Entering the dining hall, I noticed several sets of eyes on me immediately, all sitting around a very long wooden table in the centre of the room. Several of them looked shocked as Lily and Crisplet came in behind me.

  The room itself wasn’t as opulent as the grand hall. The walls were lined with banners that I had to assume were all the house symbols, and along the far wall sat a table with varied jugs and bottles.

  I took in the group at the table itself—none of them were people I had seen before. Starting from the head of the table, there was a boy who looked only slightly older than me, He wore a crimson suit and had the same fiery red hair and red eyes I’d seen on Kathrine and the King.

  Beside him sat a very elegant-looking lady in a red dress that flowed like water. Her brunette hair was pinned up, and she wore a tiara that featured the symbol of Alira on it.

  Further down were three older men and one lady, all dressed in fine clothing, all looking rather shocked at me.

  “Come in, Trevor. Come, let us do some introductions. Please take a seat up here,” the King said, taking his seat at the head of the table and gesturing to the chair on his left.

  There were five other empty seats on my right. I had to assume one was originally Gerald’s, but it was now taken by Crisplet. Lily chose to lie down right behind my chair.

  I couldn’t help but notice that all eyes—besides the King’s—were locked onto her and Crisplet.

  That was only broken when the King coughed, drawing everyone’s attention.

  “Gerald is going to be unavailable for dinner this evening, I believe, so I will do the introductions. First, my lovely wife, Amber. My daughter, Kathrine—you’ve already met—then my youngest son, Luis. Finally, myself, Marcus Ashivar.” He then gestured further down the table.

  “Joining us tonight, I have a few of the key advisers and heads of houses here in the capital. First, we have Marie Belwyn, next, we have Reginald Fellwood, Henry Boltron, and Oliver Havenel. Their roles, and the reason they are here tonight, we can dive into shortly.” He gave Henry a hard look.

  “For everyone else, you’ll have to excuse me if I mistake any names, but we have Trevor, orphan of Dunhearth, Liane, orphan of Morren, Hari Lindberg…” the King was saying when a small cough from Hari of all people interrupted him.

  “Sorry, Your Majesty. It’s just Lind now,” Hari said softly.

  There was a little murmuring from the others while Marcus seemed to take in the information. It clearly meant something, but I didn’t understand it at all. Maybe I needed to ask Hari about his past sooner rather than later.

  “I see. Hari Lind. Milo Bestington. Jennifer Lyrea. And as I think is only right, we have Crisplet, the fire elemental companion, and Lily, the shadow cat.” Again, there were more murmurs as Marcus finished his introductions.

  Another cough silenced everyone. “I would like to make sure—so we don’t have a repeat of Gerald outside—these are not beast companions. Both understand perfectly well. Now, I want to get this out of the way immediately. Henry, your nephew Felix is causing some issues in Boltron, and I need that resolved. I understand the attack on the city has caused significant stress to business; however, we cannot be making further enemies while recovering,” he said, addressing the older man.

  “Yes, Your Majesty. I will send some representatives to the city tomorrow and ensure it’s set straight and resolved. Trevor, I do apologise if my nephew has offended you,” Henry said, dipping his head.

  This all felt strange—figures like this bowing to me, apologising to me.

  A moment later, several servants entered and began pouring drinks for everyone. By now, everyone’s attention had turned either to me or the King—everyone except Luis, who was still staring at Lily.

  “The next matter we need to discuss is why I have invited you here tonight, Oliver. If I’m not mistaken, you’ve been overseeing and providing reports on the military?” Marcus turned to look at him.

  Oliver appeared very nervous. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

  “It’s a pity Gerald is not here, but could you tell me about your most recent report?” Marcus asked.

  “Yes, sir. All is well on the front line. There are no significant events of note. We had an increase in recruits this year, which bodes well for the army,” Oliver said, clearly nervous.

  “I see. So you consider the death of all those recruits, or the embezzlement of funds, to be not significant enough to note?” Marcus said coldly.

  I couldn’t help but notice Liane’s eyes widen, clearly not expecting this topic.

  “I’m sorry, Your Majesty. It was the failing of a single individual who will be dealt wi—” Oliver started.

  “Silence. You do not even know what has happened, and yet you want me to believe you will resolve this situation?” Marcus snapped, his voice rising.

  Even Lily raised her head to look at what was going on.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  “Captain Liam, please come forth a moment and inform us of your initial findings of Portland,” Marcus said, looking over to Liam, who had been standing silently at the door since we entered.

  Walking forward, still in his full armour, Liam stopped a short distance from the table and spoke. “Yes, Your Majesty. Initial reports by Victor discovered twenty-six dead and even more injured, with nearly the entire march malnourished or suffering abuse. After interrogations, it was discovered this was not an outlying incident, and it was commonplace for the generals to save funds during the march, then to spend them on liquor once they made it home.”

  Oliver looked like he wanted to say something, his mouth opening and closing, but in the end he stayed silent.

  “Smartest decision you’ve made yet—staying quiet. One of the perpetrators is dead, executed by someone in this very room no less, and that you seem not to know that when I do means you have not only failed at the task, but you’ve brought shame to your house. House Havenel, from this moment, will be stripped of all responsibility with regard to running and maintaining our military,” Marcus said in a tone that brooked no argument.

  Oliver just looked pale, with beads of sweat on his brow.

  “Liam, please have your men take him away and escort him to his residence, which will be under lockdown until we have finalised my decision,” Marcus said.

  “Your Maj—” Oliver tried, but Liam had already lifted him out of the chair, and he never got to finish the sentence.

  “Normally we’d not do this at dinner, but I wish for you to understand we are taking these events seriously,” Marcus said to me.

  I couldn’t help but notice the others looked nervous—except for Marie, who was calmly watching.

  “Miss Belwyn, I want your family to take over the role of overseeing the military. Please provide regular reports, and I want all those guilty of murder to be found and dealt with—no exceptions. Gerald will see you about expectations,” Marcus said.

  “Yes, Your Majesty. It will be done,” she replied, and although her face was passive, I couldn’t help but notice the slightest smirk as she dipped her head.

  “Perfect. Now that’s out of the way… Trevor, I’d be remiss not to ask, but your jacket…” Marcus began.

  I probably should have waited for him to finish, but I felt my cheeks go red. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty. I was unaware of Alira being the expected symbol at the time and made this thinking that Lily and Crisplet better represented me.”

  Rushing out an explanation. Crisplet let off a burst of sparks in agreement, causing Marcus to laugh.

  “Relax, Trevor. I don’t expect adventurers—let alone ones who were recently in the orphanages—to know the etiquette of court. It’s the main reason I’ve done this here tonight at dinner instead of at court, where rules and standards would be enforced,” Marcus said, his tone almost jovial.

  “Although if you’d like to take part in court, I would be more than happy to provide you with lessons. As for the phoenix symbol—or Alira, as you say—I suspect you’re in a rather uniquely special position in that regard, as nobody to my knowledge has spoken to the phoenix, or the dragon for that matter, in over a millennium. And even then, no one on a name basis like yourself,” he added.

  “I wouldn’t say I’m overly special, Your Majesty,” I started, but he just laughed.

  “Overly humble too—but be careful with that. This lot preys on weakness when they sense it. I don’t want to see them trying to use you as a tool,” Marcus said, gesturing down the table with a grin.

  Only Marie smiled back.

  Liane spoke up for the first time. “Isn’t that why you brought him here to begin with, though? You wish to use him as a tool yourself,” she said bluntly.

  The smile on Marcus’s face faltered for a moment.

  “That’s a fair accusation, and I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t my first thought. Having a boy in the kingdom with access to such powerful allies… I’d be a poor king if I didn’t consider what he’d be able to achieve,” Marcus said. “But the truth of the matter—after listening to the reports—I think it would benefit my kingdom far more by having a good relationship with Trevor instead of trying to force him into settling our conflicts.”

  “And how can we believe that?” Liane said, not breaking eye contact.

  “I hope my actions will speak louder than my words. I’ve made mistakes—far more than I’d like to admit today,” Marcus said softly.

  “A few gifts won’t change a decade of neglect,” Liane said, clearly not sold, taking a long drink of her wine.

  “Ah. I see the orphanage system,” Marcus said. “Are you aware of the rules that are in place for it?”

  Everyone else around the table was stone silent, with Hari and Jen staring wide-eyed at Liane.

  “What good are the rules if no one follows them? Just a way for the lords and ladies to steal money from the people,” Liane retorted angrily.

  Crisplet was clearly unsure what to make of this, his flames shifting into a volatile red as he looked between the King and Liane.

  “That’s fair. I won’t make excuses. It’s certainly a failure of mine not to have it properly overseen, and I will be sure to have every city with an orphanage audited and ensure they are all brought up to standard,” Marcus said firmly.

  “Words are cheap,” Liane muttered, leaning back in her chair.

  Jen nodded in agreement.

  An awkward silence settled over the table before Amber spoke for the first time.

  “I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the changes coming to your hometown,” she said softly, looking at me.

  “Changes?” I asked.

  Marcus seemed to snap himself out of the disagreement with Liane and joined in. “Ah, yes, of course. The great phoenix visited the town. We plan to make significant investments in the city to bring it up.”

  “What about my friends there?” I asked, concerned they would force Larry out or something.

  “The inn owner?” Marcus laughed. “Yes, even I’ve heard of him. From my understanding, he’s turning the inn into quite an establishment. He’s already had the footprints preserved and protected, and is working on building around them.”

  I wasn’t as excited about this. That just meant the old inn I remembered would be gone, right?

  “I see you’re concerned about that,” Amber said.

  “Sorry,” I mumbled.

  “No, no, don’t apologise. Unfortunately—or fortunately—due to the footprints on the floor, that city is quickly becoming an attraction, and his inn is the centre.” Marcus shrugged. “From my understanding, though, he’s embraced it. The last report said he’s renamed it to the Roarin’ Phoenix. Also, if he didn’t want the responsibility, we would have more than happily removed that section of floor for preservation and replaced it all with brand new flooring and a hefty sum, but from what I heard, he seemed rather keen on keeping it.”

  Looking at the door where a butler stood next to Liam, it seemed to signal something because Marcus happily announced, “Enough of business talk. Let’s start this feast. I will be more than happy to continue the discussion with you all after dinner.”

  A moment later the door opened, and tray after tray of food started flooding into the room.