Chapter 311: Ascension XII (End of Book 4)
One Month Later
The demons were delighted, which was always a little concerning. Ozra visited twice in the preceding weeks with rarities and gifts in tow, parceling them out like the spirit of winter, with no expectation of anything in return.
My father was clearly thriving in the hells.
It was, for lack of a better word, a loan. They'd safeguard him—safe being a relative term—put him through his paces, and eventually return him to this plane when Ragnarok was imminent.
Meanwhile, Thaddeus, working together with Kilvius, handled distribution of memory orbs taken from the recollections of my banner lieutenants and placed them in the hands of the many, many information brokers throughout the kingdom, to results that were decidedly more mixed. His control of information blunted the severity of the fallout, as our conflict was rumored to be directly tied to the mass disappearances of nonhumans in Whitefall.
He'd warned me that even though Gil was widely feared and often hated, many humans wouldn't interpret my apparent regicide kindly. And in that, he was completely right.
I was something of a pariah now. At least for the moment.
The large winding caravan of my regiment and their families had set to avoiding human settlements for the immediate future, at least until the worst of it blew over, and Thaddeus assured me it eventually would. In the interim, Queen Elaria took the ruling crown of Uskar. Sera wanted to stay with the regiment and Annette was far happier in the background. My mother was the best choice to avert the imminent power struggle, well-liked and already established.
To that end, the absence of the king's body, despite his apparent death, helped a great deal in solidifying her grasp on the throne. There hadn't even been a burial. And no one, not even the most power-hungry houses and blatant opportunists, wanted to risk taking a swipe at the queen when the king's death was yet to be fully confirmed.