Chapter 202: [Chapter - 202]
Two days later.
The streets of Auravale were bustling, but the atmosphere was thick with a suffocating.
The news of the slaughtered Blackfang Bandits by the Zarthian Beasts had spread, despite Belladonna's strict orders to keep the peace.
The citizens knew the Zarthians were testing the fences, and a war was incoming.
Meanwhile, Leo was very happy, not very worried about the looming Zarthian danger.
It was because Seraphine was recovering faster than Leo had hoped for. The raw, purified mana from the beast cores had knitted her shattered pathways back together.
With her strength returning, she had developed a different kind of hunger.
They had spent the entire day and night until the early morning locked in each other's arms, making love with a frantic energy.
Seraphine constantly craved his touch and his kisses, her skin needing his warmth to feel alive again.
She wanted him inside of her, needing to feel the weight and presence of the man who had saved her.
She wouldn't let him go, pulling him back every time he tried to move, ensuring they stayed joined until the sun finally began to rise.
He wanted to spend some time with her, but the war fanatic belladonna dragged him to the war room to make plans on how they were going to deal with Vorath.
"If Warchief Vorath decides to march, he will hit the eastern gate first," Aris stated calmly, his grey robes immaculate as always.
"We have made reinforcements, but it will not hold against Zarthian siege beasts for long."
"We might need defensive arrays. Better weapons for our soldiers."
"I can get them," Leo said, leaning back in his chair. He thought of the System Shop, packed with magical artillery and defensive wards.
"They will be expensive," Aris noted.
"Everything is," Leo grunted, standing up, "But let me tell you something after our little show, I doubt the so called new Warchief is going to attack us."
"But we can never be enough prepared," Aris said when he felt Leo dodge his suggestion. He knew that the budget was tight and there was literally no way for a few hundred Blackfang bandits to face-off the thousands of Zarthian Beasts.
"Then you and Belladonna can discuss the details and send me your list of requirements," Leo said, grinning at Aris, "I will make the preparations."
Ten minutes later, Leo was walking through the heavy, iron-reinforced doors of the Silver Route headquarters, and headed straight for the restricted lower levels.
The air down here was freezing cold. The damp stone walls were illuminated by clusters of glowing blue crystals.
Ryana had this vault specifically made beneath Silver Route after Leo took over. For the last month or so she had made people work on top gear to have it made as soon as possible.
And now that the vault was made of massive, cavernous room, she had it filled with mountains of solid gold bars, chests overflowing with uncut gems and silver coins, herbs, beast cores, magical potions and other priceless artefacts.
Over the last couple of weeks, she has also sent for the Capital's Silver Route branch to send the resources stored there to Auravale in separate batches.
She was shifting her headquarters here.
And right now, Ryana was standing near a stack of gold crates. She was wearing her signature crimson silk dress, holding a ledger, frantically ticking off numbers with a feathered quill. Her sheer black veil covered the lower half of her face, but her beautiful eyes looked exhausted and stressed.
Standing exactly three steps behind her was Darkness, with her hand resting on the hilt of her sword. She watched Leo enter with cold, dead eyes.
Leo stopped a few feet away.
"Leave," Leo commanded darkness, her gaze resting on Ryana's back.
"You!" Darkness's grip tightened around her sword's hilt, as Leo treated her like a dog.
But before she decided to make her move, her gaze turned towards Ryana. No matter how much she hated him, how much she blamed him for Shadow drifting away from her, abandoning her for this man, she knew that this man was very important to her mistress.
She knew exactly what this man was capable of.
Meanwhile when Ryana heard his voice, she swallowed hard.
She tried to maintain her icy, professional facade, but her fingers trembled slightly against the ledger.
"Wait outside, Darkness," Ryana said, her voice muffled slightly by her veil.
"But Mistress!" Darkness hesitated, "You can't be alone with this lecherous bast..."
"Don't make me repeat myself!" Ryana looked at Darkness with the corner of her eyes and warned.
Darkness hesitated for a fraction of a second, looked at Leo and then at Ryana again before bowed stiffly and walked past Leo, her boots clicking softly on the stone.
The moment she stepped across the threshold, Leo grabbed the heavy iron vault door.
CLANG.
He slammed it shut, throwing the massive locking bolt into place. The sound was deafening, sealing them inside a tomb of cold gold.
"Why are you here?" Ryana asked, as she did not turn to look back at him and got back to scribbling.
"Ohh! Attitude!" Leo raised his eyebrow, as he took a step towards Ryana, "It might just be the small town of Auravale. But I am still a lord in the service of the crown."
"You haven't still been appointed as the Lord," Ryana was quick to retort.
"Technicalities, darling! Technicalities," Leo grinned, and he was already behind her by this time, his warm breath blowing against her skin.
"Don't you dare touch me!" As soon as she felt his warmth against her skin, the last fragile thread of Ryana's restraint finally snapped and the professional mask of the Merchant Queen shattered.
"You bastard!" Ryana screamed, as she threw the heavy leather ledger directly at his head.
Leo didn't even flinch. He raised his left hand and caught the thick book effortlessly, tossing it carelessly over his shoulder. It hit the stone floor with a dull thud.
"You dare show up in front of me?" Ryana yelled at him, "Don't you have any shame?"
"Why are you getting angry, dear?" Leo looked at Ryana with an innocent look, "Did I do something to infuriate you?"
"Did you?" Ryana looked at him with wide eyes, "You are seriously fucking asking me that?"
"You defiled a church!" Ryana yelled, her chest heaving, her eyes blazing with a mix of absolute fury and terrified arousal.
"You dragged my best guard in front of my eyes. You take her into a confessional chamber and you fucking fuck her! Right in front of me! And you flaunted it like a sick joke!"
"Just because I have been letting it go. You! You have been unrestrained."
Leo didn't say a word. He just stared at her, letting the beautiful Merchant queen vent out the the pent up vile stored inside of her.
Ryana took a step back, her heels clicking on the stone as she leaned on a big crate for support.
"Do you even know what Shadow and Darkness mean to me?"
"I have raised the two of them with my own hands."
"I never treated them like my servants."
"They were my family."
"But because of you..."
"Because you ruined her!" she shouted, her voice cracking.
"Shadow... She doesn't even look at me anymore! Always stealing away glances."
"I always catch her staring at the door waiting for you!"
"You broke her mind, you arrogant, psychotic..."
Her spine hit the solid, freezing metal of the stacked gold crates behind her, as she had nowhere to get back.
Seeing her trapped, Leo quickly closed the distance between them.
He didn't stop until his chest was practically brushing against hers. He planted his hands on the cold crates on either side of her head, caging her in completely.
He looked down at her. His eyes falling on her trembling lips behind that veil and a smirk formed on his face. He raised his hand and gently tucked away a strand of hair falling over her face.
And surprisingly even after all this outburst, Ryana did not push her hand away.
"You aren't mad about the church, Ryana," Leo whispered, his voice a low, rough growl that vibrated against her skin. "You don't give a shit about the Gods or their altars."
He leaned in closer. He could smell her expensive rosewater perfume mixing with the frantic sweat of her panic.
"You aren't angry about what I did in the holy keep of the temple."
"Nor do you care about how the Goddess of light felt."
"And you are certainly not mad about Shadow and me" Leo continued, his gaze dropping to her veiled mouth, "You have known it for a while now. About my relationship with that elite bodyguard of yours."
"You are just pissed off because..."
Leo grinned as he leaned in and whispered as his lips brushed softly against his ears.
"It was not you bending over, confessing your sins to me."
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