The words spoken lingered in the air, seeming to echo far longer than they should’ve in such a lavishly appointed room. Leon’s mouth went dry as a single question flashed repeatedly through his mind.

    ‘Did she just...?’

    It took him a moment to find his tongue.

    “No...? What? I mean... no...? What? No!”

    As the Princess’ words finally filtered through his head, he grew more resolute, especially once he stole a glance at A’Rei and noticed that she was frozen solid, though more out of abject shock than anything magical. Her eyes were wide as dinner plates and her mouth was hanging open as wide as a fishing net.

    Leon returned his golden gaze to the shadowy figure of the Princess behind the sheer curtain. She hadn’t moved much during their conversation, but she’d still made some small, natural movements before. Now, she sat perfectly motionless. Fortunately, he didn’t have to wait long for her to speak and give a hint as to what was going through her mind.

    “What?” she exclaimed. “What?!”

    Having taken those few moments to straighten himself out, Leon stood straight and said, “I’m not going to marry you.”

    Miuna’s form remained still for only a moment before she rose to her feet and approached the curtain.

    “Your Highness!” A’Rei whispered in panic as Miuna reached for the curtain.

    Without responding to her guard-delegate-handmaiden—or whatever A’Rei was to her—Miuna whipped the curtain away with a single graceful flick of her wrist, giving Leon his first good look at the woman.

    She was dressed in robes, primarily black but with undersea flora of all colors embroidered up and down the thick fabric. The robes were trimmed in gold, which shimmered in the room’s light, while in one of her hands, she held an equally decorated fan. The fan was extended in front of her face, concealing everything beneath her large eyes, which were colored like the purest amber. Her hair was long and black as night, and though most of it was tied back into a loose bun, she had long strands left loose to frame her face, while her bangs were cut perfectly straight across her forehead.

    She was about as pale as Leon would’ve expected of a woman who spent most of her time indoors and beneath the sea, and her heavy aura made it clear that her Despotissa titles weren’t only a result of nepotism. She wasn’t that much shorter than Leon, but even standing on an elevated platform, she still had to look up a bit at him. Though her robes and fan still concealed much of her appearance, Leon could tell that she was powerful and captivatingly beautiful. With her eyes locked upon him, he felt for a moment like he was the only man in the world.

    But after that moment, he gritted his teeth and got a hold of himself. He was no young boy getting tongue-twisted by the attention of a beautiful woman anymore. He returned her shocked, irate, and inspecting gaze with defiance and confidence, though that seemed to have the opposite effect than what he was going for.

    “Why?” she succinctly asked, her melodic voice sounding particularly alluring now that there was no curtain in the way.

    He shrugged. “’Why’ what?” he asked.

    She scoffed, her amber eyes momentarily breaking their extended eye contact while A’Rei looked about ready to skewer him where he stood. “I am the most eligible bachelorette in all the Nexus!” she declared, nary a shred of humility to be seen. “There are those who would declare you to be far beneath me! And yet, when I offer myself to you, as I have to no other man, you turn me down?! Why?! Have I intimidated you? Do you lack confidence or ability? Or desire? Tell me!”

    Leon had to stifle a smirk at her reaction. The peace negotiations they’d engaged in had hardly animated her as much as his rejection had. Instead of answering her question directly, he countered, “How about you answer the same question for me? If you are so much higher than me, then why would you offer yourself to me, ‘as you have no other man’?”

    The Princess snapped her fan closed, giving Leon a good look at her face. Her features were noble and refined, cute and mature at the same time. Her servants throughout the palace were possessed of seraphic beauty, but Leon would confidently say that all lady lovers would’ve ranked Miuna as more beautiful than them all.

    Those features of nearly unparalleled beauty were set into a serious and hard expression, though not one completely devoid of warmth. Her lips turned downward in momentary thought as her amber eyes narrowed.@@@@

    “Should I not?” she asked. “Given the gifts I have seen from you, do you not understand what I want?”

    “My bloodline?” he asked.

    “Your bloodlines,” she repeated, emphasizing the plural. “Young I may be, having no memories of the time when the Thunderbirds ruled the Storm Lands, or even of their more recent members who attempted to reassert the primacy of their bloodline within the Nexus, but I know that power. I have studied it enough over the years. r?АNobE?S?

    “Your black fire I need no study to recognize. A century ago, the Dragon Clans engaged in a terrible war, and though brief, it displayed their might for all the Nexus to see. I may have only been a child during that time, but I remember the black fire of doom well enough to recognize it.

    “And then there’s that other power you summoned, that lightning as black as the Void itself, reducing all that touched it to ash.”

    “Those powers,” Leon said, “are why you are proposing marriage between us?”

    A deep sigh escaped Leon’s lips. “I am a man of my word, Princess. I will agree to one favor to put all of this behind us.”

    “Good.” She stepped away from him, a look of, if not satisfaction, then at least something approximating triumph crossing her noble features. “In that case, I will now formally acknowledge you as the Strategos of this region, and end hostilities between you and the Ocean Lords...”

    A few more formalities followed, including arranging transport for the prisoners Leon would release, but they soon ended, and Leon was escorted from the room, ending what had been perhaps the single strangest negotiation he’d ever participated in. He’d expected many things when coming to meet the Ocean Princess, but a proposal of marriage was not one of them.

    Regardless, he now felt an undeniable sense of hope. He owed the Princess, but he would’ve felt like he owed her anyway, even if she hadn’t insisted on extracting a favor. Of course, he knew that nothing was over until it was over, and with Diluvian arks still in his land, he wasn’t going to celebrate just yet, but he couldn’t help but feel that Artorion was now safe.

    The war, he hoped, was over. Though it had come at a terrible price, his strategic aims had been achieved; he was now established in the Nexus.

    Now he would just have to clean up the mess he’d made to get to this point...

    ---

    “What an uncouth brute!” A’Rei exclaimed the moment the doors shut behind Leon Raime. “What arrogance to believe he could turn you down, Princess! I should’ve parted his head from his shoulders for such insolence!”

    “I’d rather you didn’t,” Miuna dreamily stated as she followed Leon’s route out of her palace, her attention rarely straying far from his broad shoulders and deliciously toned rear. “I’m rather fond of his head, myself. He’s quite pretty, don’t you think?”

    A’Rei huffed and crossed her arms. “He has the look of an unwashed barbarian! He claims to be a King but cannot even muster a decent outfit!”

    Miuna giggled, raising a hand to hide her mouth as she did. “I like him. But if this is how things must be, then this is how they must be.”

    “Princess...” A’Rei whispered, looking like she was about to vomit. Her illness was quickly explained when she reluctantly said, “he hasn’t left yet... I could get the girls to keep him here, and you could have him all to yourself if you wish. It wouldn’t be that hard, even with what mettle he’s shown. If you want him, you can have him...”

    “True,” Miuna said as she held up her right hand and examined a bright green ring on her index finger. It had been carved from a single large emerald and featured a golden cameo of her father and mother’s marriage. Her father had thousands of concubines, but only one wife, and she was their only child. Their romance was one she had grown up witnessing, the love they had for each other standing in stark contrast to the tribulations they had endured to come together.

    They had been the heirs of rival Clans in their youth, but their love had stood strong. They had married in secret, only to be run out of their families for it. Her mother was her father’s greatest supporter, and neither would have reached the heights they now stood at without the other.

    She wanted that. To love someone so strongly to give up everything for them, and then to excel despite that sacrifice. Together with her chosen partner.

    Her attraction to Leon Raime was no small thing, but she supposed she still acted in haste. She smiled at the thought of the favor she now had, and the partnership they had agreed to. If nothing else, there wasn’t anything stating that she couldn’t come and pick up the agreed-upon Titanstone in person, was there?

    And while she was there, she could get to know Leon better. And his wives. She couldn’t help but wonder at how wonderful those women were that her admittedly rather impulsive proposal was turned down so flatly.

    “Do nothing,” she said. “Not to him, anyway.” Her eyes widened for a moment in regret as she realized she hadn’t even asked him about his supposed ability to transform into an animal. A silent curse ran through her mind, though she resolved to bring that up when next they saw each other...

    Continuing, she ordered, “Do you remember the terms we agreed to?”

    “Yes,” she responded.

    “Take them to Despot Terris. If he refuses to accept them, have him brought before me, and I will reduce him before all the Ocean Lords.”

    A’Rei shivered at the implication. “I believe that Terris is still gravely injured from that fight with Leon Raime. I’d thought it the opposite, but it seems he’s come out far worse than Leon Raime did in their last duel.”

    “If he’s not conscious, alive, or otherwise able to lead, then I authorize you to direct his forces back to his Despotate,” Miuna stated.

    A’Rei bowed and departed, leaving Miuna alone with her thoughts.

    ‘Yes...’ she thought as she stared at the dense wall of mist that seemed to separate Leon Raime’s city from the rest of the universe, like it was the border between the real world and some fantasy she could only dream of. ‘Perhaps in a few years, I will return. Only a few years...’