The Approval of The Midlands Accords

[THIRD-PARTY POV]

The warrior stood there in shock, unsure of what he expected of Gideon of Greroth.

Of course, the rumors had been true.

Gideon of Greroth never got into relationships.

Everyone knew he would sleep with anyone, male or female, old or young, anywhere and everywhere.

"Gideon," the warrior tried calling out to Gideon, but even he could tell that this was the end of the night. Sure, their interactions were limited, but they were interactions that the warrior was never going to forget.

"Maybe some other day, you will look at me, right?" Grant asked no one in particular, but he still hoped that somewhere in the distance, his mate heard him. Maybe he would even come back to give him one more kiss, right?

But then just like everything that had been happening, that night was the last time they would be seeing each other as whatever they had had in the night. Grant knew that and maybe that's why Gideon's words the next time they had met, didn't stress him as much.

Besides, how else could a broken heart get even more broken, right?

******

By mid-morning, everyone was awake and they had all assembled in the conference room. Today was the day they would all be going back home and more importantly, they would be reviewing the new accords that King Cassius had drafted overnight.

They needed to maintain order in the midlands, that way they would have to end the chaos with the beats and whatnot. This would save more lives and their soldiers would have to be disciplined.

No one ever predicted that all it would take for the whole supernatural world to practice humanity, was a lycan beast who cared about the kids? It was a test of fate, but it was also a lesson they would have to understand as time went by.

"Good morning" King Cassius greeted.

"Good morning, Cassius" they responded grouchily like they still needed that beauty sleep.

Ulrike looked like he still needed to get some sleep. Clearly, he wasn't a morning person. He looked ready to punch anyone who spoke any louder than they should have, but that was one of the downside of being a supernatural.

Their hearing was intensified. But maybe Ulrike was just hoping they wouldn't be screaming or shouting at him because there was a high chance that he would throw the conference table in their faces.

Criselda looked lost and bored, almost like she wanted to clear things and go back home. Being away from Greroth for a day and that too, to deal with Gideon and Eddison was hard enough. She needed a break from all this madness and no one could really blame her.

"Why did you wake us up this early," Zelina complained, though her face was showing something else. She looked like she needed this over and done with, as fast as possible because she had a whole different mission to get to. 

King Edison just sat on his chair, carefully, his face full of worry, maybe because he was seated next to Gideon, the man who had tried to eliminate him just yesterday evening and had openly defied him. It was crazy how Gideon looked like he didn't regret anything.

Sure, they were here as leaders, but for Edison, there was a threat that hung in the air, a threat he couldn't neutralize and he had learned that in one day. So all he had to do was to be cool and pretend like none of that shit happened yesterday, save for the beast part.

But then again, the beast was at the center of this madness.

But what if the beast was way too close to him?

Would he run?

Gideon looked like he had had the fun of his life, last night, as he casually stared at Delbert and Grant. It was almost like he knew something that all the people in this room didn't know about.

"You guys look like shit," King Cassius said and they all groaned like it wasn't obvious. However, even in their weird states, Cassius knew their minds were alert. So he would ignore their groans and grunts and give them the papers.

"No shit, Sherlock," Zelina whined, as she leaned her head on the conference table, making herself comfortable in the uncomfortable state she was in.

"Delbert, Grant, give them copies of this accord," King Cassius said to his trusted warriors who were up for the task. They were efficient and that was also why they were here in this room, with the leaders of the midlands.

The amount of trust their king had in them was the kind that could either save Acrod or lead them into war. But it was clear that whatever decision the warriors made, their king would be there beside them.

"Yes, Your Highness."

"You guys read through the accords. The contents are as we discussed yesterday. Anyone with objections can raise them so we fix the accords here and now," King Cassius said and the Midlands rulers looked at the scrolls in front of them.

King Cassius sat back, waiting to see what they would say, even though he wanted to laugh at them. He wondered how the fuck they ruled kingdoms when it was mid-morning and they were still sleepy. This was crazy.

However, King Cassius understood them. They had been out in the night with the beast for a while, so their lack of sleep made sense. They needed rest before they could get back to their duties, and judging by their faces, they wanted to go back to their homes.

The midlands couldn't afford to lose more soldiers. The lycan beast didn't care about anything other than the children. So maybe if they got the children out of the equation, they wouldn't have to deal with the crude beast again.

They would get the peace they so yearned for desperately.

"It looks good to me," Zelina said, having looked at the scroll in front of her. She was amazed at how well Cassius had captured everything they had discussed. He truly was a good leader, but they all were anyway.

"Me too, I see it covers all we talked about, unless we are to add anything," King Eddy of Udrad added.

"Yup, not a complaint from me, now can I please go back to sleep?" Ulrike whined, and Gideon just laughed at him. Ulrike was tired, he needed all the sleep he could get, after fighting with the beast of the midlands last night.

He had healed, but that didn't mean he wasn't sore. His old friend had landed some rough punches on him, of course sparing the face. Maybe that was something Ulrike would thank him for if they ever met again.

At least he could still get laid with that beautiful face of his.

"You look like you spent your whole lifetime without sleep, but you look worse than yesterday," Gideon said with a light laugh, almost like he and Ulrike had been doing something else last night or even during the day.

In response, Ulrike just pouted and went back to sleep, on the table in the conference room.

There was something about Gideon's tone that made literally everyone in the room curious. None of them could quite get their finger on what it was, but if Ulrike had kept the conversation going, their suspicions would be confirmed.

Maybe Ulrike knew that, which is why he was trying to feign sleep right now. Their over-friendly interaction was new and the focus suddenly turned to them, but Criselda noticed and quickly cut in.

"So all we have to do is sign with our blood, yeah?"

"Yeah," Cassius said as Delbert and Grant once again gave the rulers the small knives they would use for the treaty signing. The blood treaties were binding forever, and even in the years after their extinction, they would still be in place.

It was important that they all take part in this and all they could do was hope that their people listened. Henceforth if any of their soldiers did anything to piss off the beast of the midlands, they would be on their own.

"Do I also have to? I don't want to, besides, Mother dearest is here already on behalf of Greroth," Gideon argued and since no one wanted to argue with, or challenge him, they just nodded.

And so they spent the next hour discussing the treaty and how it would take effect. They talked of the different ways that they would remind their people. Of course, they agreed that the midlands were not safe for people, especially in the forest, but they couldn't do anything about the beast.

They just had to agree that he was an essential part of their territory, after all, they didn't even dare to tell him to back off.

By the time they were done, they knew things would be different.

Sitting there in the silence, King Eddy knew he was somehow going to be leading a hard life. He could feel that the tribulations would be befalling him.

He knew who Gideon was, or rather had an inkling of what he was. However, in Acrod, Edison couldn't say shit. Something about Gideon screamed Lycan because only a Lycan would be that courageous to attack a whole king in front of all the leaders.

Edison had had his doubts and yet even then, as he thought of so many things, he had a feeling that Gideon of Greroth, was the beast of the midlands. He had no evidence of that, but the amount of power he had grabbed Edison with, had been too much.

It was the power fueled by revenge, and if Gideon of Greroth was who Edison thought he was, then Eddison needed to go home and prepare his armies. He needed to be ready, because if he wasn't ready, then he would be the end of his home.