Chapter 72: The motive
Helia pursed her lips. She wanted to say something in response to her words but decided against it.
She had done enough teasing for one day. She let out a sigh. "Well, I'm sure your dear friend is doing just fine wherever he is. Though the king may be a menace, he isn't so far gone that he'd let the person he appointed as his guard die... right?"
The three women glanced at each other and didn't say anything for a while. A worried look took over Anthanasia's face as she thought about the king. She couldn't help thinking of all the possible things that could go wrong.
Meanwhile, Ceremus could feel his patience wearing thin with each passing second he spent conversing with the king. They had gone to a more secluded area in the banquet hall, and Aeson was bombarding him with ideas on how to make both of their nations great again. Ceremus could care less about the politics of another country and had no interest in combining their military power, considering how useless of an endeavor that would be given their current climate.
Not a single one of their nations had been at war with one another, and although the idea of conquering another nation to grow his own did sound somewhat appealing to the king, he wasn't mad enough to actually see it through. He was perfectly content with the state of Trojas right now and didn't have any intentions of changing things—at least not right now.
He wanted nothing more than to find his guard and a place away from prying eyes to be in his presence. He hadn't seen the white-haired giant in two hours and was starting to miss him greatly. Hell, he even missed Loki at this point.
It was clear he was starting to get annoyed, and King Aeson could see this, so he decided to push their conversation to a later date. Ceremus was finally relieved of him and made his way back to the crowded room, his eyes scanning the place for Hael. When he didn't catch sight of him, his face formed a frown.
"Just where is that man?"
His eyes suddenly caught sight of the princess making her way towards the balcony. She was an eye-catching young woman and hard not to notice, so he followed her with his eyes and saw that she was trying to engage in a conversation with someone.
Ceremus moved closer and saw that the person she was talking to was none other than the guard he was looking for. He noticed the shy smile on her face and couldn't unsee the flirtatious expression she wore. His frown deepened as he strained his ears to listen to their conversation.
"He isn't the only beautiful thing here," she started to say. "You aren't so bad yourself," he heard her say.