Chapter 1152: The Ocean's Desires
“I must make my protestation known once more,” the Jaguar whispered to Leon as a party approached the edge of the misty veil, with the leader once again bearing a sword that had been nailed into its sheath above her head. “The Kingdom relies upon you. Should we lose you, we lose everything.”
“Then I’ll endeavor not to be lost,” Leon murmured. More seriously, he added, “Look upon our city and ask yourself: how much more can we take? How many assaults can our meager defending force weather before the enemy enters the valley and destroys all that we’ve tried to build? I don’t think we can take even a single assault more.” He jerked his head to the approaching party, still too distant to hear his words with the Jaguar. “Not that they need to know that. Agreeing to entertain these peace negotiations on my own will help to project strength.”
“Not going at all would also project strength,” the Jaguar replied. “Sending Clear Day at the head of a negotiating party would be a better plan.”
“Only a King may negotiate with a fellow monarch,” Leon responded. “Though, she isn’t a ruler in her own right, as far as I’m aware, it’s still basic courtesy. If I don’t go, then the negotiations might break down at a perceived insult.”
The Jaguar sighed. After Leon had agreed to negotiate at dawn, he and many of Leon’s surviving advisors—the list of whom had grown worryingly small—had done their best to argue Leon out of going to meet with Princess Miuna, especially since she was insisting they meet in her palace, wherever that was.
Despite his words to the delegate the day before, Leon was willing to go through with it. As a Princess, her hospitality had to be inviolable. It had to be. If it wasn’t, then no one would ever trust her. He was certain enough that, based on her position alone, her offer was genuine, but he couldn’t deny his nervousness.
After all, if her offer wasn’t genuine, he would be paying the price. Whether or not Miuna’s standing decreased or not wouldn’t matter to him much if he were dead.
He cast his gaze back at his city, now nearly devoid of life as everyone who could so much as lift a brick was busy trying to repair as much of their broken defenses as possible before the next potential assault came. Even the Iron Order warriors were helping to clear debris around the southern Talon—Marcus still hadn’t been found amidst the ruins, and Leon’s heart rate accelerated a bit in worry and fury at the thought.
His darkened gaze returned to the Diluvian fleet gathered in the south. Whether or not peace was reached during his and Miuna’s negotiations, he wouldn’t be forgetting this as long as he lived.