Executing The Plan

As soon as the gate opened, the Duke galloped off leaving the others in the dust, only to find himself rivaled by his own son. He had a feeling he would stick close with him, but was unable to keep up as he was far more use to the terrain.

Settling down a bit into the depths of the forest, he raised his bow up and shot a deer, arrow piercing through the animal as it got lodged into a tree. For the first time he heard Theia actively cry out, nearly forgetting she was there with him.

Throwing his bow to his free hand overhead, he swiftly moved his hand and scooping her up before she felt off the horse, he held her like a football tucked to his chest. In his other hand, he caught the bow in his left hand as the horse landed on the ground from its previous jumping position.

Putting the bow on his back, he ignored the deer, it wasn't anything special anyways, instead focusing on her. He turned her to face him and observed as she had closed her eyes as though she were bracing for impact, a rather smart child. Instead of crying when she opened her eyes, she stared up at him blankly.

On the inside, she was relieved he caught her but was mad he allowed it to happen in the first place. She saw her skull being cracked in twenty different ways in the span of a second while he was out there leisurely shooting deer. Staring up at him waiting for him to make a move, she watched as he put her down on the horse, facing him.

Moving his hand to his chin, he thought carefully for a minute, running his fingers through his hair as he let out a small sigh. If he moved his arms away from supporting her, it seemed like she'd fall, a baby really can't support themselves up, he got from his thinking.

If she died, Cyrille would never forgive him, and he'd never hear the end of it from the king, either. Staring into his eyes, she wondered how this man was a father. He was in fact good looking, but that was quite possibly the only thing he had going for him. A noble title such as duchess and riches were not worth being married to this guy, the man thinking it was smart to sit a baby on a horse with no support.

The more she looked at him the more convinced she was that none of the wives probably wanted to marry him or liked anything about him except the second wife as he picked her up and shoved into many positions. She wasn't sure if it was because she was being tossed around so much by him trying to figure out how to hold a baby and shoot a bow while riding a horse, which she couldn't believe he didn't think through, but she was starting to feel ill.

It wasn't a motion sickness, but her head begun spinning in circles and her stomach ached. Beads of sweat rolled down her head as the Duke also paused, thinking he broke the child for a moment before also feeling an intense burning in his stomach.

The pounding in his head grew by the second, for a moment he thought it was due to the release of a monster like last year that gave off such a putrid odor people became nauseated just by approaching it, but this was almost as severe.

The next second, he decided that couldn't of been it, he heard nothing and could feel nothing with that presence. The fact it was also affecting her would mean that it weren't, the affects of a beast wouldn't have anything on her, or at the bare minimum her condition wouldn't be like this.

He knew he could still participate through his current state, this was nothing for him, but he couldn't let this child just die yet. More importantly, where was the source coming from? If it weren't an animal, it'd have to be magic, and he now knew where.

That child, instead of being unable to keep up purposefully diverged from him, it put a grin on his face. There's no way he'd leave much evidence, he left enough for him to place two and two together, there was a reason they were so close during the first daughters birthday celebration unlike previous years, pretending to like each other under a facade.

This wasn't a last minute effort to win, he'd planned it the very second he made an oath. He had to of done the same to other participants to avoid arousing suspicion or being able to pinpoint him even if rumors emerged. He wasn't the key behind this, either. It was the sixth son that stuck close to him at all times.

Laughing at his own obliviousness, the Duke wanted to give them a round of applause. These were the children he raised, they were turning out just like him when he was little, the perfect Argyris children. Struggling to stay conscious from the heat, she wanted the Duke changed almost instantly from a confused and stoic man to that of a crazed one, laughing in silence.

She wondered if the illness was also affecting him, and if so, just what was it. Trying to stay awake, she could see the blonde hair of her brother faintly, eyes squinting but staying open through sheer determination.

"Isaac," the Duke turned over to him, the feeling of bloodlust in the air was overpowering, it was terrifying how things changed so quickly, and how the two looked at each other. The Duke looked completely fine if it weren't for the fact he was grinning ear to ear, while Isaac looked equally as fine, just staggering slightly.

"Are you not concerned that they'd call off the hunt due to your actions?" Duke asked, genuinely curious as to what went through his mind, glaring at the boy who still trembled slightly in front of his father, no matter how high his bloodlust for him were.

Putting on a friendly smile, he responded. "I don't recall that having anything to do with my oath." Even if the winner was to be announced at a later date, or there was none at all, his only condition were he being back the largest beast and kept his sister safe, not to actually win the hunt itself.