Outside the Bright Castle, in the Tenants, where the followers of Changing Star live. Sunless was standing inside a large tent, waiting with the others for the guests who came from the Bright Castle.
Cassie was sitting beside Nephis, talking about something; Kai had his eyes closed... relaxing? Sunny was not sure what the handsome singer was doing exactly, but what he knew was what Effie was doing. She was devouring the meat in front of her.
Caster was not in the tent, as he was the one escorting the guests.
After a few minutes, three people entered the tent. The first was a gorgeous woman with pale grey skin, dark hair, and red eyes, wearing a simple red dress. After her was a man with black hair and dark brown eyes that looked black; he was wearing a long-sleeved black shirt that was folded and trousers. The last one to enter was Caster, who closed the tent before sitting.
"I hope we haven't let you wait long," Faraam spoke to Nephis, "You've caused quite the trouble for us."
Nephis looked at Faraam in his eyes, and Faraam did too.
"It's fine as long as you've come."
He nodded and sat next to Seishan, who sat before him.
Seishan glanced at Nephis with a smile, "You really surprised us with that stunt of yours; we thought it would take some time after your return... but to challenge Gunlaug immediately, you are quite eager to leave, aren't you?"
"Don't you want to leave as fast as possible too?" Nephis responded with a question of her own.
"Gods! Of course I want to leave this hellhole; I've been stuck here since the birth of the gods!"
Faraam frowned, "I would say that is too exaggerated."
Seishan glanced at him, "And what do you know? You've only been stuck here for like, what? Three years? This is nothing."
Faraam raised his hands in defeat, "Fine, I'm sorry, my lady."
Effie, who was still eating her food, looked at Seishan from top to bottom and whispered to herself, "She sure is a lady..."
Sunny, who was next to her, clearly heard her but chose to remain silent for his own sanity.
Faraam looked back at Nephis and asked, "So, do you have it?"
Nephis didn't answer; instead, she summoned a memory. In her hand a simple crown of silver metal decorated with a single gem materialized. It was the Dawn Shard.
Seeing the Dawn Shard, Faraam's smile turned into a grin, "Excellent. You've done your part of the deal, and we will do our part. Tessai will be assassinated when your battle ends with Gunlaug, and I'll make sure that lordship of the Bright Castle will be transferred to you smoothly."
"And how will you do that?" Cassie asked.
"Simple." Seishan said, "We will let the citizens of the Bright Castle choose their lord by voting, and if somehow Changing Star loses, we will simply rig the voting and make sure she wins."
Nephis nodded, "That would do. What about the preparation of the siege?"
"Everything is going well." Faraam responded, "The siege weapons are in production, the Bright Castle army has increased their training, and the hunters are gathering more soul shards. The Lord of the Dead is weakened enough that we can kill it anytime we want."
Faraam sighed, "This cost me a lot of money, you know."
"Can't you just get more money? You are the minister of money after all."
Everyone in the room looked at Sunny.
"What?"
Faraam had his hands on his face, covering his disappointment.
"What did I expect from a slum rat?"
Sunny's eyes widened in disbelief.
"You're from the slums too!"
Faraam chuckled, "But I'm different from rats like you. Because I'm the leader of the slum rats," Faraam stood up and continued, "You can call me by my other name too, Ghost."
Sunny's eyes widened more, 'No way... no, actually no way the man in front of me is the man who freed the slums and made it a better place to live... right?'
Sunny trembled a little; how could he not? He was a huge fan of Ghost!
Nephis put her hand on her chin, "So you are the one who fought the clans and took control of the slums from them."
"Hmm? You seem to know quite a bit about it, Changing Star."
She didn't answer; instead, she stood up and said, "Tomorrow is the decisive day, and I've to be ready for it. Let us end the meeting and meet again after our victory."
Faraam and Seishan stood up and nodded.
"Then we will take our leave."
The two walked toward the exit.
From behind, Cassia was watching as Faraam walked; in her blind sight, she saw three shimmering runes.
[Freewill], [Heaven Curse], [Unbreakable].
She didn't understand how a mortal being would exist with such a fate; the description of the [Freewill] made her question everything she knew about fate, which was nothing, really. But for her, if the man in front of her really can't be controlled by fate... then he might be the key to stop what she saw in her vision
After they left, Nephis left too, followed by Cassie. Effie left too, thanking the gods that the boring meeting ended. Caster left after her. As for Kai and Sunny... Kai took on the mission to teach Sunny what inflation is.
***
As the two lords of the Bright Castle returned undetected, they entered a room alone.
Seishan walked toward a chair and sat; Faraam instead remained standing. He smiled and bowed a little, "I hope everything went well as you wanted, Lady Seishan."
The gorgeous woman responded, "Yes, it went very well. Make sure nothing goes wrong tomorrow."
"As you order, Lady Seishan."
With that, Faraam took his leave, seeing one of the Handmaidens bringing in the body of one of the prisoners inside.
Faraam prayed for the man's soul.
As he walked in the corridors, Faraam remembered his first meeting with Seishan.
Even with Caela's memories, he barely noticed the similarities between the current Seishan and when she was a child. The Nightmare Spell really changed her appearance a lot.
But meeting one of the daughters of Song here... his luck was on a roll.
If he gains her trust, he would be able to join the Song clan and be under their protection.
He wondered if his [Heave's Curse] attribute was working or not.
Suddenly Faraam stopped... 'Did I just raise a death flag on myself?'