69.1. Loyalties - Part 1

"I did it, Erik! I did it!" I collapse in my partner's lap the moment I land on our balcony because I'm exhausted. Exhausted, but totally happy.

"I'm not sure what you did, but congratulations?" Erik kisses me and caresses my wings which are still shaking from overstraining.

"I reached my ultimate speed," I explain proudly, grinning from ear to ear. "And that officially makes me the fastest creature on the planet!"

"Congratulations again then!" he finally understands and kisses my face all over.

"You know that some birds like falcons and eagles can be really fast when diving after their prey?" I continue enthusiastically. "That's the speed when they are basically just falling down. But I can match that speed when flying in any direction I want!"

"He scared the hell out of us up there," Gotrid is panting and also collapses in the armchair. "One moment he's hovering peacefully, then he shoots up like a rocket and we lose him completely. The guards freaked out."

"But I came back immediately," I remind him. "I would never fly away again. Shouldn't you all be happy that I can do my Emperor speed now?"

"Happy and scared at the same time," Miruel folds her wings. "I have no idea how we will be able to match your new speed, Majesty."

"I won't be using it all the time," I set the record straight. "It's very taxing on my wings and mana consumption."

"And calorie consumption I bet," Cien speaks up, listening to our conversation from the door. "Lunch will be served in ten minutes."

We hurry to change our clothes and, in a few minutes, we're sitting in our dining room. I had no appetite after the incident with Taranah, but Zetraya's psychological intervention really helped me, then I successfully scolded my subjects and now I'm overjoyed that I achieved my ultimate speed. Long story short, it's a small miracle, but I find myself ravenous.

I gobble the starter in a few bites and, for once, my maids overlook my poor table manners. I quickly pour the soup down my throat and tell Ayala to give me a mountain of rice. Carbohydrates, I totally crave carbohydrates. Erik and Gotrid are grinning at me, content that they don't have to force me to eat, especially after what happened in the morning.

"Aefener, hi," Liana appears rather suddenly and unexpectedly. She's the only person in the entire world (apart from my partners, the guards and the maids, naturally) who doesn't have to officially ask to be let inside the Royal Chambers.

"Li, join us," I invite her.

"Do you feel okay?" she chews her lip, still not sitting down. "Sorry that I didn't come earlier, but I had to deal with Taranah and the EU representatives."

"I feel much better now," I swallow and ask for another helping.

"If you're eating, it must mean you do," she smiles and finally takes an empty seat at the table that's reserved for her anyway. "I want you to know that Taranah received exemplary punishment."

"Exemplary?!" I stop eating.

"Oh no, not like that," Liana waves her hand. "I know you wouldn't wish him any harm, but there are other ways how to punish a proud Celestial. Like making him clean toilets for a week."

Erik spits out his orange juice and I'm glad that I had nothing in my mouth at the moment because I'd probably end up with the same reaction.

"You made Taranah clean toilets?!" I need to make sure I heard right.

"I did," she grins gleefully. "And you should have seen that dread in his eyes when I sentenced him."

"I'd make it a whole month," Gotrid raises his eyebrows. "I didn't think you're so benevolent, Viceroy."

"Just this once," she takes a mouthful of the starter the maids just served her. "Taranah is an integral part of our inner government and we need him to continue working on his projects as soon as possible. I think that simply showing our people that nobody gets away with harassing the Emperor should do the trick. Taranah will be made to cover all Celestial floors, so everyone will see him."

"Exemplary indeed," I approve her decision and resume eating.

"But I don't really think it will happen again," Liana shrugs. "Not after you let every Celestial in the skyscraper know how fed up you are with us."

"Oh, that," I realise and blush. "Sorry, was it too much?"

"No, we deserved it," she shakes her head. "Feel free to do it more often, don't keep your frustrations with us bottled inside, okay? It's rather obvious we desperately need our Emperor's honest feedback from time to time."

"Ehm, Your Majesty," Miruel coughs. "You still didn't tell the Viceroy the news."

"You mean Aefener being unable to use magic against Celestials?" Liana sighs sadly. "Vermiel told me. It's a significant complication, but nothing we can't handle. Besides, under normal circumstances, there shouldn't be any need for Aefener to defend himself against his own people. That's just ridiculous."

"I mean the good news," Miruel says impatiently.

"Ooooh, that!" I gulp a mouthful of cheesecake and grin. "Li, I've achieved my ultimate Emperor speed."

"What?! When?" she blurts out after a long moment of just staring at me, astonished.

"Literally just a few minutes ago," I explain proudly. "They let me fly before lunch."

"But how? I thought such speed isn't possible in the real world," she continues questioning me, still taken aback.

"I poured mana out of my wings, made the air cooperate with me and the rest is my exceptional wing work," I summarise.

"Miruel, was it safe?" Liana turns to the Guard Captain.

"Well...," Miruel steps nervously. "We lost His Majesty for a minute or so."

"I wasn't lost, they just didn't see me above the clouds," I add quickly. "And, for the record, I returned immediately!"

"He did," Miruel confirms.

"Okay," Liana takes a deep breath.

"I'd never run away again, Li," I puff that I have to repeat myself. "You know I wouldn't. I know better now."

"I know," Liana calms down. "It's just... you know we panic every time you're not perfectly protected."

"His Majesty didn't do anything wrong, he was just testing a new ability in the spur of the moment," Miruel stands up for me. "Next time, we'll be prepared."

"I'm not angry, not in the slightest," Liana shakes her head and finally return to her plate. "I was just worried."

"Celebrate instead," Gotrid smiles. "Our Emperor is officially the fastest being on the planet, isn't that amazing?"

"Sure, amazing," Liana tries to smile but fails. "And terrifying, to be honest. We will never be able to match your speed now, Aefener."

"It's not like I'll be using it all the time," I explain softly because I feel she's seriously worried about that. "And I definitely won't cheat in our aerial games. I promise!"

"R-right," her mouth finally curls into a smile. "Sorry, I was just startled. It's wonderful news, of course."

When we finish our lunch, Liana asks me if I want to return to work or rest. I appreciate that I'm given a choice because that hardly ever happens with my schedule.

"Then," I start thinking. "Could I maybe take a look at the Dragonkin crafting instead of my usual schedule? I heard there was a breakthrough."

"I'm also intrigued," Liana admits. "Luviael? Can you contact the Dragonkin embassy and tell them if they have time to show their findings to us?"

"Of course, Your Excellency," Luvi nods and runs off to take care of our request.

"Gosh, it totally slipped my mind!" Liana suddenly taps her forehead. "We never asked Mrs Anya about that ring you enchanted for her!"

"It probably didn't work or Deminas would say something?" I shrug.

"Let's find out right away, the time difference is only two hours," Liana suggests enthusiastically.

We go sit in the living room and take my laptop. It's a computer I use mostly for fun, but it has all encryptions installed, so it's safe for governmental calls. I'm pleased that Deminas picks up almost immediately. He must have me set as a priority call.

"Is something wrong?" he asks without greeting and is quite surprised.

"Hi, Deminas," I smile at him. "No, nothing's wrong. I'm just calling to ask how things in Russia are and I'm also curious about that ring I enchanted for your wife."

"Russia didn't refuse Draconian help, so things started to get better recently," Deminas informs me. "As for the ring...," he gets weird all of a sudden.

"It didn't work? Just tell me," I encourage him. "It was my first try, no hard feelings."

"It worked," he answers rather hesitantly.

"Yeah?" I get excited. "How long did my mana last? How is Anya feeling?"

Deminas looks guiltily sideways for some reason.

"We... ehm... we tried embedding the crystal from the ring into a helmet," he says extremely slowly.

"You ruined Mrs Anya's wedding ring?" Erik is shocked. "Was she okay with it?"

"She wasn't talking to me for a week," Deminas sighs, a light fume coming from his mouth. "Even though I had the ring repaired with the same kind of gem."

"Well, duh!" Erik gets dramatic. "It's not the same gem, Deminas."

"I did it for scientific advancement and...," Deminas continues, but Liana interrupts him.

"Why didn't you tell us?" she purses her lips at him.

"We're still testing it," Deminas coughs out another small fume. "It's interesting, but we don't have definite results to share yet."

"So let me summarise it," Gotrid gets irritated. "You took the ring our Emperor enchanted for Mrs Anya as a present and used it for experiments?"

"It's high time we start to take crafting seriously," Deminas frowns. "These monsters will keep attacking and we need proper armour."

"We're not arguing about that," Liana says tiredly. "We're angry that you didn't tell us."

"I'm more concerned about the fact that the ring was supposed to help Mrs Anya," I'm saddened that Deminas is turning this way.

The Dragonkin are notoriously known to be crafting fanatics, but that's not the real problem here. The problem is that Deminas took his wife's ring without her approval—the ring that was supposed to help her and was precious to her. Isn't he ashamed? He doesn't look ashamed. He looks like he doesn't understand why his wife made a fuss about it in the first place.

"I got Anya the best Earthborn healer, she's well taken care of," Deminas doesn't like what I'm indirectly accusing him of. "And we'll share the results when we have something definite to share."

"You'd better be, enchanting is Celestial technology and the gem was enchanted by our embodiment of magic himself," Liana comments venomously.

I don't want the conversation to continue in a weird unfriendly way, so I end it abruptly because I can feel that Liana and my partners are getting pissed.

"Can you believe him?" Liana rants when she closes my laptop.

"That's the Dragonkin for you," Gotrid remarks. "They're nice lethargic guys, but when it comes to crafting, they would sell their kidney for new undiscovered material or technology."

"Not every Dragonkin," I poke him. "Fefnir is a good friend and he isn't even an artisan but a full-fledged warrior. Draconians might succumb to stereotypes easily, but we're still unique personalities. Never forget that."

"Sorry, you're right," Gotrid admits and kisses my left wing in an apology. "I let my Celestial nature get the best of me just now. Pride."

"Your Majesty, the Dragonkin from the embassy are overjoyed to show you their craft," Luviael appears again, bringing good news. "They will be ready for a little presentation in an hour."

"Great, I'm really looking forward to it," I clap my hands enthusiastically.