Evening drew nearer and the sun turned orange, the council meeting had been over for almost an hour now. King Hector still sat on his chair, studying the paper that contained the houses which were suspected to be affiliated with demons, he thought of which ones to attack first and how to go about it, Valkori's trip was in a few days and he needed to set some plans in motion

"Your Grace, I still have important matters to discuss if you don't mind..."

Hector was shocked after hearing Gerald speak as he thought he was the only one still in the room, he looked left and right to confirm that there was no one else apart from them

"How long have you been standing there?" Hector asked

"I was meaning to talk to you somewhere else but you just wouldn't get off that chair" Gerald replied. Hector heaved and hissed, gathering the papers in front of him and arranging them neatly on the table, he opened a portal with his right hand and walked into to it, emerging right in front of Gerald

"What is it you want to speak about?"

Gerald was silent for a few seconds before dropping the line;

"Your succession" he answered, staring right into Hector's eyes, Hector sized him up from head to toe and back

"Valkori is my child and my heir, what's there to talk about-"

"-So you haven't changed your mind eh, you're really going to choose that child over me, your own blood Hector!"

"What child Gerald?!, you speak like she's going to be a child forever, she won't" Hector clapped back "And I'm pretty sure I won't be dead for a long time, so what's the problem here?..."

"Have you forgotten already?!!, what House Royalé did to our family?!!, your father!!, and your mother!!, have you forgotten already Hector?!!-"

"It was my father!!, and my mother!!, NOT YOURS!!" Hector shouted, Gerald's mouth gaped as he couldn't believe what he was hearing, the room became dead silent, until Hector began pacing around, "And what are you doing now huh?, you're going to punish a child for the sins of her ancestors she never even met huh?, is that what this is Gerald?!!"

"She is a Royalé!!, Tyranny and cruelty is in their blood, you cannot change that Hector-"

"And you couldn't be more wrong..." Hector made a very eerie smile, Gerald walked in closer to him

"The Royalés killed themselves in civil war, ended their empire with their own hands, a millennia of tyranny we endured under those savages, and you're just going to give the Supremacy back to another one of them?, how does that make any sense to you Hector?"

"Valkori...is not a Royalé, she is a child of House Vernon, my child, she may not be my blood, but she has my name, and will pass on my heritage-"

"And what about us!!, what about the real blood of House Vernon!!, our birth right!!, our heritage!!, does it not mean anything to you?!!, does it not matter?!!, you have no biological children and now you want to make your entire bloodline suffer the consequences?!!, is that what this is?!!"

Gerald was beginning to turn red, veins popping out of his neck, Hector turned away from him and shook his head

"I have nothing to say to you Gerald..."

"Do you not see what you're doing?!!, the future implications of this decision you've made?!!, what happens when you die and Valkori becomes Sovereign?, what happens when she has heirs who have nothing in common with the true lineage of House Vernon?!!, how have you never thought about this?!!, one side of this family would be Valkori's descendants, the other side would be the real Vernons..."

"And what about it?" Hector faced Gerald again

"You're setting this family up to tear itself apart in civil war by creating such clearly defined divisions!!, you won't be here to hold this family together Hector!!, you won't!!"

Hector was silent, he covered his mouth and chin as he pondered on everything he had just said, he had thought about it before, but it felt so much more imminent after Gerald described it

"Valkori is the last Royalé, no matter how we look it, she is the true to the throne-"

"ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW HECTOR!!" Gerald shouted in fury. Hector gave him a dirty look to let him know who he was talking to, but Gerald just went on

"The Royalés are dead!!, and we took the realm from them!!, it's ours now, we have no obligation to support her claim!!!, all of a sudden you care about that now Hector?!!"

Hector was silent, Gerald's eyes widened slowly "I see what this is...it's not about Valkori, it's me...you call me your brother yet you stab me in the heart like this?"

Hector rolled his eyes and began to pace around again, clearly fed up of this whole interaction, Gerald continued;

"You despise me so much that you would rather bring the Royalé family back from the dead and hand the crown over to them instead of letting me succeed you?!!, what did I ever do to you Hector?"

"That's not it, that's not true, you know it's not so stop trying to piss me off!!" Hector warned him and waved his finger

"It's not true then why are you doing this Hector?"

"WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE ME DO?!!!" Hector screamed at him, "You want me to tell my mentally unstable daughter with the powers of a god that her whole life has been a lie, and now she's just going to be another irrelevant princess because her father's cousin wanted the throne a little more, you think that is going to end really well huh?!!"

"I have another solution"

Hector froze after that statement, he didn't like the way Gerald was so confident about it

"And what's that?..."

"Wed Valkori to me" Gerald suggested with a straight face.

Hector burst out laughing, clutching his chest as he struggled to breathe, Gerald didn't react at all, he slowly stopped laughing and saw that Gerald was dead serious

"Wed Valkori...to you?..."

"It's the most logical thing to do Hector, we're not related by blood, the gods cannot regard it as sin, I will take the throne as your heir to the Supremacy and she will rule by my side, and our children would have the true blood of House Vernon, as well as the powers of their Royalé mother..."

"They would be the perfect heirs, born from the blood and possessing the abilities of the two most powerful bloodlines in the Supremacy, as well as ensuring that House Vernon stays united, our power would be unrivalled!!, our dynasty would last till the end of time!!!"

Hector looked to the ground, Gerald walked in closer to his face, "You have no logical reason to refuse my offer Hector"

"She's a child-"

"She won't be a child forever, you said that yourself just now didn't you?"

Hector was speechless, he knew that everything Gerald had just said was true, but something in him didn't like it at all, no matter how hard he tried to see reason within it, he let out a heavy sigh and smacked his lips

"Valkori is my daughter, she's a human being and her own independent person, if she's ever going to marry anyone then it has to be someone she loves and trusts..." he put his hand on Gerald's shoulder and looked into his eyes

"And if you want that person to be you, then you'd have to earn it yourself, not from me"

He began to walk out of the council room, leaving Gerald who just stood still at the center, Hector paused before opening the door to leave

"The die is in your hand now brother, but I warn you to roll it with caution, she's still a child after all, you do anything stupid...you'll answer to me"

He left the room and the mighty door shut slowly behind himself. Gerald stood there fuming, his eyes about to pop out of their sockets

"Game on,...brother"