Take Me Away, Dark Lord!

He stomped over, closing the distance to Seraphina in two large strides. He didn’t drop to one knee like Elian Vance had. He just bent at the waist, resting his hands on his knees, putting his scarred face right in front of hers.

”Hello there, little spark!” Leonidas boomed, his breath smelling faintly of cinnamon and smoke. ”I am Archduke Leonidas Valen! The Lord of the Flame! But you can call me Uncle Leo!”

Seraphina blinked.

Uncle Leo?

”You aren’t my uncle,” Seraphina stated matter-of-factly. ”You are the enemy. Papa said you wanted to purge us.”

Leonidas threw his head back and unleashed another deafening, booming laugh. ”Did he now?! That’s so your typical Kaelus! Always adding dramatic flair to our political disagreements!”

Leonidas turned back to Kaelus, crossing his arms. ”Purge you? Kaelus, you dramatic fool, if I purged you, who would I argue with at the Imperial summits? The other Dukes are boring sycophants.”

Kaelus pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a long, exhausted sigh.

”Seraphina,” Kaelus grumbled, his voice dripping with profound regret. ”Allow me to introduce the bane of my existence. Leonidas and I... we share a history.”

”A history?!” Leonidas scoffed loudly. ”We shared a bathtub, Kaelus! Don’t act so coy!”

Seraphina gasped, her hands flying to her cheeks. ”A bathtub?!”

”Lies!” Kaelus snapped, a faint, furious flush appearing on his pale cheeks. He glared at Leonidas. ”Do not poison her mind with your exaggerated nonsense. We were just toddlers.”

”Our mothers were best friends, little spark,” Leonidas explained to Seraphina, completely ignoring Kaelus’s murderous glare. ”The late Duchess of Nacht and my mother, the Duchess of Valen. They were inseparable. They used to drag us to tea parties, and even made a pact!”

Leonidas leaned in closer, his eyes dancing with wicked, chaotic mischief.

”They swore a blood oath that if one of us was born a girl, we would be betrothed,” Leonidas cackled. ”Can you imagine?! Kaelus as my wife?! He would have frozen my bedsheets every night out of spite! Thank the Gods we were both born with swords, eh?”

Kaelus looked physically ill.

He looked as though he was actively contemplating throwing himself into the sun.

”I am going to murder you,” Kaelus whispered, his voice completely hollow. ”I am going to wait until you are asleep, and I am going to suffocate you with a pillow.”

Seraphina’s mind entirely broke down.

’Childhood friends?!’ her inner monologue shrieked in hysterical laughter. ’The brooding, edgy ice prince and the boisterous, loud fire-mage are childhood besties whose moms tried to arrange a marriage?! This isn’t a political thriller! It’s a buddy-comedy anime! The lore of this world is an absolute masterpiece!’

”You’re funny, Uncle Leo,” Seraphina giggled, completely abandoning her fear of the ’zealot’.

”I like her!” Leonidas declared, pointing a thick finger at Kaelus. ”She has infinitely more personality than you do, you miserable lump of coal. Come inside! The heat is bad for your delicate Northern constitutions! We have an audit to pretend to care about, and I have a feast prepared!”

Leonidas turned on his heel, gesturing wildly to his Fire Mages to stand down and open the gates to the inner keep.

Kaelus stood there for a long moment, staring at the back of the red-haired Archduke.

”Papa,” Seraphina tugged on his dark cape, looking up at him with a wide, innocent smile. ”Can I ask Uncle Leo about the bathtub?”

Kaelus looked down at her. His violet eyes narrowed, a dark, terrible promise radiating from his aura.

”If you ever speak the word ’bathtub’ in my presence again, Seraphina,” Kaelus murmured softly, picking her up and hoisting her into his arms, ”I will confiscate your origami ducks for a decade.”

***

The interior of the Obsidian Gate was surprisingly comfortable.

Unlike the suffocating, smog-choked heat of Iron-forge, Leonidas’s fortress was highly ventilated, utilizing ancient volcanic vents to circulate dry, pleasantly warm air throughout the massive, vaulted halls.

It smelled of roasting spices, cedar wood, and clean smoke.

Following a massive, boisterous, incredibly loud banquet, during which Leonidas ate half a roasted cow by himself and aggressively teased Kaelus about his rigid table manners, the two Archdukes and Seraphina retired to Leonidas’s private study.

The study was massive, featuring a huge, open-air balcony overlooking the bubbling caldera of the volcano.

Kaelus and Leonidas were sitting at a heavy stone table, drinking an incredibly strong, fiery Southern wine. The political tension between them was real, they fundamentally disagreed on how to manage the Empire, and their border skirmishes were a genuine nuisance, but watching them argue was like watching two brothers fight over a toy.

It was loud, aggressive, but devoid of true malice.

Seraphina, bored by the talk of troop deployments and mythril tariffs, was sitting on a plush, tiger-skin rug near the open balcony doors, playing with a set of enchanted wooden blocks.

”You’re too rigid, Kaelus,” Leonidas boomed, taking a massive gulp of wine. ”You sit in your black tower and wait for the demons to come to you. The Empire needs to go on the offensive! We need to march the legions into the Abyss and burn the rot out at the root!”

”Your legions would be slaughtered before they crossed the first glacial rift,” Kaelus sneered, swirling the wine in his glass. ”Fire is useless against the ancient cold, Leonidas. You rely too heavily on raw destructive output and ignore tactical sustainability.”

Leonidas rolled his eyes. ”Tactics are for cowards who are afraid to get burnt. Speaking of fire...”

The red-haired Archduke turned his amber eyes toward Seraphina, who was currently stacking a red block on top of a blue one.

”Hey, little spark!” Leonidas called out. ”I hear the North is incredibly boring. No pets, no fun. Just ice and brooding knights. Want to see a real pet? Want Uncle Leo to show you a trick?”

Kaelus frowned, his posture instantly stiffening. ”Leonidas. Do not traumatize my daughter with your reckless parlor tricks.”