"Point taken." nadion disappeared.
"I'll go to my room, then." Solus walked out of the study just to return to the stone ring the mont she locked the door behind her.
"Tista, co here, please." Lith said while taking Elysia out of the crib, having care not to wake Valeron.
"Why did he dismiss Ripha and Solus yet invited Tista?" Jirni didn't miss how her daughters avoided her gaze. "What are you hiding from this ti?"
"We are not at liberty to share." Morok shrugged. "You have your secrets, and we have ours."
The "ours" was clue enough for Jirni, but after seeing Elina's worried expression, she said nothing.
'At least soone has a spine.' Jirni inwardly nodded at the Tyrant in approval.
"Supre Magus Verhen, unless sothing else has happened, I don't think we have anything more to say." anwhile, in Lith's room, the hologram of the Royals occupied most of the room. "We have already discussed Lutia's rebuilding, and as you can see, we're quite busy."
ron and Sylpha were standing in front of a large table that projected a holographic map of the Kingdom. Each village and city that had been attacked was marked by a red dot. By tapping on the dots, the Royals could access the updated reports about their current status.
Body count, number of injured, estimated damage, ti and resources needed to rebuild, every matter regarding the life and death of their subjects was reduced to numbers on a spreadsheet.
It was one of those tis when King ron hated his job for making him feel no more than an accountant. No matter how dramatic a situation, he had to find a way to make everything fit in a budget.
'People say that you can't put a price on a life. Damn if they are wrong!' The King inwardly cursed. 'I do it every day, when I decide if it's better to rescue one person or allocate that money to save ten people.'
"Actually, sothing did happen. Sothing I consider good news." At those words, the Royals took their eyes off the streams of incoming reports and stared at Lith expectantly.
"I suppose hoping for ln's head or Night's shattered crystal is asking too much." Sylpha said, receiving a nod in answer. "Then what is it, and why are there so many people with you?
"I understand you trust them, Magus Verhen, but state affairs are rarely a family matter, even for those who bear the crown."
"I believe this is an exception to the rule, Your Majesty." Lith took Kamila's hand and shapeshifted into his Indech form, making the Royals' jaws hit the floor.
Elysia and Tista followed a split second later, and the jaws started digging.
"Is that…" King ron didn't dare complete the sentence.
"The form I unconsciously unlocked in Jiera while fighting against Ruugat of the Earth, yes." Lith nodded. "It's the Divine Beast equivalent of an evolved human. The step that cos after the Fomor."
"When did you manage to tap into it?" Sylpha had a hard ti not staring at the perfect features of the Indeches, but after spending so long with Tyris, she managed.
"During the attack in the Desert." Lith lied through his teeth. "We were cornered by Narchat's Upyrs and discovered that this form counters the Vurdalak's bloodline abilities."
"That's amazing." ron pondered the implications of such power, noticing how only Lith and Tista had seven eyes. "The Indech is not a form limited to the Tiamat bloodline. The Hekate also has it."
"And it can be inherited." Sylpha pointed at Elysia and Kamila. "Now your line-up makes sense. This image is worth a thousand words."
"Stable human evolution." ron muttered, having a hard ti believing his own eyes. "So, it's possible after all. We are no longer at the bottom of the evolutionary chain."
Then, the implications hit him like a sack of bricks.
"How many people know about this?"
"Only those present in this room and my relatives." Lith replied. "I had to show it to the kids to see if they were able to do the sa. The answer is no."
"This is disappointing." Sylpha sighed. "But not too much. Their bloodlines are still dormant, correct?"
"Correct." Lith nodded. "I had thought to reveal this during my or Elysia's birthday, but I changed my mind after learning about the attack on the Kingdom. I believe that waiting would be a mistake."
"A huge mistake." ron said. "If you are forced to reveal your abilities in public and you have mastered them, people will ask themselves how long you hid this power from them and why you did nothing while they suffered."
"I was thinking about revealing it now to cripple Narchat's recruitnt campaign, but you make an excellent point, Your Majesty." Lith replied. "To be fair, I haven't mastered any new ability yet. I can barely activate them."
"With your talent, no one will believe it. Especially Narchat." The Queen said. "We have to plan ahead assuming that one of his goons survived to tell him about your Indech form, because if that happened, we can't afford to be caught unprepared again."
"This will put huge pressure on you, Verhen." ron pondered. "From all sides. Not just the Dead King."
"I know." Lith said. "I can't be worse than what happened after I revealed my Tiamat bloodline. I will just have to deal with more humans and fewer beasts."
"That's true." Sylpha nodded. "Any suggestion about when and how reveal it to the rest of Mogar?"
"Soon, and during an important event." Lith replied. "I was thinking of doing it at the end of Friya Ernas' marriage. With her permission and yours, of course."
"When and where is the marriage supposed to take place?" Sylpha asked. "Also, why am I hearing about it from you instead of Lady Ernas? Even though hers is not a political marriage, any important event related to a powerful household is a political issue.
"Especially with the turmoil the prolonged absence of her parents has stirred in the Royal Court and Lady Ernas' recent capture of her estranged birth mother, Drenya Solivar."
"There's still not a precise date, but it shouldn't take long. Just the ti to arrange for the final details." Lith replied. "The marriage will take place at the Verhen Mansion, where the parents of Lady Ernas are currently my guests.
"As for your last question, rushing the marriage forward is a decision the couple has made recently, for reasons that I'm not at liberty to share."
Sylpha didn't miss how, despite the ruthless attack on the Ernas region, the Lords of the land had yet to make a public appearance or release a statent about their plans to deal with the region-wide the crisis.
Gunyin Ernas was the one who had reported the damage and the number of casualties.
It was Tulion Ernas who travelled to the settlents that had suffered the most and reassured their citizens that the Ernas family wouldn't forget about them, making precise plans and setting deadlines for the reconstruction works.
It was sothing out of character for Jirni and Orion Ernas. The marriage not taking place in their ancestral household was sothing even more out of character.
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