73.1. On the Brink of War - Part 1

"Oh, Ryuu, you're finally awake!"

"My love!"

I barely manage to open my eyes and I'm being kissed all over. Not a bad way to wake up, if only I wasn't feeling like I've just run a marathon. I'm not in pain, but I can hardly lift a finger. When my eyes focus, I realise that I'm in the infirmary. Erik and Gotrid are hugging me while Julia and Noage are looking at me with relieved expressions.

"Send for the Viceroy, His Majesty is awake," Julia says to someone behind the hospital curtain.

"How long was I...?" I ask weakly.

"Five hours in a coma, twelve hours in regular sleep after that," Gotrid recounts. "You scared us, honey."

"I'm hungry," I murmur because my stomach rumbles painfully.

"Can we move him to our apartment now?" Erik asks the doctors. "You said we can if he wakes up and feels okay."

"One last check," Noage insists and connects to my right arm. I notice that the skin on my forearm is sore in several places, he must have been connected to me all this time while feeding me. I'm glad that I wasn't conscious during that.

"The shield!" I exclaim when everything comes back to me all of a sudden. "It's not connected to me anymore, did it dissolve? What if we're still in danger?!"

"Calm down, love, our research team came up with a solution of powering up the shield with quartz crystals," Gotrid explains quickly.

"And it's holding like that?" I still worry. We never tested crystals before in the real world.

"It is," he assures me and pets my feathers to comfort me. "You wouldn't wake up if it didn't work. Okay, let's go."

"Hey, not fair, you carried him already," Erik purses his lips at Gotrid who, surprisingly, backs off without complaints. I guess they don't want to argue over nonsense in front of me.

I let Erik hold me under my thighs and wings and I grab him around his neck for better stability. I don't like the feeling of being weakened like that (way too often in my opinion), but I think I did my best in this case and deserve some rest, so I don't protest and just enjoy the ride.

"Don't, not now," Erik shakes his head because he feels I'm trying to browse his mind to learn what happened while I was unconscious. "When we're in our apartment, okay?"

I don't push it then, but I can't block my empathy even if I wanted. I can tell from his overall emotional state that whatever happened isn't good. I snuggle to him looking for comfort because all Draconians in the skyscraper are bewildered and it's making me a bit nauseous. Emotions of others don't hurt me nearly as much as before, but strong negative feelings coming from hundreds of people still have a toll on me.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty, we vacated the halls," Miruel assures me when we step out of the infirmary.

She acts collected, but her voice is cold and she's barely suppressing her Celestial wrath. The same goes for all Celestials in the building—that attack must have really frightened them. Was it another monster? Something we have never encountered before? And why couldn't the others feel it?

We get to our apartment and I'm looking forward to the calming cosiness of our home, but no such luck. The floor is full of Royal Guards and every single one of them is staring at me with fanatical admiration and anxious anticipation. It gets better when we reach our bedroom, but Miruel posted guards inside as well and my partners aren't complaining about it for some reason.

"Aefener," Liana is waiting for me and her expression is tired and gloomy.

I don't understand. Sure, being attacked like that is a shock for everyone, but I prevented a catastrophe, right? My shield saved us and it's still holding. We're safe from monsters, at least for the time being. As for the future, we simply need to strengthen our defences.

Erik puts me down on the bed, wrapping me into a blanket while Gotrid creates a huge pile of pillows so that I can sit upright. Liana is watching it seemingly calmly, but she's nervously chewing her lip and is feeling anything but that.

My partners insist that I have to eat first, the maids already have a full-course meal prepared for me under a lid and I'm forced to dig in. Their silence is making me anxious, but I don't let it hold me from eating. I'm super hungry and feel that my mana is dangerously low, so I gobble everything.

"It wasn't a monster attack, Aefener," Liana starts extremely slowly when the maids take the tray away. I suddenly have an ominous feeling that they made me eat before Liana's news because I wouldn't be able to eat afterwards. I brace myself.

"What was it then?" I tilt my head, totally confused. "A meteorite?"

"That possibility didn't even cross his mind, Viceroy," Gotrid sighs and caresses my feathers. "He's too kind for such ideas."

"Suspected as much," Liana also sighs and passes me a tablet. "Watch this, Aefener, there's no sugarcoating it."

I frown, take the tablet and hit play. It's a recording from one of the media drones that are constantly hovering around our skyscraper. It shows me flying up, then creating the shield (which is magnificent to look at from the third-person perspective) and a huge explosion. Nothing I don't know already.

But then the journalist announces that they'll play the recording in slow motion and my heart skips a beat when I finally make out what that threat was. A missile. Not a monster, not a meteorite or some other supernatural entity. It was a human military bomb. Someone wanted to get rid of us and chose the most destructive method possible. If it wasn't for my shield, we would be dead by now.

"Ryuu, are you okay?" Erik clutches my hand because I'm not saying anything for a few long moments, digesting the revelation.

I look at him, then at Gotrid and Liana—the people I love most in this world—and who wouldn't be here if I didn't cast the shield just in time. Then I feel the presence of all Draconians in the skyscraper, especially Celestials, and shudder at the thought of them gone.

I clutch Erik's hand tighter and something deep inside of me breaks. Tears start falling down my cheeks and one part of me feels great sadness because I realise that we simply can't continue playing friends with humans, even though a lot of them are understanding, respectful and supportive like Erik, Julia and the Czech Prime Minister with her wife.

At the same time, another part of me is experiencing pure Celestial wrath. If I wasn't weakened and knew who is behind the attack, I do not doubt that I would take the Imperial Guard and go annihilate them. That mere idea would scare me before, but not anymore. I'm the Celestial Emperor and I would do anything to protect my people.

Erik shivers when he senses my Celestial wrath, but he doesn't let go of my hand. I don't hide my nature from him anymore and he accepts me as I am, in my full Celestialness. And I love him for it, I love him being human. Even though I feel burning hate towards the humans responsible for the attack, I would never start hating humanity as a whole and it's all thanks to him.

"Any suspects?" I whisper and my voice is dark and cold.

"The usual," Liana shrugs, "countries that openly oppose us and have the resources necessary for advanced long-distance attacks—mainly the US, Russia and China. We waited until you woke up because we know you wouldn't want us jumping to conclusions."

"Any chance the EU might be involved?" I ask grimly.

"There's always a chance, but I don't think it's likely," Liana shakes her head. "Bennett called us immediately and he was really scared. Also, European countries are more than cooperative and offered us full support and funds. And don't forget that they accepted thousands of Draconian immigrants. They would dig their own grave."

"I don't think it was the EU either," Gotrid supports her opinion. "The EU has great military power, but not within the EU territory itself. The EU army is designated to protect the borders and has almost no bases in intracontinental states, such as Bohemia. If they actually succeeded in assassinating us, they would never be able to suppress the revolt that would come afterwards."

That argument finally convinces me and I relax a bit. Bennett might not be our fan, but European politicians in general usually wish to sustain the stability of all member states and swore to protect the rights of minorities. I really want the EU to be our ally in the upcoming dark times.

"Li, is it possible to hold a meeting of the Draconian government in our living room?" I ask her. "I can't afford to do nothing until my mana recovers but, at the same time, I'm not strong enough for the conference room or the Royal Office."

"That shouldn't be a problem, the room is big enough," Liana nods. "Are you sure you don't need to rest properly, though? You've barely woken up from a coma."

"This is the biggest crisis since the appearance of monsters that might transform into a global civil war, there's no way I can take a day off," I insist.

"You know protecting you and your well-being is the highest Celestial priority," Liana argues. "We can't risk overworking you during your recovery."

"It won't help my well-being if there's a civil war that I could prevent," I shake my head. "Also, we can't afford to let the culprits know that casting the shield weakened me for several days or they might attack us again and differently. Li, you know I'm right."

"You are," she says resignedly, "but you'll be napping between sessions and eating without protests," she gives me a condition. "You'll be deciding only the most pressing matters and leave the rest to us until you're back at your full strength."

"I promise," I assure her. "Call that meeting, we have a lot to discuss."