Chapter 154: Meeting [2]

Darius continued.

"The Western Front is projected to see secondary skirmishes rather than full army engagements," Darius said turning back to Alden. "It gives you genuine battlefield experience without dropping you into a meat grinder on day one."

Alden crossed his arms and accepted the logic. "Fair enough."

"Finally." Darius moved his hand one more time and a gold marker pulsed into life dead center on the map equidistant from all three fronts.

"Leon."

Leon straightened immediately. "Sir."

"Central staging ground. You are our mobile strike force and operational reserve."

Leon looked at the marker with slight confusion. "The center?"

"If any of the three main fronts face an unexpected breach or a high-command enemy combatant you deploy immediately to reinforce them." Darius looked at him steadily. "You are our newest Spire. Anchoring you to a static grinding front would waste your mobility and throw you into command structures you have no experience with yet. Instead you observe the full strategic picture and hit wherever the enemy least expects it." A brief pause. "You are the hidden blade we keep until the moment it matters most."

Leon’s fist closed slowly over his chest. His eyes were steady and very serious. "I won’t let you down Headmaster."

"I know," Darius said quietly.

He swept his hand across the table and the projection dissolved and the lights came back up.

"We deploy tomorrow morning," Darius said. His voice had changed. Quieter but somehow heavier. "From this moment every decision we make will cost something. We have fought the vampires for generations." His eyes moved briefly to the two kings at the table. "But this time we end it. We defend our realms we protect our families and we destroy their forces before they reach our homes. We are not entering this war to survive."

He looked around the chamber one final time.

"We are entering it to win."

The kings nodded. The Spires stood straight with hands near their weapons. The generals had gone still and focused.

The meeting was done.

People started filtering out slowly. Royals and senior commanders heading off to begin troop movements. The Spires lingered near the table.

Alden was looking at the Western Front terrain on the still-visible edges of the map when a light floral scent arrived in his space.

Luna stepped up beside him and offered one slender gloved hand with a warm playful smile. "Looks like we’re partners little cadet. I look forward to taking very good care of you."

Alden shook her hand firmly. "Likewise Lady Luna."

She laughed. "Skip the title. Just Luna."

"Then just Alden."

"Deal." Her pink eyes sparkled.

Nearby Theodore had materialized from somewhere and thrown a heavy arm around Leon’s shoulders with enough force that Leon staggered sideways under the impact.

"Can you BELIEVE this?" Theodore shook him slightly. "You and I could have been the most legendary frontline duo in the history of this war!"

Leon wheezed and tried to stabilize himself. "We’re not even assigned to the same part of the map Theodore."

"Yeah! And the fact that we both are alone at our own sectors... If it were our duo then we would have been ICONIC!"

"Theodore."

The cold voice came from three meters away and landed like a bucket of ice water. Isabella had her arms folded and her golden eyes on him with the specific expression she reserved for when he was being particularly himself.

Theodore turned very slowly. "Yes my glorious leader?"

"Stop corrupting our newest Spire on his first day."

"Corrupting?! I’m INSPIRING him! There’s a massive difference!"

Isabella’s hand glowed with mana as green vines whipped around her palm.

Theodore’s theatrics evaporated instantly. His hands came up. "I was simply attempting to lighten the atmosphere ahead of a brutal war. For morale. Very professionally."

"Good," Isabella said. The dangerous look softened into something that was almost a smile if you caught it at the right angle. "Then keep it professional."

Theodore took a careful step back and lowered his hands with the very deliberate energy of a man choosing survival.

Leon let out a quiet laugh.

Alden shook his head. He turned toward Isabella while the moment was still light.

"By the way." He kept his tone easy. "Did you happen to run into Trainer Ulvakor earlier tonight?"

Isabella’s posture did not move. But there was one tiny fraction of a second where it almost moved before she stopped it.

She reached up and tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "Ulvakor? Briefly yes."

"He was here tonight?" Alden asked with complete innocence.

"He arrived with Head Chief Alarion. Administrative paperwork to process with the Headmaster."

"Ah. Administrative matters," Alden said.

The faintest warmth was visible along the very edge of Isabella’s neck just above the collar.

Alden looked at the tactical table with a completely neutral expression.

’Administrative matters,’ he thought. ’Sure. The only document Ulvakor cared about was to meet her isn’t it?’

He kept this thought entirely to himself because he valued being alive.

Before he could say anything else a smooth confident voice moved through their corner of the chamber.

"Leon."

The easy atmosphere around the group shut off like a door closing.

Arvendis came toward them at his usual relaxed pace. Handsome and calm and smiling in that way he had where nothing about it was quite wrong but something about it made the air feel slightly different.

He stopped beside Leon and placed one hand on his shoulder.

Leon flinched.

It happened fast. Smaller than a second.

Alden was watching.

The genuine warmth that had been sitting on Leon’s face since Darius’s final words was gone. Completely and immediately gone. His shoulders locked. His throat moved like he was swallowing something. His eyes went straight to the stone floor and stayed there and did not look up.

Arvendis did not remove the hand.

The smile on his face widened slowly and his blue eyes caught the mana lamp light in a way that held something underneath the pleasant expression that Alden could not name yet but did not like.

He leaned down slightly toward Leon’s ear. His voice came out low and easy and utterly familiar in a way that had no right to be.

"If we had been deployed together," Arvendis murmured. "I would have stood right in front of you and protected you from everything."

Leon’s knuckles had gone white.

His hands were shaking very slightly at his sides and he was pressing them flat against his legs to hide it and not entirely succeeding.

Arvendis straightened back up and patted Leon’s shoulder twice. Then he pulled his hand back. The smile stayed exactly where it was.

"Just like I did last time."