Chapter 18

Betrayal

As Hiva approached the gates of the Vanard clan house, one of the guards at the entrance stopped him and asked, "Who are you and what is your purpose?"

Hiva laughed, glaring disgustingly at the soldier who asked him who he was. "You must be new here, so I will spare this nonsense, just this once. Tell your king that the elder is here. I bring him dire news."

With that, they signaled to each other and one of the guards then flew into the castle to inform the king of Hiva's arrival while he waited.

After a while, he came back and spoke to him, "Apologies, sire, the king is expecting you now," and with that, he motioned for the gates to be opened for him to enter.

As Hiva reached the throne room, the king of the Vanard clan, Keito, was already seated there, waiting for him.

"Welcome my fellow Lord," Keito greeted, "forgive my foolish guards, I would have told them you were coming if I had expected you earlier."

"Forgive me also for coming on such short notice," Hiva replied, "but this could not wait."

"What goes on in the Daivie house?" Keito asked him.

"The son of Luther has agreed to take the throne."

"What?!" Keito growled.

"I would not be saying this if I didn't hear this with my own ears, sire. I will even have to be more careful when spying on them next time, that son of his is very sharp."

Keito growled more loudly this time. "That's not the issue now, Hiva! You assured me that I would not have anything to worry about! You were supposed to keep that throne empty and weaken the army's forces while you were at it."

"I tried, sire, and I am still trying, but things just seem to keep getting harder and harder as the days go by. I thought I had the throne and the army right at my fingertips, until the foolish demon circle advised the king to hand things over to his second son."

"But you assured me they were doomed if he did that!"

"I did, because that's what I thought, and that's why I allowed it. I thought that Devine would not be able to handle things, but it turns out that apart from his playfulness, he happens to be a smart and collective leader, and instead of weakening the army, he has only made it stronger."

"Arrrrghhhhhhh!!!!" Keito's yelling rang loud through the large throne room, it rang so loud that even demons in the distance would have heard it.

"Now the Daivie heritage is about to be sustained by crowning a new leader, and you've foolishly lost control of the army too. How in hell do you now expect us to weaken the Daivie enough for an attack?"

Hiva could feel his anger. "I am sorry, my lord. I could have sworn that the boy was never interested in taking the throne, but somehow hearing about his grandfather made him change his mind."

"This is not good, the Daivie clan must not have another heir!" Keito yelled louder, but even in his anger, Hiva could sense trepidation, "there must be something we can do!"

"Perhaps there is," Hiva grinned evilly, remembering something then he thought might please his lord, "the boy now has a human bride."

"Just like his imprudent father," replied Keito with a growl, "go on," he was keen to hear what Hiva had to say.

"He seems to be in love with her, we can take care of her the way we did Lilian, he'll be too devastated to rule, and then he will have me by his side to help with the most terrible decisions."

A fresh round anger flashed on Keito's face as he glared strongly at the elder. "I should have known that you would lack wisdom enough to suggest the exact same thing we tried before, the same plan that failed because of that bastard, Gustan."

"Lord Keito, you might be a royal, you might be higher than me in status but not in age. Let me still remind you that I am the one helping you here. I am not demanding, but I would plead with you to give me the amount of respect I deserve. It will be for all our benefits if we conquer the Daivie, and to do that, we must work together."

The lines on Keito's face etched even more, he wanted to say something, he wanted to yell even more at Hiva, but then he thought better of it and had to calm himself down.

"I apologize for my harsh words on you, Hiva. I am just tensed from all the frustrating news."

"The news also affected me too, it should have frustrated me first, but I did not see anyone to take out that anger on."

"I apologize," he said again. "Now, let me hear the rest of your plans."

"It's the same one as before, we kill the bride and weaken the king emotionally, that's were I come in, and as for what you said before, the plan only failed that time because Gustan was involved. This time, it will be different, Luther couldn't care less about a worthless human, talk less of give his soul in exchange for her's."

"This was how the plan sounded so great the first time, and look at how everything failed. We wasted two thousand years, Hiva!"

"I stand by my words, my lord. This time will be different. I would have tried to kill the two sons instead, but they both possess massive strength, even greater than mine. The bride is the easiest target, and much will not be traced to us this way."

Keito sighed as he took his seat on the throne room. "I hope this plan of yours will be successful, Hiva. If not, you can kiss this agreement goodbye."

"I will see to it that it is, my lord, and in the end, when we finally conquer the Daivie, I will drink the blood of the king and I will have all I desire by being the first master turned royal."

After their discussion, Keito sent for two of his servants, giving them an assignment.