Chapter 360: Lady Veres

The Veres manor stood as tall and imposing as ever. Even from the distant carriage, Callum could make out the enormous dark grey towers that circled the mansion. It was more of a castle than a mansion. Despite the manor being situated near the Central District, as far as one could be from the city walls, the Veres family had built the manor as a fortress, a testament to their martial prowess, or paranoia Callum guessed.

As the carriage rolled up to the manor, Callum noticed a red-cloaked figure waiting at the gate. She was clad in silver-steel armor from head to toe, no doubt enchanted by the finest brown mage smiths in the city. Like most Gales, she was tall and carried herself in a mantle of solemnity and duty. Her hair was braided for efficiency and as dark as the ebon wall.

The carriage door swung open and Callum hopped down with the grace of an exhausted cat who had been walking nonstop for over a week.

The red-cloaked figure hid her smirk over her hand as she pretended to cough.

“It’s good to see you too, Lynette,” Callum sighed with an air of exhaustion.

“Welcome home, young master.” She looked him up and down questioningly, “I hope the carriage ride was comfortable?”

“Oh, you mean the carriage that brought me here from the city’s gates? Yeah, the last stretch of a several hundred leagues journey on foot was definitely made ‘comfortable’ thanks to a half-an-hour carriage ride. Thanks for asking.”

Lynette raised her eyebrow, “I take it things did not go as planned?”

Callum shrugged and stared at his feet. He hadn’t been able to feel his toes for the last few hours. “You could say that.”

“The last few reports from Undergrowth have been inconsistent at best. The only thing we seem to know for certain is that Hollow Shade won the tourney, yes?”

“Yup,” he mumbled and dragged his feet towards the manor.

“Congratulations, young master, House Gale could not be prouder,” Lynette smiled and fell in behind him with a silent gait, “I’d be grateful to know anything else that transpired during your journey. Like how our mages fared against the other teams or why you walked back home.”

“Trust me, there are people far more qualified than me giving reports as we speak.”

“I’d much rather hear it from you.”

“Fine, but only after I take a long hot bath and have gotten a good night’s sleep for the first time in gods only know how long.”

“Actually, I’m afraid a bath and rest will have to wait. Mistress Elise has asked you to join her for dinner.”

“My sister?”

“When she heard you had been spotted at the city gates she sent a carriage down for you immediately and ordered the cooks to prepare dinner for the two of you.”

“Well, that’s nice of her.”

“The cooks are making all your favorites, or so I’m told.”

“You should have led with that.”

~~~

Callum could smell the myriad of savory scents even before he opened the door. Elise waited for him inside, sitting at the head of a long table covered in countless steaming dishes.

Though she did not stand when he entered the room, Elise smiled and raised her glass, “The champions of the Great Cities Tourney have returned. I knew you could do it, little brother.”

Callum’s cheeks grew warm at the rare praise. He laughed weakly and bowed his head in a flustered thanks.

“Come, sit down. You must be exhausted. Eat, drink, relax.”

“Gladly.” Callum smiled and sat down at the other end of the table. He grabbed his fork and began scarfing down a plate of rare steak.

Elise couldn’t help but giggle at her little brother’s eagerness. “Slow down, no one is going to take your food from you.”

Callum moaned in delight and spoke between bites of food, “You have no idea how long it's been since I’ve had a well-prepared steak. The drows in Undergrowth always overcook their meat, it's terrible.”

“If you like the food, then you have to try the bloodwine.”

Callum sipped the bloodwine and gasped, “You didn’t! This is from Father’s collection! How did you get it? Actually, don’t tell me.”

Elise smirked, “Smart lad. Besides, you deserve it. You and your team fought hard in the tourney.”

“I lost in my first round,” Callum winced.

“I heard it was a tie. It's not your fault Lady Thorn ruled you the loser. The Thorns have hated our family ever since their fall from grace.”

“Tell me about it,” he sighed.

“It must have felt great though, right? Giving Kalliste Lilith the beating she deserved. House Lilith must have been outraged.”

“It did feel pretty good,” he grinned abashedly.

“I’m proud of you, little brother, I really am,” Elise said with genuine warmth.

“That means a lot coming from you,” he smiled. “…You know, I have to say, after how I left things between us, I thought you’d still be mad at me.”

Elise leaned back in her chair and nodded reluctantly, “I admit, I was angry when you left. You had chosen to ignore my counsel and gone off with your ‘friends—”

“—Elise, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you—”

She raised her finger to silence him, “It’s fine, really. I was angry, because for a moment I had thought you valued your friends over us, your family. But I was wrong. The truth is you and I are the only true family we’ve got, and friends can never get in between us.”

Callum smiled and raised his glass in a toast, “To you, sister, the only one in our family who has always been able to see the bigger picture.”

Elise raised her glass, “To us. May we learn to always put aside our differences, so that we may survive the dire times ahead.”

Callum cocked his head to the side, “Dire times?”

Elise sipped her wine, “Circumstances have changed, Cal.”

“What do you mean?”

“Father is dead.”

Callum felt his body grow cold. A shiver ran down his back. “W-what did you say?”

“The scouting report came in just last night. I can only guess there are only a handful of individuals that know of the incident and even then we only know so little.”

Callum jumped to his feet and slammed his hands on the table, “What happened!?”

Elise looked at him with a steady gaze and sipped her wine, “There was some sort of attack on the Veres and Glaz armies. There were no survivors. Witnesses from afar said they saw green flashes in the sky and felt the earth tremble beneath them. But that was it. By the time our scouts arrived everyone was dead… Thousands of corpses. Most indistinguishable and buried under scorched rubble.”

Callum’s knees went weak and he fell back on his chair, “That’s not possible. There’s no way…”

“I thought so too, but the information is trustworthy. Before our father’s army was… defeated, he entrusted a letter to the small scouting regiment that had stayed behind. I read it.”

Elise pulled out a small envelope with their father’s seal and threw it on the table. “It states that before Father left, they had spotted a dragon in the sky.”

“Your saying dragons did this?”

“There have been reports of dragon sightings in the last few months.”

Callum recalled the red dragon he had encountered at the edge of Glimmer Grove. The dragon had attacked them without any provocation.

Elise went on, “It certainly wasn’t the Valley Tribes, they don’t have the power to defeat two of Hollow Shades’ armies, along with Lady Ayda Glaz, one of the most powerful archmages in the realm.”

Callum clenched his hands and tried to hold back his tears, “This can’t be happening.”

“It is. Soon the world will know that Hollow Shade has been weakened. We sent out three armies to put down a bunch of savages and now only the Goldelm army remains while those savages still run wild in the valley. How will that look to the other Great Cities? No doubt they will think we are easy prey, perfect for plundering.”

“…You don’t know that for certain.”

“Perhaps. But I do know that Undergrowth has been building up their armies over the last few years and it is no secret that House Thorn hates Hollow Shade’s Ruling Families. We cannot sit by and do nothing.”

“What do Feryd and Ava think we should do?”

“They don’t know. About any of this.”

“They don’t know?” he asked incredulously. “How do our brother and sister not know our father is dead!?”

Elise swirled the bloodwine in her glass and stared at her own reflection within, “I managed to intercept our scouts’ message before it reached either of them. As of right now, only you and I know the truth.”

“Why? How could you possibly think this was a good idea? Feryd will be furious! He is still the secondborn, he won’t stand by such defiance!”

Elise looked up at Callum and smiled eerily, “You don’t get it, do you? Lord Veres IX, Eldrin of the Great House of Veres, our father… is dead. Carmilla, his firstborn and heir apparent, died with him on that scorched field. Someone must ascend the Veres Throne, that is a fact. The moment our father died was the moment our siblings became our enemies.”

“…What have you done?” he whispered fearfully.

“Last night, after I received the scouting report, I invited Feryd and Ava to dinner. Feryd was a pompous ass, as usual. Ava seemed terribly bored, she would have rather practiced swordplay with the Gales than spend one more minute with Feryd. Who can blame her?”

Elise stood to her feet and opened her arms wide, “It happened right here, away from the watchful eyes of the Gales. Feryd and Ava had no reason to suspect I would dare make such a bold move, after all, Father would have killed me if he found out. But our siblings didn’t know Father was already dead. By the time the Gales realized what had happened it was too late.”

“No, no, you didn’t,” Callum shook his head, panic rising within him.

Elise smiled reminiscently, “You should have seen the way Feryd choked, gasping for air as he collapsed, blood dripping down his nostrils. It was… satisfying. And Ava, oh sweet little Ava, she was the youngest of us, but like Feryd, she had an ego too large for her own well-being. She should have suspected something, Carmilla would have. Instead, like Feryd, Ava drank the bloodwine without any hint of wariness.”

Callum’s eyes widened with terror. He stared at the empty glass of bloodwine in his hand.

Elise strolled to him with a warm smile and placed her delicate cold fingers on his cheek, “Do you remember what you said? When you left for Undergrowth? You turned your back on me and said you didn’t want to be anything like me.” She narrowed her eyes, “Well look around, Cal, I am the only one left standing.”

He swallowed hard, his face pale, “I… I…”

Elise leaned towards his ear, “Do you remember what I told you?” She kissed him on the cheek, “I told you I am the only one who has ever truly loved you. I am the only one who still loves you. Never forget that.”

She slapped him hard across the cheek and then threw his glass on the ground. It shattered into countless slivers. As if the sharp sound broke a spell over him, Callum gasped and fell to his knees, hunched over, coughing and crying all at once.

Elise shook her head in disappointment, “Did you really think I would poison you? Me? The sister who practically raised you since you were a toddler? Do you not realize you are more of a son than a brother to me?”

“Then why…? Why did you do this?” he mumbled, pain in his scarlet eyes.

“To teach you an invaluable lesson. It is time you grew up, Cal. We live in a world where people will not hesitate to backstab you. I want you to remember this moment. I want you to remember that when I had the chance to end the last person who could potentially prevent me from ascending the Veres Throne, I chose not to, even when you turned your back on me. That is what it means to love someone. That is what loyalty means. Never forget, you and I are the only family we’ve ever had. It will always be us against everyone outside this room, always.”

Callum wiped his eyes and nodded weakly. “…What now?”

“Now after 72 long years, someone else will sit on the Veres Throne. Starting today I am Lady Veres VII. You will be my right hand and together we will find a way to overcome the threats to our great city of Hollow Shade.”

“What about the funerals?”

“Funerals?”

Callum shakily stood to his feet and spoke with a broken voice, “Our siblings are dead. Father is dead. Our whole family is dead! Does that mean nothing to you!?”

Elise stared at him, her expression calm, unchanging. “It means everything to me. It is why I am standing here as Lady of my House.”

Callum stepped away, tears in his eyes, “This is wrong. There is something with you.”

“Wrong? I am the only reason you’re not dead, you fool! Do you think if Feryd had found out what had happened to Father and Carmilla, he would have let you walk into this city alive? You would already be dead in a ditch somewhere! I am the only reason you’re still breathing!”

“What do you want from me?” he whimpered.

She sighed, “I want you to be smart and to stay alive. House Gale will arrange for the funerals. You may go to them if you wish. I won’t waste my time, there are more important things to take care of. Like protecting our family and this city.”

“...And how are we going to do that?”

Elise smiled, “Are you beginning to look at the bigger picture? Good. Well, for starters, I already imprisoned all of our father’s wives. We don’t want those women meddling in our affairs any longer.”

“You imprisoned your own mother?”

“You act as if she cared about me, when we both know the only thoughts she ever spared towards my existence was to see how she could use me to further her position with our father. My mother is under house arrest. But that’s not what you really want to know. So go on. Ask me.”

“…What happened to Carmilla’s mother?”

Elise’s smile widened, “Regina Née Lilith. The woman who had your own human mother killed. Don’t worry, I have Regina locked up in a cell deep under our mansion. You're welcome.”

Callum clenched his fists, “What are you going to do with her?”

“Me?” she shook her head and laughed. “What are you going to do with her? Torture her, kill her, even farm her for her blood, I couldn’t care less. She is your prisoner now.”

He furrowed his brow, “You’re serious?”

“Yes, little brother, Regina is my gift to you. Do with her what you will. In return, I only ask one thing of you.”

“And what’s that…?”

“Tell me everything you know regarding the Ebon Aspirant, Stryg.”

“What?”

“He is your friend, is he not? That friendship has finally become invaluable, well done. Now, it is imperative I know everything there is to know about the Aspirant so that we may determine if he is our enemy or ally.”

“Stryg would never hurt me.” Callum suddenly remembered all the times Stryg had beaten him up in training. “W-Well, kill me,” he amended.

“I should hope not, but this is more than just about you. The return of an Ebon Aspirant is dangerous, an Ebon Lord far more so.”

He glared at her, “If that’s your way of telling me to betray my friend, I won’t do it.”

“Hm, are you saying you won’t tell me anything about the Aspirant?”

Callum took a shaky breath and straightened his back, “I will not.”

“Heh,” she scoffed and smirked. “I admire your loyalty, even though it's misplaced.” She suddenly knocked her fist on the table twice.

The door swung open and Lynette walked inside and bowed, “My lady.”

Elise raised her glass to her brother, “Lynette will take you to your room, where you will stay until you change your mind about those friends of yours.”

Callum frowned, “You're imprisoning me?”

Elise smiled, “Don’t worry, I’ll send your maids to keep you company, I’m sure you’ve missed them.”

“You don’t have to do this, please,” he whispered.

“Have a good night, Cal, I’ll visit you when I find the time.”