling into place,” CEO Demerius claimed. “We’re behind schedule on the wedding, but that’s worked itself out.”

Real Demerius continued enjoying his tea. “That peasant already left.”

“He’s nothing! He’s an intern in this grand company of ours.” CEO Demerius rubbed his hands together. “What’s one little peasant going to do?”

“One peasant managed to find the princess and escort her safely, recruiting a witch and a handful of others to help him do it.” The Prince poured himself more tea. “I’m putting the armors on standby. Just in case.”

CEO Demerius threw up his hands. “I still say you’re worrying too much. You were blessed by the god of wealth and fortune, you’ve got it made! But I guess I’ve seen deals fall through at the eleventh hour before.” He took a ‘seat’ across from the Prince. “He’s a peasant. You’ve got the might of the realm behind you. You’re going to eat him alive.”

The Prince smiled.

“You check out that elf babe, though? I mean, me-ow.”

That made the Prince chuckle. “I’m looking forward to our wedding night. I’ve heard so many stories about the elvish… experience. If even half of them are true it’s going to be fantastic.”

Both the CEO and the Prince couldn’t stop laughing about it.